In a year where we've all been forced to wear masks, perhaps it's fitting that the Giants never really revealed themselves.
Were they the hapless bunch that started 1-7? Were they the blossoming team that strutted to 5-7 and planted their flag in the playoff picture? Or were they the rather flawed team that stumbled down the stretch to 5-10 before winning a finale they needed to stay alive?
After their final game, we still don't know.
Big Blue ended their turbulent season by beating the streaking Dallas Cowboys, a game they had to win to extend their season at least a few more hours. Had the Washington Football Team lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants would have made the most unlikely playoff team in NFL history. But keeping with their history as the Giants' ultimate tormentors, the Eagles could not perform a single kindness for the G-Men, and laid down for Washington to roll over them and bag the division crown.
Giants fans feel conflicting impulses today. They're proud of the team that played hard from whistle to gun. They had some good moments in a sad season – most notably shocking the Seahawks, in Seattle, with Colt McCoy at quarterback, and their gritty victory over a Cowboys team that finally found a groove. And they're also furious with Philadelphia, a constant refrain since the days of Chuck Bednarik.
Fans, players, and pundits are tossing logs into a bonfire of criticism aimed at the Eagles today. After Washington bolted out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts put up a pair of 6-yard rushing touchdowns in the second quarter to grab the lead, 14-10. However, with most of the fourth quarter left and the Birds trailing by just three points, Doug Pederson benched Hurts for no logical reason and ordered Nate Sudfeld into the game.
Sudfeld was awful, completing five of 12 passes for 32 yards, with one interception and a 14.6 passer rating. Since the move clearly cut their chances of winning, it's only fair to assume the Eagles tanked, with the twin goals of making the Giants suffer and grabbing the sixth overall pick in the NFL Draft, instead of the ninth overall pick they’d have held had they won.
Giants fans, and football fans around the nation – and even Cris Collinsworth, who bashed the move on the NBC broadcast last night - are crushing the Eagles for waving the white flag during the last game of the season, which also happened to be the final nationally televised game. In a league that embraces winning the way we cherish oxygen, it is sad to see Pederson send in the scrub quarterback in a blatant attempt to blow the game. If possible, the NFL should slap the team on the wrist, and the face, and banish the coach to the corner with the dunce cap. The Eagles perpetrated a fraud in a sport that claims to be the most emotionally and physically real of all.
But Giants fans should at least ponder one last question - does a 6-10 NFL club really have a right to complain that it was robbed of a playoff spot? Are the Giants really victims of Philly's theft? Or could the Giants have easily won another game and left their future in their Big Blue hands? The Miami Dolphins may understandably scratch their heads, as a 10-6 team missing the playoffs. But the 6-10 G-Men forfeited the right to place the primary blame for this season upon anyone's door but their own…and if you want to pick one soiled moment as the “reason” they didn’t, look no further than Evan Engram’s key drop against those Eagles, as a win in that game or any of their other nine losses would’ve meant a date with Tampa Bay this weekend.
Maybe their season could, or should, last one more week. Big Blue didn't earn one more game, but they did, however, earn enough respect that there's optimism heading into next fall.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
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