New York Giants: Playoffs Should Be Expectation

The New York Giants may be an unimpressive 4-3 NFL team, but New York fans should nevertheless expect the Giants to qualify for the playoffs.

The New York Giants were far from perfect throughout the opening half of the 2016 NFL season. One could argue Big Blue entered their off week as the worst 4-3 team in the NFL. The Giants nevertheless have a foundation of a team capable of winning more than it loses between now and the final snap of the current campaign. Subsequently qualifying for the playoffs needs to be a realistic goal for a club that is watching its championship window close before its eyes.

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Quarterback Eli Manning isn’t getting any younger. Manning turns 36 years old this coming January and there were some worrying signs about his play over the past month and a half. The two-time Super Bowl MVP failed to throw a single touchdown pass in three of seven contests and he is on pace to post his worst season in three years.

With that said, the Giants could give Manning some help before the NFL Trade Deadline arrives on Nov.1.

You don’t have to be a scout or an NFL insider to know about potential moves the Giants could execute following Week 8 of the season. Rumored transactions aren’t secrets, as they’ve been discussed on local New York sports talk radio, by national observers, beat reporters and bloggers.

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The Cleveland Browns, currently sitting at 0-7 and going nowhere fast as it pertains to the 2016 campaign, have two players who could benefit the Giants. Left tackle Joe Thomas, about to enter the twilight of his career, would instantly improve the New York offensive line. Tight end Gary Bardnige would give Manning a much-needed weapon in the passing game. Per Spotrac, the Giants have the available cap space to acquire one or both of those players.

Those are only two players the Giants could pursue before 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 1 arrives. San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley may also be available. Perhaps the Giants could be convinced to take a flier on an available running back in an attempt to bolster what has been a pitiful rushing attack.

The NFC East title remains within reach for every team in the division. New York already has a win over the 5-1 Dallas Cowboys. The Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins have all notched four victories this season. However, neither the Eagles nor the Redskins have played like world-beaters since early September. Washington recently won four consecutive contests, but those victories were erased from memories last Sunday when the Redskins gave a game away to the Detroit Lions.

New York has four division games left on its schedule. Two of those contests will occur at MetLife Stadium, one will take place in Philadelphia, and the last is a road game versus the Washington on the final Sunday of the regular season. The Giants splitting those games isn’t a crazy notion, and doing so would give the club two additional wins.

The rest of New York’s schedule provides reasons to believe the Giants should, at the very least, contend for a playoff spot in Week 17. New York hosts the Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears in November. Neither of those teams have winning records going into Week 8. The Giants will then be away to the lowly Browns on Nov. 27. Granted, that game takes place a few days after the Thanksgiving holiday, but the Giants have no business playing even one meaningful January contest if they cannot beat the worst team in football a month down the road.

A road game at the Pittsburgh Steelers will be difficult for any opponent, assuming quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is healthy and available to play. The Giants then host the Cowboys and Detroit Lions in December showdowns before finishing the regular season on the road against the Eagles and Redskins.

Six wins are on the table for the Giants, even if they don’t improve their roster on the first day of November. Notching victories in those contests would put New York at 10-6. Depending on what happens around the league and in the division, that mark may be good enough to earn the Giants a playoff spot.

Pessimists who would point out holes on New York roster’s along with the team’s offensive woes would do well to remember the NFL is, simply put, filled with lousy squads this fall. There are currently only a few elite teams in the league, though the Cowboys and Steelers are two of them as of the end of October. The Giants, technically, won’t need to beat either of those clubs to get to 10 wins.

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Win the games you should win, hold serve at home and play .500 against division opponents. It’s how an NFL team qualifies for the postseason. Barring a significant injury setback or some other unforeseeable disaster, making the playoffs should be the goal for the Giants as of October 31.

Anything less would be a disappointment.