Well, At Least We’re Not the Titans (Week 3 Recap)

When wins are as uncommon as they are for the New York Giants, you learn to celebrate and appreciate each of them in their own uniquely disgusting way. After fighting desperately to fend off an offensively inept Tennessee Titans team, it’s safe to say that the season’s outlook is about as positive as New Jersey’s five-day forecast. With that being said, it still felt damn good to close out a game we’ve lost dozens of times over the past several seasons, with the chief architect of those collapses in attendance, no less.

Let’s start with the positives. It’s safe to say we’re a tier ahead of the complete embarrassments of the league. Being able to accumulate wins against the moronic teams is the easiest way to ensure you don’t become one. The expectation was that Harbaugh would bring in a general sense of competence that has been missing in East Rutherford for 3+ presidencies. Whatever he and Denard Wilson cooked up on defense completely stymied (potential bozo) Cam Ward for three quarters.

Sure, they ended up giving up three long drives in the second half, but they made the plays necessary to hold the Titans to just seven points. Even fully healthy, the defense was never going to be the strength of this team. We were always going to be reliant on time of possession and being opportunistic (i.e. sacks and turnovers) to prevent 30+ points from being put on the board. After two weeks in which the offense proved incapable of sustaining the long touchdown drives we mistakenly became accustomed to, it’s a positive sign that Jevon Holland and that unit have continued to make plays to keep us in games.

With that being said, we’re going to face 14 offenses that are much better than whatever the fuck “Tits McGee” cooked up on Sunday. The non-existent pass rush once again struggled mightily and is now going to be without Brian Burns for the remainder of 2026. It’s definitely going to be difficult to remain “Medium Pepsi” half-full when it comes to this side of the ball, so let’s just hope Arvell Reese strings together more awesome games and Colton Hood learns to swim after being prematurely chucked into the deep end.

I was so optimistic that the offense would look better after a week of developing and practicing a Jameis-centric game plan. I was very wrong.

While I liked the commitment to the run, watching Skat get hit at the line of scrimmage over and over again was a tough watch, to say the least. Aside from the drive where Najee Harris mutated into Derrick Henry, it felt like we were scratching and clawing for three yards per carry all afternoon. On the four occasions where this strategy actually moved the ball, Matt Nagy decided to have an aneurysm while making his red-zone play calls.

Jameis was, once again, horrible, and I’m not sure the weather can be blamed. I never thought I’d see the day when the man behind the NFL’s first and only 30 TD/30 INT season would neuter himself into such a pansy. There is nothing to be afraid of! You know how bad you’d have to play for us to turn to Jake Haener? My wife, who still doesn’t understand what “special teams” means, dropped a “This feels like Daniel Jones all over again” as Winston held the ball and ran into his third sack of the afternoon.

I remain confident that there are no real upgrades available or worth trading for in what is most likely a lost season (see defensive worries above). But if he continues to throw seven-yard four-seamers into the turf while refusing to get Nabers or Likely involved, the cries for Jimmy G and JJ McCarthy (edit: LOL) will only get louder.

I’ll close by giving the special teams their well-deserved flowers. Jordan Stout might be the greatest punter of all time. I’d give this dude a 10-year contract tomorrow. Him flipping the field repeatedly after our 3 and outs made all the difference in a game we literally won by seven yards.

Dominic Zvada also appears to be the long-term solution at kicker. It’s ironic that someone with his haircut has proven to be the remedy for our toxic kicking relationship, but the kid has an absolute boot and was completely unaffected by the porous MetLife conditions.

These are two seemingly minor improvements, but in a season where you lose your most important players on both sides of the ball three weeks in, it’s nice knowing that the other third of the game is seemingly in a good spot for years to come.

As pathetic as it sounds, these are the types of victories we’re going to have to learn to celebrate. We’re not going to win the Super Bowl and probably aren’t going to the playoffs, so we need to cherish these signs of competence and improvement that we were promised upon John Harbaugh’s arrival. Even if they are as minor as beating Bob Saleh, Brian Daboll, and the Tennessee Titans.