After the latest meltdown in Dallas’s illustrious history, the New York Giants now find themselves firmly supplanted atop the NFC East. Ironically, the asses of our players were also firmly supplanted…on their couches, as they successfully built the team’s largest divisional lead since 2012.
While a victorious bye week is always worth celebrating, Harbaugh and I both fully understand that there is still lots of work to be done. Now is not the time to get complacent and smell our own farts (I did plenty of that during the bye). It’s time to put 10 more game plans (and preview blogs) together and get this team back into the postseason.
Our return journey to the playoffs resumes this week in the wretched hellscape otherwise known as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Let’s not sugarcoat things, ‘The Linc’ has been a house of horrors for the Giants for as long as I can remember. It feels like there is almost a Breaking Bad/Mexico filter on the screen whenever I watch my team play in Philly. The vaguely orange hue only partially obstructs the view of the G-Men getting their brains beaten in for 4 quarters. The only breaks from the 3-hour whomping come courtesy of slo-mo shots of drunken Philly scumbags celebrating as we head into commercial. You have to go back and watch ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ to see the last time we won a game in that dump of a stadium (don’t fact check me on that).
But if there was ever a time for the tables to finally turn, it is this week. The Giants have faced a tremendous amount of adversity and have managed to come out the other side stronger. Meanwhile, Philly faced their first ounce of hardship this decade and responded by trying to murder/bury their franchise quarterback abroad. Simply put, the going got tough for us, and we took a stranglehold of the division. When faced with similar circumstances, Sirianni’s team quit.
While starting Joe Milton over the pathetic Tanner McKee is probably the right move, it also reeks of the obvious desperation that seems to be omnipresent in that locker room. By now, everyone knows the lore behind ‘Bazooka Joe’. He can throw a nectarine 300 yards, has 27-inch hands, is the greatest guy you’ll ever meet, but sucks ass at playing football.
Don’t get me wrong, his arm and athleticism certainly add an element to the contest, it’s just not one I’m remotely afraid of. Not only has Milton continuously struggled to comprehend college defenses, but he also got stumped by Shane Bowen in Week 18 last season. He reads defenses like Floyd Mayweather and throws with the touch of Lennie from ‘Of Mice and Men’. These traits, combined with the fact that the Birds are starting Hollywood Brown in the year 2026, have me fully confident that Dennard Wilson is going to absolutely neuter any semblance of a passing game.
As a result, the defensive focus needs to be containing our old friend Saquon Barkley. Despite his hamstring being held together by strands of spaghetti, he remains the Eagles’ most talented playmaker by a fairly wide margin. He’s seemingly been on a pitch count these past few weeks, but when he’s been on the field, he’s remained effective.
Everyone knows our primary weakness is the run defense. Everyone also knows Philly doesn’t want Joe Milton throwing the ball 40 times. When Saquon isn’t riding the Peleton or getting rubbed down by ‘Fat Doug’, you have to know he’s getting the ball. Philly isn’t going to waste his finite number of snaps getting bulldozed by Arvell Reese in pass protection. If we shut down the run early, this game should be over.
Offensively speaking, I don’t anticipate this being a walk in the park. Barring a last-minute Jonathan Taylor or Tony Pollard trade, it looks like we’re down Devin Singletary and practice squad guys at RB. Philly has as good a front seven as anyone, so running the ball shorthanded is going to be a major challenge. That means we’re going to need a decent encore performance from JJ to score points.
McCarthy looked so good against Houston that WFAN Callers and paint huffers alike have already started crafting a 2027 QB Controversy. While I remain miles away from even entertaining that discussion, I’ll be super impressed if he’s able to play well against a divisional rival in a hostile environment. The Birds have the secondary talent to line up with our top skill guys, so I’m curious to see if we’re able to continue to exploit 1 on 1’s or even identify them against a Vic Fangio-led defense.
Regardless, I think a big play or two will come and I believe we’ll be able to score the 24 points needed to pull out a convincing divisional victory.
It’s a weird feeling to expect the Giants to win, let alone win in Philadelphia. The -3.5 point spread is the largest the G-Men have been favored in a game since Week 2 of the 2023 season against Josh Dobbs and the Arizona Cardinals. Logic/past trauma would tell you that ‘this isn’t gonna be easy’ – but what if it is? We’re the better team, playing better football, coming off a bye, facing a team that has seemingly ceased playing competitive football. I think we’ll feel their desperate last gasp early, but if we survive that and drag this team into the deep water, they’ll drown (or ‘swim wit da fishes’ as their phony mafioso staff would say).
Sunday’s game represents a golden opportunity to establish a changing of the guard, widen our divisional lead, and to start our own winning streak in Philly.
It’s time we give these assholes their long overdue beating.
