Giants fans can officially check out after Fromm clunker
PHILADELPHIA » The last smidgen of hope for the Giants to entertain their fans this season is gone.
In a last-ditch attempt to jump-start the offense, the Giants gave former Georgia star Jake Fromm his first NFL start. They had a chance to sweep the Eagles for the first time since 2007 and win at Lincoln Financial Field for the first time since 2013.
Seeing that come to fruition would have at least been some consolation prize for this disgusting season.
Alas, nothing good came out of it.
Fromm was an utter disaster in the Giants’ 3410 loss Sunday, completing just 6-of-17 passes for 25 yards, one interception and a dropped interception near the goal line.
“I wish I would’ve played better,” Fromm said. “It’s frustrating for myself. It’s not the way I wanted to have represented myself, my family or of course this organization. I’m going to learn from it. I don’t think it gets much worse than that, so I’m going to learn from it, I’m going to grind, I’m going to work my tail off to get better and play better like I know I can.”
New York (4-11) changed course on the third drive of the second half and went back to quarterback Mike Glennon, who last week threw for merely 99 yards with three interceptions against Dallas.
And, yep, you guessed it: The results only got worse. This has become a completely hopeless situation on offense with starter Daniel Jones out until 2022 because of a neck strain.
“Obviously we didn’t do anything good enough on offense right there,” head coach Joe Judge said. “I’ll watch the tape and I’ll break down (Fromm) and Mike as well. I decided to make the move going from Jake to Mike because we weren’t getting anything going offensively. I thought there were some opportunities that we did have in the first half and early in the second half.”
The saddest part is that the Giants just seem totally resigned to their fate within these games. They don’t believe in their ability to pass protect whatsoever, so they just run the ball up the middle, throw quick swing passes to the outside and pray that someone — anyone — can break a tackle or juke a defender to create a big play.
The Giants make gaining a first down look like climbing Mount Everest, which is why the game felt over when the mediocre Eagles (8-7) took a 10-3 lead early in the second half after Fromm’s backbreaking turnover.
“You’ve just got to go ahead and play one play at a time, one drive at a time and keep playing the game,” Judge insisted. “The reality of it is, when you go through the first half, our defense played as well as we could ask them to. We had opportunities for turnovers, we were attacking the ball.”
But without the defense creating takeaways, the offense had no chance.
Rock bottom has changed many times over
these last five dark years in New York, but it simply does not get worse than Sunday. The Giants didn’t compile 100 total yards until the fourth quarter and finished with 192 — well beneath their previous season low (215) against the Buccaneers in Week 11.
Week after week, this team somehow fails to get the ball to their topplayers. First-round pick Kadarius Toney returned after missing four games because of injuries and COVID-19 protocols, but his impact (four catches for 28 yards) was negligible. Kenny Golladay, the team’s 72-millon dollar offseason pickup, recorded a pathetic three catches for 22 yards. And
neither player has a touchdown the entire season.
When is the madness going to stop?
“Although the results aren’t what we wanted, the preparation and the mindset I don’t think has fallen off at all, which is good to see,” Glennon said. “I think if we could pinpoint one thing (going wrong), then we would’ve already had that answered and that we’d be playing at a higher level. It’s tough to say. It’s just all across the board. I think we need to execute better.”
Remember, this team fired and scapegoated offensive coordinator Jason Garrett five weeks ago because, as Judge duly noted, the Giants weren’t
scoring enough points.
And remember, even after that change, the offense remained atrocious when Jones was healthy enough to play in the Giants’ 13-7 win against the Eagles in Week 12.
So for president John Mara to be sold on the idea of running it back with Judge and Jones in 2022 is simply mindboggling. According to an ESPN report Sunday morning, that is precisely what the Giants play to do next season.
Sources also told ESPN that lame duck general manager Dave Gettleman “could decide to step down after four seasons with the team.” It’s laughable that he hasn’t been fired already after four
straight double-digit loss seasons, especially for an executive who made fixing the offensive line his top priority back in 2018. And yet after all this time, the same old problems exist.
Still, a great quarterback can overcome some shaky play up front, which is why the Giants must also look to upgrade from Jones.
But if Mara truly already decided with three games left before Sunday that Judge and Jones are the future of his franchise, then there can be only one explanation: The front office’s top priority is loyalty — not winning.
Until the Giants prove otherwise, the fans should no longer invest in this nonsense.
“It’s not good enough — point blank,” Judge acknowledged. “The reality is this: You play to win the game, right? You coach to win the game. You coach to give the players an opportunity and a chance. … Collectively, it’s not good enough. So we’ve got to do better next week.”