The New York Giants fell behind during the start of the season but avoided a longer losing streak by getting their first win on Sunday against Washington. And somehow, despite their 1-5 record, the team is still technically in the running for the NFC East. In fact, their situation isn’t even bad enough that this run at the conference title is something that’s only possible in fantasy. The Giants have a legitimate chance – but mainly it’s because the rest of the division is bad.
The Giants are no longer in last place and now share the same amount of wins as both other teams sitting behind Dallas. The Eagles only have marginally better results this season with three losses and one tie to go along with their win. Washington, on the other hand, has the same record as the Giants but fell behind them in the standings after losing to them.
Giants in the hunt according to Skip Bayless
This situation in the standings has caused Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless to go out on a limb and pick the Giants to win the division.
I'm starting to like the Giants to win the NFC East.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) October 20, 2020
Picking the Giants to win the NFC East was, of course, a more popular choice before the season started. But after the Giants began winless and could hardly produce offense, as well as losing some of their top players to injuries, most assumed they would fall to the bottom of the standings.
The current situation is more hopeful than that even if beating Washington isn’t exactly the mark of a quality team. Even if the recent opposition is bad, however, the fact that the Giants won the game at all shows there’s some fight left in this team. Even after the bad start and the numerous injuries.
But can the Giants win the NFC East? That probably depends on the rest of the division staying bad and the Giants improving. There’s still some problems with this team, after all. Andrew Thomas notably didn’t receive the start against Washington after being drafted in the top five and Daniel Jones threw a key interception that may have overshadowed his sole touchdown.
However, for now, the Giants are at least in the running. And as long as the other teams don’t run away with the division in the coming weeks, they’ll have a chance to try fixing their problems from week to week and contending.