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The New York Giants will win the NFC East. They will welcome the No.5 seed in the NFC playoffs to become the third team (2010 Seahawks 7-9, 2014 Panthers 7-8-1) in NFL history to make the playoffs with a losing file.
That’s what’s going to happen because the Giants are the best team in football’s worst division, and it would be enough to let everyone keep their jobs.
The Giants beat the Bengals, 19-17, as Cincinnati started a quarterback who was on their practice squad a week ago. It wasn’t an impressive or complete victory, but without Daniel Jones for most of the second half, New York pulled it off.
Here’s how the math works: All four of the NFC East will be favored in as little as one and up to two games the rest of the season. The 4-7 Giants hold the tiebreaker over Washington as Philadelphia fades and Dallas is unhappy.
I can see the Giants beating either Arizona or Cleveland (Weeks 14 and 15) and then dominating Dallas at Week 17 for their first NFC East title since 2011, when Daniel Jones was just 14.
The faults of the Giants are numerous. It’s the NFC East. Their special teams gave up a kickoff return touchdown for the first time in five years, got stunned on a false punt, then gave up a 29-yard punt return to midfield in the final. minute. Head coach Joe Judge, former special teams coordinator, will need to consolidate that this week going forward.
But the Giants currently play the most consistent football in the division. With the exception of the Week 3 beat at the hands of the 49ers – a week after Saquon Barkley tore his ACL – New York has been in every game all season. You are what your record says you are, and the Giants are absolutely a 4-7 football team.
But they have a stingy defense that is in the league’s top 10 takeaways and added more to their Sunday tally against the Bengals. Since the Week 5 tilt against the Cowboys, Jason Garrett has started to find some rhythm as a play call. And Jones has been more willing to do the first tries with his legs as the season progresses.
Jones is expected to be back for next week’s game in Seattle, which will likely be a close loss for New York. And that’s okay, but it’s included in the playoff calculations. In fact, it could very well be a preview of the Wild-Card weekend, with the rematch coming to MetLife Stadium.
Notes
Bills head coach Sean McDermott is in danger of losing both of his coordinators at the end of the season. Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll and Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier hosted a clinic Sunday. Daboll helped Josh Allen become a marginal MVP candidate while Frazier just limited a powerful attack to just 17 points. … A loss like this for the Raiders to the Falcons shows they are contenders. They entered this week sitting in the seventh seed facing poor defense with an interim coach. But how, at this point in the season, can I believe in Las Vegas if they are going to lose like this? … Jeremy Chinn should top your Defensive Rookie of the Year ballots. Chinn, a second-round pick from southern Illinois, scored touchdowns in consecutive games for the Panthers in the third quarter of their loss to the Vikings. He plays all over the field and may not have the national recognition of a player like Chase Young, but he is at the top of my list for DROY. Believe it or not, the game against the Dolphins was the Jets’ best chance to win a game this year. The Jets are absolutely, positively going to go 0-16 this season. Now it’s just a question of whether Trevor Lawrence is going to make his way not to play for Woody Johnson.
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