The Giants are in a spot they probably haven’t occupied in years: sitting on top of a messy division and staring at a real chance to widen the gap. At 3-1-1, New York leads an NFC East that looks anything but settled, and Sunday’s home game against the 1-4 Saints gives them another chance to make that standing matter.
What makes this feel especially notable is how the rest of the division has unraveled around them. Philadelphia, the team that has controlled the NFC East for most of the recent past, is 2-3 and lost again into a three-game skid.
Jalen Hurts is out for an undetermined length of time because of a “superficial” blood clot in his calf, while Saquon Barkley and DaVonta Smith are also sidelined with hamstring injuries. Lane Johnson retired midseason, Cam Jurgens was traded, and new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion still has to prove he can handle the job.
Dallas hasn’t been able to grab the opening either. The Cowboys are also 2-3, and even after major changes on defense and the arrival of Christian Parker as coordinator, that side of the ball has been a problem.
The team brought in Mike Pettine as a consultant this week, and Brian Schottenheimer is under pressure after his decision-making played a part in a loss to Baltimore that Dallas had tied with :07 left. The Cowboys also held a players-only meeting this week, which tells you plenty about the temperature in that building.
Then there’s Washington, now 1-3-1 and reeling after Sunday’s badly managed game against the Giants. Questions are swirling around Dan Quinn, Jayden Daniels is taking heat from all angles, and even Micah Parsons chimed in.
The Commanders are already 0-3 in the NFC East and now have to go on the road for Monday Night Football against the 5-0 49ers in Week 6. That season, as the source of this story puts it, might already be over.
Through all of that, the Giants have stayed steady. John Harbaugh said his team has earned the right to win if it keeps executing and keeps working the way it has.
“We want to be more consistent with doing the things that are required to win a football game,” Harbaugh said. “It’s really hard to win in this league.
You’ve got to do a lot of things right against a team that’s trying to do a lot of things right too. I think they have it.
I think they have what it takes. I’ve told them that.
They have what it takes. And they’re chasing execution every single day.
So, I’m really proud of them. I think they’re really diligent.
They’re tough-minded. They work really hard, and they’re very talented.
Those are all really important traits.
“So, let’s see what we can do with this. Let’s see where we can go.”
Sunday’s matchup with the Saints, who have already been put on notice by owner Gayle Benson, could be a chance for New York to keep stacking wins and keep putting pressure on everybody else in the division. The opportunity is right there.
There’s also a quieter issue hanging over the Giants as they prepare for kickoff: the backfield and the ball security attached to it. Harbaugh did not sound like a coach eager to telegraph personnel changes, but he made it clear that Cam Skattebo’s fumbling has become a serious point of emphasis.
“You can definitely coach it. It’s a major point of emphasis.
The league is more of a punch-out league than it’s ever been before, and more players are really good at it than they’ve ever been before,” Harbaugh said. “We better ramp it up, just like with everybody else in the league.
It’s been a major point of emphasis from day one, and it’s still not good enough. So, we’ve got to get a lot better in that area.
That’s been probably the most important thing with our offense. Really, right now, but really all the time.
But the fact that we’ve had a number of fumbles, way more than we should, we’re making a big deal out of it.”
The numbers around Skattebo are hard to ignore. The Giants are 3-0 this season and 5-0 over his 13-game career when he gets at least 18 carries, which has usually been a sign they’re playing the kind of game they want to play. It may not be flashy, but it has worked.
Harbaugh acknowledged on Friday that there is a point where the workload could change.
“Of course. Yes. There is a point,” Harbaugh said.
Has Skattebo reached it?
“We’ll see. We’ll find out,” was all the coach offered.
That kind of answer leaves the door open for a carry reduction or even fewer snaps, and coaches often use playing time as the clearest message they can send.
On special teams, rookie kicker Dominic Zvada is dealing with his first real setback. He missed three of five field-goal attempts last Sunday against Washington after making his first nine kicks of the season, and he now sits at 11 of 14 on field-goal tries. At 22, he’ll get a test of confidence this week after the first rough patch of his career.
Zvada said Thursday that he “never” questions himself, and special teams coach Chris Horton said the issue was a slight alignment problem that had him getting too close to the ball.
“It’s just something that sometimes happens,” Zvada said. “That’s just something we have to be mindful of going forward.”
Horton isn’t sounding the alarm.
“You just got to remind him that he is damn good,” Horton said. “That’s one of the things I think when you believe in your players again, and you remind them that they’re here for a reason and you trust in them.
You’ve just got to remind them of those things. From a confidence standpoint, that’s solely on him and him understanding that I can go out there and I can do this.
“This kid was nine-for-nine before he came into this game. He missed three field goals.
Yeah, it sucks. It’s not our standard.
It’s not where we want to be but we do understand that this guy will make kicks and there’s kicks, you watch all these kicks from across the league, these things are happening with big time players. It happens.”
For the Giants, the big picture is clear enough. The division is there for the taking, and Sunday is another chance to prove they’re ready to reach out and grab it.
In Other News...
Giants Catch Saints At A Brutal Time With One Clear Opening
The Saints come into this matchup with plenty of pressure hanging over them, and the Giants are walking into it with a pretty clear idea of where the opening should be. Nic Jennings of Canal Street Chronicles points to New Orleans slow starts and a defense that has had trouble getting settled, while also noting a few bright spots on the roster such as Devaughn Vele and Jonas Sanker. From the Giants side, the takeaway is straightforward enough: this is a game where patience on the ground could matter more than trying to force big plays early.
For New York, that means leaning into the run game and making the Saints answer the question they have struggled with most. New Orleans has not looked especially sturdy against the run, and if the Giants can stay committed there, they can make life uncomfortable for a team already dealing with coaching pressure and broader frustration. It is the kind of opponent-specific opening teams sometimes only get once, and the Giants should know it if they want to make this trip count. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Have A Real Chance To Turn This Stretch Into A Run
The Giants are heading into their matchup with the Saints with a few fixes in mind, and the focus starts where their offense has been least reliable. Coaches and players have pointed to accountability and ball security as the priority, while the scheme is getting tweaked in hopes of giving the run game a cleaner path and a better rhythm.
It is also the kind of stretch that can change a season in a hurry. New York has an opening to bank wins before the schedule tightens later, and around the league there is a growing sense that the NFC East picture is still there for the taking if the Giants can clean up the details and handle the games in front of them. [Read more 🡒]
Giants May Need An Unproven Lineman More Than Expected
The Giants defensive depth is being stretched by injuries, which has made every available body matter a little more than usual. In that kind of week, Darius Alexander starts to look less like a development project and more like a possible answer in a very specific role, especially after showing some pass-rushing ability as a rookie while still logging limited work this season.
The challenge is finding a way to get a real look at him without asking too much too soon. The safest path is to experiment carefully, keeping his responsibilities narrow so the Giants can evaluate whether he can help on passing situations without sacrificing run defense or coverage behind him. [Read more 🡒]