Amazingly, New York still in playoff hunt
EAST RUTHERFORD — The Giants are somehow still in the NFC playoff hunt despite losing eight of their first 10 games and their top two quarterbacks.
The reason the Giants (5-8) are still alive is their current threegame winning streak and the unexpected emergence of undrafted rookie free agent quarterback Tommy DeVito.
The kid who grew up less than 30 minutes from MetLife Stadium has started four games since Daniel Jones (ACL) and Tyrod Taylor (ribs) went down and led coach
Brian Daboll’s team to wins over Washington, New England and a stunning come-from-behind, last-second 24-22 decision over Green Bay on Monday night.
It’s been a fun, feel-good story to follow. However, the only reason it’s a story is the NFC has 11 of its 16 teams with a losing record.
San Francisco, Dallas and Philadelphia — all 10-3 — and Detroit are the class of the conference. Tampa Bay leads the South with a 6-7 record. Minnesota (7-6) is the only other NFC team with a winning record.
New York has the 12th-best record, but it is only a game behind six teams in the hunt for the third wild-card spot. Atlanta, Green Bay, the Rams, Seattle, New Orleans and the Bucs are all 6-7 with four games to play.
Star running back Saquon Barkley, who ran for two TDs and whose fumble deep in Packers territory set up Green Bay’s go-ahead TD with 1:33 to play, said while it feels great to be back in the playoff race, there is a lot of work to do, especially with two games left with the Eagles, who beat New York three times last season.
“So, you can’t get too focused on that,” Barkley said. “I think Coach (Daboll) said it best, keep the main thing the main thing and that’s what we’ve got to continue to do. Watch
film, get better from this and get ready for our opponent. Going into a tough environment next week against the (New Orleans) Saints and got to try to find a way to get another win.”