Giants’ latest ‘disappointing’ loss keeps hope of landing No. 1 pick alive

EAST RUTHERFORD – There were some Saints fans at MetLife on Sunday, but not enough to generate that reaction as New Orleans blocked Graham Gano’s game-tying field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter. No. That sound was the confirmation of the intelligence of the Giants faithful who have endured so much in the last decade. Those who realize this might very well be their only way out.

Gano’s miss sealed the Giants’ 14-11 loss to the lowly Saints. More importantly: It kept the possibility of the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft alive.

“Disappointed,” said head coach Brian Daboll after the game.

These are bad times for the Giants. Deplorable, actually. It’s gotten to the point where fans funded a plane to fly around the stadium an hour before Sunday’s game with a “MR. MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE” banner hanging from the back. This once-proud franchise is now an NFL laughingstock. Their defense pathetic, offense anemic, and special teams committed weekly to inventing examples of futility.

That’s not hyperbole. Daboll, hired by New York for his offensive prowess, has his unit averaging 14.9 points per game. That’s not only the lowest in the NFL, but the worst the franchise has seen in 25-plus years.

Their defense, while competent against a bad Saints team, ranks 29th in rush defense (that’s the reason Daboll hired Shane Bowen), had just one sack in their last five games entering Sunday (despite investing the bulk of their resources into Kayvon Thibodeaux, Brian Burns and Dexter Lawrence), and a secondary that picked off its first pass of the season against New Orleans.

Against the Saints alone their special teams let penalties erase a field goal and punt return touchdown, then the aforementioned block.

The plane is justified. The only complaint should be the politeness of the messaging. The Giants don’t deserve that.

“I’m not happy either,” said Daboll.

New York is 2-11 on the season. They are winless (0-7) at home. They are winless within the division (0-5). They were eliminated from the playoffs last week for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons. They have lost double-digit games in nine of the last 11 seasons. They have the second-worst record in the NFL (39-88-1) since 2017. They are now 10-28-1 since starting the 2022 season, the first for Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen, 7-2.

But don’t worry: Schoen told fans at his mid-season press conference the team is “not far off.”

You can’t patronize this fan base. They know when they’re close and when they’re not. They realize their only hope of this actually turning, what will make the years of misery worth it, is a franchise quarterback awarded to them come April.

“I don’t know how you want me to answer that,” said receiver Malik Nabers when asked why the Giants keep shooting themselves in the foot this season. “That’s just football. That’s just the New York Giants this year.”

A meaningless victory over the Saints would have dropped New York to seventh in the draft, according to Tankathon.com. This loss means, at the moment, they’ll pick second. The Raiders (2-11) currently pick first, followed by New York, the Patriots (3-10), Panthers (3-10), Jaguars (3-10), Titans (3-10), Jets (3-10) and Browns (3-10). Strength of schedule is the top tiebreaker in determining draft order. That’s why the Raiders (.535) are picking ahead of the Giants (.544).

Cam Ward (Miami) and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) are the consensus top two quarterbacks in this year’s class. The Giants have reportedly spent quite a bit of time with Sanders. They’ll get one of them if things continue on this path. They could have their pick if things break their way.

The Giants must lose out. That’s key. They face the Ravens (8-5), Falcons (6-7), Colts (6-7) and Eagles (11-2) to close out the year. There’s a chance the Eagles are resting their starters in the finale with the No. 2 seed locked up. That’s the only situation of concern. The Giants could surpass the Raiders with a strength of schedule advantage, but the clearer path is with a game advantage.

Giants lose out. Raiders win one more.

Las Vegas plays the Falcons (6-7), Jaguars (3-10), Saints (5-8) and Chargers (8-4) to close the year. It’s hard to see the Raiders beating Atlanta or L.A., but those games against Jacksonville and New Orleans are more than possible. The Jaguars are without Mac Jones and the Saints lost Derek Carr against the Giants. One win, coupled with the Giants losing out, and New York would hold the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

The Giants have held the No. 1 pick in the draft just twice in their 100-year history – 1951 and 1965.

Things were this bad before. Coincidentally, a plane flew then, too. That prompted Wellington Mara to make wholesale changes in the offseason. George Young took over. Bill Parcells soon followed as coach. Then Super Bowls. The Giants regressed some after that, but then eventually came Tom Coughlin, more success, more Super Bowls. The Giants were some variation of good most of those years in the middle.

There was a common theme to that success, though. Parcells had Phil Simms. Coughlin had Eli Manning. Those two franchise quarterbacks were rooted in the team’s success at that time. They need their next quarterback if they want to do it again.

This loss to the Saints kept their hopes of getting one alive.

And their fans know it.