As if local sports fans didn’t have enough to deal with in a tumultuous 2020, Sunday morning brought another bit of bad news, as the New York
Giants went out and did the unthinkable; they won a darn game. It may have taken until Week 6 of the NFL season—and it may have taken a showdown
against the also-terrible Washington Football Team—but the Giants are the first New York City team to record a win this year.
But as a fan of Big Blue, I’m not real happy about it.
Now, I’ve never really been a fan of tanking for a coveted draft pick; obviously I understand the allure of that for some franchises and I’d never turn up
my nose at the first overall selection, but I always felt that it was generally wrong to actively root against my team.
But there are exceptions to every rule, and those are once-in-a-generation players.
I had no problem with the Knicks “Tryin’ for Zion” a few years back, just as I was fully on board with the Giants’ plans to “Tank for Trevor” this season.
Just from a physical talent standpoint, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has to be one of the most impressive prospects we’ve seen in the last few years, and I think any Giants fan would be lying if they didn’t admit they had at least thought about what he would look like suiting up for the G-men.
Sure, we haven’t even seen two years of our last first-round quarterback pick, but I’m not alone in thinking we’ve seen exactly what Daniel Jones is going to be; a signal-caller capable of wonderfully exciting plays with a penchant for bad decisions and turning the ball over at the worst possible time.
Think of Kerry Collins with elite athleticism; sure he’ll be fun to watch for the next 10 years, but he’ll also cause the fan base to rip their hair out more often than not.
As such, I was ready to turn the page on Jones, root for a winless season and get ready for yet another rebuild. And after watching the Giants play for the first five weeks, the only thing I felt would get in the way of that was an equally pathetic campaign by their fellow tenants of Met-Life Stadium.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be; the Giants are 1-5—which somehow has them just one game out of first place in the dreadful NFC East and it looks as though we will be saddled with Jones—for good or bad—for the next decade. So there’s nothing to do but sigh and pretend that’s what I was hoping for all along.
Beggars can’t be choosers. But at least we can dream.
Follow Mike on Twitter @LiveMike_Sports
