The Giants can convince themselves that they would never be ready to compete for a playoff spot this season.
Not with first-year coach Joe Judge in place, feeling his new team, finding out what he has on the list and what he needs to add.
Not with defender Daniel Jones trying to find his footing in his second NFL season.
Not with a rebuilt offensive line and many new pieces in defense.
And certainly not after losing the running back Saquon Barkley, his best player, with a knee injury at the end of the season at the start of the second game of the season.
But while the Giants (5-9) play at Ravens (9-5) on Sunday, they will be facing the reality of an incredible and unexpected missed opportunity.
Two weeks after sitting in the driver’s seat to beat NFC East, feeling good about their season and playing December postseason matches for the first time since 2016, the Giants face elimination on Sunday.
If the Giants lose to the Ravens, who are favored by 10 points, and the Washington Football Team wins the Panthers (4-10), Washington would win the division and the Giants would play the end of the season at the trash at home against the Cowboys on January 3.
When and if that scenario happens, the Giants will have only themselves to blame.
“I don’t think our progress as a team will necessarily be measured when we reach the playoffs,” said Judge on Monday. “I am not minimizing the playoffs. We are all here to compete. We are all here for the biggest prize in all sports. We all know what that is. At the same time, I firmly believe in just keeping our eyes on what the immediate goal is and the long-term goal will take care of itself. ”
The problem is that the long-term goal, a playoff spot, now looks like a long shot – largely because they can’t score points, which is a prerequisite for winning in the NFL.
The Giants’ failed attack produced 13 points in the last two games – a 20-6 home loss to the Browns last Sunday night and a 26-7 home loss to the Cardinals the previous week.
Only the Jets, with 14.7 points per game, scored fewer points than the Giants, who averaged 17.4. And sharing the same phrase with the Jets will never result in a compliment.
The math for the Giants on Sunday is simple: they will almost certainly not win if they score with their average point production this season.
The Giants have scored 20 or more points in just six of the 14 games. In four of their games, they failed to reach double digits. They scored 30 points in just one game.
On the other hand, the Ravens, who have an average of 28.8 points per game, scored 40 and 47 in each of the last two games. They scored 30 or more points in seven of their 14 games and failed to score at least 20 just twice.
“As coaches, we have to make sure that we always put our players in the right position, ” said Judge on Thursday. “This is number one. Number two, when the pieces are to be made, we have to make them. We put ourselves in position several times. For a number of reasons, we have to go ahead and finish the moves better. When we get there, we need to leave with stitches. ”
Tight Ends coach Freddie Kitchens, who served as an offensive coordinator last week, while Jason Garrett worked through the COVID-19 protocols, said on Thursday that he believes the attack is “close”, but he was quick to add: “But closing doesn’t matter. It’s all about the end result. ”
The Giants know exactly what they are getting into with the Ravens, who will slap them on the mouth as soon as they get off the team buses.
That’s what John Harbaugh’s teams do: they play more physically than you do. And most of the time, they win.
The task for the Giants starts there: to be more physical than the Ravens on both sides of the ball, or to watch their wavering hopes of winning the NFC East fade.
“We need this to be the most physical game of the year, ” Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said on Thursday. “This is how Baltimore wants it. That’s what you want it to be. Let’s see who stands at the end. ”