Redskins and Giants not looking like playoff contenders
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) >> The New York Giants and Washington Redskins haven’t been to the playoffs much since 2012, and the way things are going this season that’s not likely to change.
The Redskins will be facing their first 0-4 start since 2001 when they come to MetLife Stadium on Sunday to face the Giants (1-2), who breathed life into their season with a 32-31 victory over the Buccaneers in Tampa.
To get the spark, the Giants benched two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Eli Manning. Daniel Jones, the sixth pick overall in the draft, responded by throwing for two touchdowns and running for two more in rallying them from an 18-point deficit.
The Giants were lucky, too. The Bucs missed a 34-yard field goal on the final play.
Which means this probably should be a game between two winless teams.
The slow start has put the future of Redskins coach Jay
Gruden in jeopardy. Giants coach Pat Shurmur is a little better off after Jones justified his decision to bench Manning.
Since 2013, the Giants and Redskins have made the playoffs once each. Washington went in 2015, and the Giants the following year.
Either Dallas or Philadelphia has won the NFC East five of six years.
Veteran linebacker Ryan Kerrigan said the Redskins need to get going after losses to the Eagles, Cowboys and Bears.
“We’ve still got 13 games left to play,” Kerrigan said. “You didn’t sign up to play three. You signed up to play 16. Anything can happen over these next 13, 14 weeks and we’ve got to make it happen in our favor.”
The Giants were not very competitive against either Dallas or Buffalo, and they needed their biggest rally since 1970 to win last Sunday.
“It really just makes us hungrier,” tight end Evan Engram said of the victory. “Like I said, that feeling is really addicting, and it adds motivation to us, so I think it makes us hungrier. We’ve been in positions where — last year we won Game 3 after going 0-2, so ... it’s important not to put too much into that. It’s a new week, a new opponent, and it’s just going to make us hungrier and motivate us more to go out there and do everything we can to repeat that.”
Five things to watch in this 175th meetings between the longtime rivals: COLLINS RETURNS Redskins teammates don’t expect safety Landon Collins to play differently in his first game against his former teammates, and neither do the Giants.
“I think the reason why we like Landon is because he plays highly motivated every Sunday,” Gruden said. “We expect Landon to play hard like he does every game and if he has some added incentive, then great.”
Collins spent four seasons with New York and was an All-Pro in 2016.
“That’s my brother, we also share the same agency, so I have known the guy for a while,” Giants receiver Sterling Shepard said. “I played against him in college. Like I said, that’s my brother at the end of the day. When we step on the field, he knows what time it is.”