The New York Giants fell to 5-11 on the season with a heartbreaking loss to the surging Los Angeles Rams (9-7) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday afternoon.
Here are three things we learned from the Week 17 game.
There's not much of a difference between the haves and the have-nots
The Giants played another competitive game against as playoff team on Sunday. They could have defeated Philadelphia last week and they should have taken down the Rams this week.
Looking back on the season, the Giants had their share of blowout losses but also had an opportunity to win four more games than they have.
Losses in close games to the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets paired with these two most recent losses could all have been wins. In fact, they should have been.
That would make the Giants 9-7 right now and put them as the No. 6 seed in the NFC. This proves they aren’t that far away from contention. A few breaks here and there and the narrative changes drastically.
Do the Giants really need a quarterback?
Tyrod Taylor threw for 319 yards against the Rams on Sunday. Only Dak Prescott and Lamar Jackson threw for more yards across the league this week.
That leads us to ask — is quarterback the Giants’ biggest need heading into the offseason?
Many are starting to wonder if mortgaging the future for a quarterback in the upcoming NFL draft is the best course of action for general manager Joe Schoen.
They are still contractually beholden to Daniel Jones and have Tommy DeVito on a free-agent rookie contract. Perhaps they should simply re-sign Taylor, keeping this QB room intact, and use the valuable draft capital they have to fortify other positions.
Inconsistency along the sidelines
The product on the field has been inconsistent all season. Injuries ravaged the offense once more and that limited what the Giants could do on a week-to-week basis.
But there was more to this season than just subpar results. Discipline was lacking and the coaching decisions and clock management were nowhere near what they were last year when the Giants pulled out so many close games.
Head coach Brian Daboll did not have a good season. Neither did any of his coordinators. They all should come back, don’t get us wrong, but they have to do some self-inventory and tighten things up going forward.
