[John] Harbaugh-t them New York Giants, huh? Just when you thought losing starting quarterback Jaxson Dart for the season would do them in, here’s a 12-7 Week 3 win over the Tennessee Titans. How about the football gods raising you Brian Burns joining him with a season-ending ACL injury the following week? Here’s a 36-24 Week 4 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
What doesn’t kill this team certainly feels like it’s making it stronger, and now the G-Men are sitting at 3-1 in sole possession of first place in the NFC East. Give a ton of credit to head coach John Harbaugh, whose first season in North Jersey couldn’t be -- but also very much could be -- off to a better start (minus the season-ending injuries and all).
There’s been a whole lot of “the Giants haven’t done that since...” going around four weeks into the Harbaugh era:
- 2022: Started the season 3-1
- 2008: Won their first three home games of the season
- 1954: The last time a Giants head coach had at least two games scoring 28-plus points within his first four games with the team, when Jim Lee Howell did it.
So yeah, it’s literally been one for the record books. But just because New York has done a good job staying afloat doesn’t mean everything is hunky-dory. There are still plenty of questions surrounding this team, and four games have given us a pretty good idea of which ones aren’t going away anytime soon.
5 questions Big Blue still needs to answer after an impressive 3-1 start
Can the Giants survive the Jameis Winston experience?
The Jameis Winston Experience is the NFL’s ultimate tilt-a-whirl -- exhilarating, stomach-churning, and leaving you entirely unsure if you’re having a good time or want to never go through it again. Against the Cardinals, New York got the full ride.
Three touchdowns were nearly spoiled by two head-scratching interceptions. Winston claims he's 'heating up,' but with recently acquired J.J. McCarthy waiting behind him, the real question isn't if Jameis can keep making big plays -- it's whether Harbaugh can survive the headache long enough to get through the season.
Is the ground game too unreliable?
Harbaugh’s football philosophy is built on a simple premise: run the ball and squeeze the will out of your opponent. Right now, the Giants’ ground game can barely squeeze the air out of a balloon. New York managed an uninspiring 87 rushing yards in Week 4, averaging a that-won't-move-the-chains 3.1 yards per carry without a single run going over 10 yards.
It’s a yards-per-carry crisis made worse by a ball-security epidemic, highwaitinglighted by Najee Harris coughing up a critical fourth-quarter fumble -- the backfield's fifth fumble in just four games. While grinding out ugly 3-yard gains might slip by against the 0-4 Titans or the 1-3 Cardinals, the lack of an explosive rushing attack is a ticking time bomb as we move past the quarter-season mark.
Is Kayvon Thibodeaux unsalvageable?
It is one thing to have a quiet afternoon on the stat sheet. It's another to become invisible when your team needs you most. With Burns out for the year, Week 4 was supposed to be Thibodeaux’s chance to remind everyone why the Giants have refused to give up on him.
Instead, he did his best Casper impression: two total tackles, zero sacks, and zero QB hits. While Abdul Carter and Arvell Reese found ways to wreak havoc in the backfield, Thibs looked nothing like the former fifth overall pick out of Oregon.
At some point, draft pedigree stops buying second and third and fourth chances, and Thibodeaux's Week 4 showing forces a painful question: Is the former top-5 pick simply unsalvageable as a true cornerstone edge rusher? The magic eight ball is saying: "Most likely."
How do the G-Men continue to unlock Arvell Reese moving forward?
The pre-draft process for Arvell Reese was defined by a nauseating debate: is he a pass rusher, or is he an off-ball linebacker? Four weeks into his career, defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson has his answer. He can do everything. Reese played every single defensive snap against the Cardinals, finishing with nine tackles, three pass breakups, and an interception.
He's processing the game at a speed that clashes with his rookie status, blowing up plays at every level of the field. Now how do they get this version of Reese every week? As opposing coaches get more tape on Reese and start figuring out ways to limit him, it’ll be on Wilson to keep finding new ways to get the 21-year-old involved.
What will the Giants’ record be heading into their Week 8 bye?
The Giants are 3-1 and sitting alone atop the NFC East, with three very winnable games standing between them and their Week 8 bye. Their next three opponents are a combined 2-9, starting with a trip to Washington against a 1-3 Commanders team that could be down to third-string quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis.
Harbs isn’t buying that just yet, telling reporters the team is preparing for Jayden Daniels until the Commies officially rule him out. After that, New York gets a 1-3 Saints team at MetLife before packing up their lassos and traveling to face a struggling 0-4 Houston Texans squad.
I’m not going to sit here and pretend any game in this league is an automatic win, especially with the Giants already down their starting QB and best defender. We’ve also watched this team make the past two weeks considerably more stressful than they ever needed to be.
If there were ever a stretch for the Giants to take advantage of in an otherwise snakebitten season, this is it. A 6-1 or 5-2 record at the bye would’ve sounded borderline insane two weeks ago. Now it’s somehow right there for the taking.
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