28. New York Giants
The New York Giants have everyone right where they want them, don’t they?
They entered the bye week on a five-game losing streak.
Coming out of the bye, the Giants have a home matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and with all of the injuries the Bucs have had to deal with this season, the Giants might actually mess around and win this game.
But as far as relevance in the NFC East? Well, that’s going to require the Giants making a long-term change at the quarterback position. And after watching the offseason version of Hard Knocks with the Giants this year, you really can’t help but wonder if Giants management is going to tolerate what they saw with the team letting go of Saquon Barkley without much resistance as he runs over the entire league with the division-rival Eagles.
Joe Schoen’s GM position might be in jeopardy. Heck, Brian Daboll might be on the chopping block. We’ll see if these guys get a mulligan with a new quarterback.
27. New York Jets
At this stage, do we really think Aaron Rodgers is going to sign up for another year of this? I mean, we have to really think about the New York Jets for the moment here. Who is going to take this head coaching gig with Rodgers in place? What’s the best-case scenario there?
You get one year of Aaron Rodgers and then you have to rebuild the Jets from the ground up after that?
I’m sure the Jets aren’t going to get turned down by every head coach candidate out there, and the roster overall has plenty of talent, but this is a very weird, high-pressure situation with a lot of downside in the short and long-term.
As far as the result on Sunday, we saw the Indianapolis Colts come in and pull off a dramatic win in one of the better games the Jets have played offensively all year. Breece Hall was making plays left and right and it just wasn’t good enough. The Jets now have eight losses, their season is basically over, and the long-term thinking has probably already begun.