Call it what you will—maybe a “Christmas weekend miracle”— but it looks like the Giants will be playing meaningful football in January. But as thrilling as it may be for fans of Big Blue to still have a chance to see their hometown team in the postseason, it’s my solemn duty as a sportswriter to remind you that “meaningful football” is not necessarily interchangeable with “good,”
or even “fun.”
At 5-10, with just one game to go, the Giants should not—in any normal year—be considered playoff hopefuls heading into the final week of the season. But as we’ve learned throughout the last nine months, 2020 hasn’t been your typical year. In an ordinary year, a Week 17 schedule that pits Washington against Philadelphia and the Giants against the Cowboys with all but one team—the Eagles—gunning for a postseason berth would be any football fan’s dream
scenario.
This year, however, it’s an aberration, a macabre punchline about the dearth of talent in the division.
Let’s face the facts; all of these teams stink. It doesn’t matter what happens this weekend, whichever team manages to secure a playoff spot will be well below .500 for the year, made even more glaring by the fact that teams like the Colts—who play in the loaded AFC—might miss out on the playoffs despite posting an 11-5 record.
But my issue with the NFC East this year isn’t the lack of talent, it’s the lack of exciting football being played. Conventional wisdom would have you believe that, as long as two professional teams are evenly matched, they should be able to have a competitive, entertaining contest. But injuries, plus the lack of talent—particularly at the quarterback position—for these teams turn each battle of NFC East rivals into an interminable slog chock-full of blown assignments and missed targets.
Talent-wise, the division isn’t so far off from some of those lousy teams the AFC East has trotted out there over the last decade or so. The big difference, however, is that the AFC always had the Patriots locked onto their spot in first place, lending at least an air of credibility to the division as a whole.
This year, the best thing I can say about the NFC East is that games between its members have certainly helped me catch some glorious afternoon naps.
Thankfully, we’ve only got one more week of this farce, one last gasp for the dreadful teams in this division before one of them is served up as a sacrificial lamb in the first round of the playoffs. That postseason loss will be the final straw, the ignominious end to a lousy year of football.
But will I be watching on Sunday, hoping the Giants can be that sacrificial lamb? I sure will! There’s not a whole lot else on television these days, anyway. Besides, I just might need a good nap.
Follow Mike on Twitter @LiveMike_Sports
