For the third straight season, New Yorkers deal with the void of the NFL postseason as the Jets and Giants fail to qualify for the playoffs.
The Jets missed the playoffs for the ninth straight season since they lost in the 2010 AFC Championship Game to the Pittsburgh Steelers after the Steelers and Tennessee Titans won their respective games on Sunday.
The Giants never got it going all season long, and their 2-11 record reeks of no playoffs. This means they will miss the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons, and they haven’t won a playoff game since they last won the Super Bowl in the 2011 season.
Talk about getting coal for the holidays.
This football season turned out to be unwatchable again. The Giants and Jets ended their season for all intents and purposes in September after hideous starts that they never recovered.
It was telling a visitor ate at TGI Friday’s for lunch on Sunday afternoon, and he was the only person out there at the bar to watch the Jets. So many fans dressed as empty seats for the Jets game against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Who can blame anyone for not watching the game? The Jets put on another unwatchable performance in their 22-21 victory against the Dolphins, which the offense reeked the entire second half by scoring six points in the fourth quarter on couple of Sam Ficken’s field goals.
If Dolphins coach Brian Flores tried to go for it on fourth down in the red zone one time rather than kick a field goal, maybe the Dolphins get it and score a touchdown. That could have been the difference in the game. Instead, he settled to play not to lose by kicking field goals. One can make a case Flores tried to tank because it’s hard to believe any head coach with a 3-9 record would focus on going for field goals in the red zone with nothing to lose. In the end, the decision cost them.
It also did not help the Jets benefited from a pass interference call that went against the Dolphins, which Miami cornerback Nik Needham grabbed hold of Jets wide receiver Vyncint Smith by wrapping his right arm around Smith’s right shoulder on third-and-18. It turned out to be a first down instead of fourth-and-18, and the call set up Ficken to kick the game-winning goal for the Jets.
This win may as well have felt like a loss for the Jets.
It’s hard to believe they are winning any more games this season since they are playing the Super Bowl contender Baltimore Ravens Thursday night out in Baltimore and they follow it up by playing the Steelers and Buffalo Bills, two AFC wild-card contenders. Those three teams are so much better than the Jets, not to mention they are well-coached. At least, those Jets’ remaining opponents know how to run an offense and keep their unit on the field, which is something the Jets had a hard time doing in the second half the other day.
The Jets improved to 5-8, but they could finish 5-11. This losing record does not get anyone excited, and it shouldn’t. Honestly, the Jets should fire first-year head coach Adam Gase after the season since he offered nothing to think he can make Sam Darnold great at quarterback or make the team better, but they won’t since they still owe Todd Bowles money by firing him as their head coach along with Mike Maccagnan by firing him as their general manager. Paying Gase with those two would be a model of mismanagement.
So basically next season will be another waste of time until the Jets hire another head coach and another general manager to be (all together now!) their another savior. Good luck to the team selling tickets.
The Giants stink. They offer no hope whatsoever. They can cite Saquan Barkley and Daniel Jones being the cornerstones now and the future, but both demonstrated so far that they don’t know how to win. They know how to put garbage-time numbers, which is nice for fantasy league, but not in the NFL.
The Giants could fire Pat Shurmur as their head coach despite being in his second year with nothing to work with. Someone will have to be the fall guy, and it certainly won’t be Giants CEO John Mara and Giants general manager Dave Gettleman. The Giants head coach made a case for himself to be fired just by his 7-22 Giants coaching record and he and his staff get outcoached almost every game. After a 23-15 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field, they lost nine straight that ties the franchise record of 1976. For the first time in franchise history, the Giants did not win a game in October or November. Both won’t help Shurmur’s cause.
Firing Shurmur will do nothing because there’s no talent on that Giants roster. The offensive line plays like it’s overmatched, and the roster features no game-changing players on defense and offense. It remains to be seen if Jones can be a winning NFL quarterback.
Yes, the Giants will get a top five pick in the NFL draft this season. They might get a top two pick if they don’t win anymore games this year. It won’t matter since they need more than a top pick to be better. What has Gettleman showed that he can get it right in the NFL draft when he hasn’t gotten one?
Things change every year in the NFL. Parity sets up that way. But the Giants and Jets played so bad in recent seasons that it’s hard to think it will get any better anytime soon. They offer no benefit of the doubt whatsoever.
It’s depressing to know the NFL season ends in New York by September over the last few years.
Things are so bad here that it would be an accomplishment if both NFL teams in town could play meaningful games in December.
Shoot, we will settle for even one. Even better, we will settle for a team that is entertaining and exciting, which the Giants and Jets offer none of that.
New York and New Jersey’s NFL teams set the bar so low for anything to be an improvement.
