4 Teams are in the basement of the NFL. 2 of them have a bye week. Will the Giants win this week? They play a struggling Philadelphia Eagles (1-3) at home while the Jags are playing the Rams (1-3) in St Louis. Do the 1-3 teams go 2-3? Or will one of the 0-4 teams come out victiorious?
The Giants
The New York Giants (0-4) are off to a disastrous start. For a team whose fan base prides themselves on living in the best city in the world, with the best sports teams in the world — things are not looking good. The Giants have won a grand total of zero games, and are currently ranked fourth in their NFC division. The team’s awful start has been difficult to comprehend in the sports world because despite only a few key roster moves, they essentially have the same roster that they’ve had the last few seasons. The most popular critique has been that the team lacks cohesion. All of the talented players in the world aren’t enough if they can’t figure out a way to work together as a team.
Their most recent loss was at the hand of the Kansas City Chiefs (4-0). The game was not at home, which never helps. They ended up losing by a whopping twenty-four points with a final score of 7-31 in Kansas City.
With such a terrible record so early in the season, you can see that obviously a lot of things are going wrong for the Giants. One problem is that they currently have fifteen players listed on their injury list. That’s a lot of players injured for a team who needs all the help they can get.
Among those injured are David Baas, the starting center with a neck injury, and Chris Snee, the right guard with a hip injury. The Giants are seriously feeling the loss of these offensive line players.
So what else is going from? Don’t look to general manager Jerry Reese for an answer. The general manager has remained silent as his team digs itself a grave, claiming that the Giants don’t have the type of management that provides a running commentary throughout the season.
Giants safety Antrel Rolle hasn’t been so silent. He has gone public with this opinion that he doesn’t think everyone on the team believes that they can win. To their credit, they might be right. To Rolle’s credit, nothing helpful will come from a lack of confidence. We have seen teams with a worse start than the Giants turn their season around when the team came together and believed in themselves.
The Giants play next, this Sunday, October 6th where they will play their longtime rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles (1-3) at home at MetLife Stadium for a crowd that is going to be expecting a turn-around, and doesn’t want to be disappointed.
Jaguars Could Surprise Rams
This week is the first time Justin Blackmon will be on the field this season after a 4 week suspension for a substance abuse policy violation. Blackmon was Jacksonville’s number one receiver last season, and without him, the sound of crickets has accompanied the offense on the field. Expect Blackmon to be targeted a lot in this first game with him on the field. That should help open up the running game of Maurice Jones-Drew as quarterback Blaine Gabbert now has a viable target down the field.
