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Giants demonstrated this year could be more of same

Photo: RJ Sangosti/Denver Post

Denver Broncos running back Melvin Gordon III ran for a 70-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown to put the finishing touches on what was a horrible season opener for the New York Giants. He just ran through the Giants like a driver using his EZ-pass to get through the toll booth. He wasn’t even touched.

Most Giants fans never saw it since they left to beat the traffic out of MetLife Stadium. For them, it was a good thing. Broncos fans chanted “LET’S GO BRONCOS!” as the clock was ticking, and as Fox Sports sideline reporter Shannon Spake interviewed Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, Broncos fans chanted: TEDDY! TEDDY! TEDDY!

This is what comes down at Giants home games these days. The Giants get blown out often, and their fans leave to beat the traffic just to see opposing fans take over the stadium.

Sunday’s Giants’ 27-13 loss to the Broncos showed once again things most likely could stay the same this season. This means to look out for another long season of incompetent football.

The Giants put that on display all day long. As usual, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones struggled by going 22 of 37 for 267 yards with a touchdown. He got sacked twice, and he held on to the ball way too long. He even fumbled the ball. He did not do much to create drives that would put his unit on the field.

Giants running back Saquon Barkley offered nothing. He ran for 26 yards on 10 carries with no touchdowns to show for it.

The Giants defense let Bridgewater do whatever he wanted out there.

It wasn’t pretty to watch. This has become standard Giants football, which playing awful and losing turned out to be the norm these last few years.

The local media and Giants fans hailed Giants coach Joe Judge for changing the culture and such last season, even though he finished with an uninspiring 6-10 season and did not have his team win in a division full of slop.

It’s amusing he gets hailed for this because the Giants showed they are no different than they were under previous head coaches Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur, who coached opposite of Judge as the Broncos offensive coordinator.

It’s the same nonsense. Boring offense, hideous defense and awful special teams.

Shurmur experienced this when he was the Giants coach, and nothing changed. It had to be gratifying for him to know he was not really the problem. It’s no wonder he received a water shower in the Broncos locker room after the game for coaching a great game on offense.

At some point, Judge’s honeymoon must end. It can’t last forever. This is his team. It’s his job to have his guys ready to go and put on a quality product for 18 weeks.

First-year Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni should serve as an example for Judge. He coached the Eagles to a 32-6 victory over the Falcons in his first victory as an Eagles coach. He was hired for running a productive offense with the Colts, and he put that to use by having Jalen Hurts operate the offense well as the quarterback. The Eagles came out prepared and ready to go, and that’s a testament to Sirianni’s coaching.

When has Judge done that in his brief tenure here? I can’t come up with one where he coached the Giants to a victory.

Giants fans love Judge because he says the right things and he shows he cares. That’s great, but ultimately, it comes down to wins and losses. He is now 6-11 as an NFL head coach. There’s a good chance it will get worse before it gets better.

The Giants starting off at 0-8 is not out of the question. They are not good enough to beat some of these teams to start the season. By then, he should get grief, and the same should be said for Giants general manager Dave Gettleman and John Mara.

For the Giants to show this season would be different, they had to win their season opener. No one will confuse the Broncos as an elite team. Instead, the Giants made them look like an elite team.

Here’s what’s damning about the Giants: They lost their opener for the fifth straight season and for the 10th time in 11 years. So right there tells you nothing changed.

I never thought the Giants were going to be good this year. I never saw any tangible evidence. Judge failed to show me he can coach so far. Jones struggled in his two seasons as quarterback. Barkley may be a shell of himself. What playmakers are out there on defense and offense that should make a Giants fan be confident?

Yet, there are media members here and Giants fans that say this team can win the division and make a playoff run. I always wonder what color is the sky in their world, and it sure seems like it’s True Blue.

All of sudden, Thursday becomes a must-win game for Judge and the Giants. Another 0-2 start would put them in a bind. It would be their eighth 0-2 start in nine years. This would make Judge changing the culture crowd look really dumb.

With a short week, it’s hard to think this will get better in a few days. Jones is not an NFL quarterback material.

From my seat, this team looks more of the same. I could have told you that before the season started, not Sunday afternoon.

Same old Giants certainly has a nice ring to it from watching them these last few seasons.

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