The Giants spent big on free agents in the offseason to take advantage of a weak NFC East, but suddenly the division is no joke.
The Philadelphia Eagles (5-6) charged to the brink of a playoff spot with Sunday’s win over the New Orleans Saints, the Birds’ third win in four games.
They’re now in ninth place in the NFC, nipping at the heels of three teams at 5-5: the Minnesota Vikings, Saints and San Francisco 49ers.
The first-place Dallas Cowboys (7-3) have a chance to bounce back quickly from Sunday’s loss in Kansas City against the sorry Las Vegas Raiders on Thanksgiving Day.
And the Washington Football Team (4-6) scratched out a second straight win at Carolina.
That put a ton of pressure on the Giants (3-6) to get a victory Monday night at Tampa Bay with the red-hot Eagles coming to MetLife Stadium six days later.
“We’re certainly excited about where this team’s going,” quarterback Daniel Jones said coming out of the bye. “We feel like we’ve improved. But right now our focus is on this week and making sure we’re prepared to play the Bucs and play our best football on Monday night.”
The Giants entered Week 11 in last place in the division with a 3.8% chance of making the playoffs, per BetOnline.ag. That trailed Washington (5.9%), Philly (25%) and Dallas (99.9%).
Wide receiver Kenny Golladay said he believes the Giants are capable of making a postseason push.
“Yep,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep stacking games on top of games and coming out with Ws.”
The problem is Joe Judge’s team has almost no margin for error.
The Cowboys have a smooth road to an NFC East title thanks to their scorching hot start to the season. The Giants are already 0-2 in division.
And having four division games in their final seven down the stretch no longer looks favorable.
Generously granting the Giants a .500 record in their final eight games would have them finishing at 7-10.
Judge refuses to talk playoffs and didn’t use it as motivation for his team coming out of the Week 10 bye, he said.
“No,” he said. “All those other games are hypotheticals. To go ahead and start looking beyond things that don’t exist, talking about hypotheticals — we’ve got enough real things coming at us in a week’s time.”
What’s coming on Sunday is a surging Eagles team that ranks eighth in the NFL averaging 27.0 points per game. Nick Sirianni’s club has scored 30 or more points three times in the last four weeks, including 44 on the Detroit Lions in Week 8 and 40 on the Saints this past Sunday.
Philly quarterback Jalen Hurts has 21 touchdowns (13 passing, eight rushing) in 11 games. The Giants’ Jones had 10 TDs (eight passing, two rushing) in nine games entering Monday.
Time is running out for the Giants to turn around their season, and the NFC East isn’t lying down like it did last year, when the Giants nearly won the division crown at 6-10.
THOMAS RETURNS FROM I.R.
Left tackle Andrew Thomas (left ankle/right foot) was activated off injured reserve to start Monday night’s game at Tampa. He was one of five players added to the Giants’ roster for the game against the defending Super Bowl champions.
Edge Trent Harris was signed from the Giants’ practice squad. Tight end Chris Myarick and safety Steven Parker were elevated from the practice squad, and wide receiver/returner Pharoh Cooper was activated from the practice squad as a COVID-19 replacement.
Safety Logan Ryan stayed on the reserve/COVID-19 list and missed a game for the first time in his two seasons as a Giant.
Source: Berkshire mont
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