The New York Jets invited players from their first (and still only) Super Bowl team to MetLife Stadium last weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise’s greatest season. The players – now old men – tugged on white jerseys and trudged across the turf, symbols of how long the beleaguered franchise has waited for another success.
Not that the mood was low. Long-suffering Jets’ fans had reasons to cheer, including a 42-34 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, which squared their record this season at 3-3 – or two victories better than their city rivals, the Giants, with whom they share the stadium.
And it gets even better. The Jets have a promising rookie quarterback, Sam Darnold, who could lead the team to a brighter future. Meanwhile, the Giants quarterback, 37-year-old Eli Manning, now looks like the Jets’ Super Bowl winning signal-caller Joe Namath – the 2018 version, not the 1968 one unfortunately – planted in the pocket as if seated in a rocking chair. The alternatives on the team aren’t much to get excited about. They are rookie Kyle Lauletta and Alex Tanney, who has played in one NFL regular-season game three years ago for the Tennessee Titans.
Manning’s receivers aren’t a happy bunch either. Odell Beckham Jr said in a recent interview with ESPN that he was frustrated with the Giants’ lack of a deep passing attack, indirectly implicating Manning’s diminishing arm strength. John Mara, the Giants’ co-owner, told reporters during a break at an NFL owners’ meeting in New York on Tuesday that Beckham “needs to do a little more playing and a little less talking.” Pat Shurmur, the first-year Giants coach, later backed up Mara by saying, “We’re going to work with every player to become the best they can be, not only on the field but off the field.”
It’s come to the point where Giants fans are actually second-guessing the team for drafting Saquon Barkley, the brilliant running back from Penn State, instead of Darnold or another quarterback earlier this year. Only six months have passed since 19 April, which will forevermore be marked as Hogwash Day in Giants history, because the team’s general manager, Dave Gettleman, said then that it was “hogwash” to use the No2 overall draft pick on a quarterback.
Barkley has, in fairness, been fantastic, averaging more than five yards a carry, with seven rushes of 20 yards or more. He has also caught 40 passes, more than any receiver other than Beckham. Barkley says he wants to do all he can to help the Giants win. “I think I could be more efficient in the run game, continue to grow as a leader, pass [protection], everything,” Barkley said on Tuesday after practice. “That’s just kind of how I am. I’m very critical of all the little things and I think I can grow in every part of my game.”
So Barkley was a great choice, right? The Giants still think so. He is the kind of running back that an offense can be built around. And, just remember, he is running behind a grungy offensive line that has had trouble protecting Manning, rooted to the ground like a sequoia. Back on Hogwash Day, Gettleman said he thought Manning “still had plenty of arm left,” but his choice of Barkley, left the Giants without an apparent Plan B if Manning did not have plenty of arm left (there is of course, a certain Pro Bowl quarterback in his prime years currently looking for work, but don’t hold your breath on that one).
Not all Giants fans are worried though, and some see this season as a short-term period of pain that will turn into long-term success. “I was pretty passionate about wanting the Giants to draft Sam Darnold, and if not him, still a QB,” says Giants fan Billy Fishkin. “There seemed little doubt that Barkley would be an instant beast. I was simply thinking long term, and that it was incredible gift from the football gods to have this high a pick with this crop of franchise QBs, given the age and state of Eli.”
The Giants still have 10 games to play, so it can get a lot worse. It is not inconceivable that they will finish 3-13 for a second straight season without even trying to lose. But losing in the NFL has its benefits, too. The Giants could use their first-round draft pick to take a quarterback this time, perhaps Ryan Finley of NC State or the very promising Justin Herbert of Oregon. Then they would have a quarterback for the future and Barkley, not just a quarterback, as they would have had if they had picked Darnold.
Three years ago, the St Louis Rams used the No10 overall pick to take a running back from Georgia, Todd Gurley. The Rams finished 7-9, then 4-12, and used their No1 overall pick in 2016 to take a quarterback, Jared Goff. Gurley, Goff and the Rams are 6-0 today.
“I was thinking the Giants will regret their pick in a few years,” Fishkin says of the Barkley choice, “but I’m hoping their surprising suckage may remedy that.”
Maybe Giants fans should be happy After all, it’s only six months to kill until Hogwash Day 2019.
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