ESPN doesn't hold back with its NY Giants midseason report
Even in your worst nightmare the night before the season-opener, no NY Giants fan would have ever seen a 2-7 start to the season coming, let alone the 40-0 loss to the Cowboys in Week 1. The first half of the campaign has been something you'd expect to see in a horror film.
Instead, Giants fans are living through a terrible stretch and things were only made worse with quarterback Daniel Jones, who signed a $160 million extension this past offseason, tearing his ACL in Sunday's loss to the Raiders. His season is done and the belief in this team is at an all-time low.
Injuries have piled up and the 9-7-1 record from 2022 feels like it was 20 years ago. ESPN knows all of this and it's no surprise that they have the G-Men ranked dead last in their FPI (Football Power Index) at the midway point of the season.
The first half of the NY Giants season has been a bloodbath
"What could go wrong did go wrong. The Giants' most important offensive players (Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley) each missed at least three games. And now, both quarterbacks, Jones and Tyrod Taylor, are injured. The result is that the offense is averaging 11.2 points per game. That is almost four points less than any other team. It's impossible to win like that."
- ESPN's Jordan Raanan
Saquon Barkley has missed a large chunk of the season with a high-ankle sprain suffered Week 2 against the Cardinals, which was deflating for this offense. Now that Jones is hurt, and Tyrod Taylor is on Injured Reserve, Tommy DeVito has been given the keys to the offense. No one expected him to be the starter for Sunday's upcoming tilt with Dallas.
As Raanan said, everything that could go wrong for the Giants has. General manager Joe Schoen was a busy man in the spring trying to improve this squad and while there was plenty of momentum building over the summer, it's feeling like '23 is going to be a wasted campaign.
Instead of pushing for a postseason spot, people are already looking forward to the next NFL Draft for this squad.