We said progress isn't pretty.
Progress doesn't light up a scoreboard, or a box score. Progress can't be timed with a stopwatch, or a tape-measure. Progress doesn't bogart the bold ink or dictate the water-cooler chatter. It doesn't tickle the Monday morning quarterbacks.
But you saw progress at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. You saw the football return to the New York Football Giants.
The Giants didn't just bump an ugly 2-7 record up to a woeful 3-7 record. They didn't just equal the most wins in their dreadful division. They did something more subtle, and important: they won a game they normally lose, and beat a team they never win against.
Indeed, if Big Blue is going to bag their biggest win of the season, then do it against the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia has owned the Giants in a montage of morbid ways, from blowouts to comebacks to catastrophic punt returns, all while going 12-1 against the G-Men since October 27, 2013. There wasn't a lead the Giants didn't blow, a pick they didn't throw, a surefire win they couldn't lose.
So each time the Eagles clawed their way back on Sunday, it felt like destiny. It felt like inevitability. It felt like losing.
When the Giants jumped out 7-0 in the first quarter, you knew it wasn't enough. When they muscled out 14-3 in the second quarter, you were hoping it was enough. And when Wayne Gallman blasted into the end zone for a second time, making it 21-11 in the third quarter, you were starting to hope that was enough. Then when Eagles RB Corey Clement (in his only carry of the day) rumbled into the end zone, capping an eight-play, 75 yard drive that took a tidy 4:29, you went from wonder to worry.
But these Giants are just a bit different. Instead of their customary choke against their eternal tormentors, they kicked two field goals and blanked the Eagles in the fourth quarter, stretching the lead to the eventual final score of 27-17.
After the Eagles slashed the lead to four with 5:29 left in the third quarter, they had four more drives. Two of them ended with punts, and two ended in failed fourth-down attempts. The four drives took 4 plays. 5 plays, 8 plays, and 5 plays, respectively, producing zero points over eight total minutes.
That's what progress looks like. And this time it was followed by adding a digit to the win column. There may be no such thing as a pretty 3-7 record, but there are no ugly wins, and the Giants beating the Eagles looks like a Picasso compared to the devastating, desecrating losses they've suffered at the hands of their foes down the NJ Turnpike.
And it’s time to tip a helmet to Daniel Jones. The artist formerly known as Danny Dimes offered flashes of the QB who seemed so fit for the Big Apple last year. Jones completed 21 of 28 passes for 244 yards, and finished with a tidy 100.9 passer rating. Perhaps the most impressive number was 0 - the number of times Jones turned over the football. No picks, no fumbles, no scalp-scratching plays that have shaped the bewildering parts of his young career.
It's also a defense that seems to harden with each week. It's Jabrill Peppers making tackles in the backfield. It's James Bradberry deflecting a crucial pass in the second half. It's smothering Carson Wentz with three sacks and holding him to barely 200 passing yards. It's allowing the Eagles offense on the field for just over 28 minutes.
We should also note that the Giants did this sans their star player. He's been gone so long we forget that Saquon Barkley can't take a single handoff, catch a single pass, or rumble over a single defender. And while 3-7 doesn't drain the adrenal gland, it italicizes a toughness they didn't have until Joe Judge grabbed the headset.
Out of their final six games, the Giants battle just two teams with losing records - the Bengals next week, and the Cowboys in their final week. In between they face the Seahawks, Cardinals, Browns, and Ravens – a foursome flaunting a combined record of 24-12, with each team 6-3.
If the Giants beat the Bengals - no sure feat - and the wayward Cowboys, they would end the season 5-11, not too terrible for a team some said should tank for Trevor Lawrence. Should they win one more, go 3-3, and finish 6-10, it would mark remarkable progress. Either way, the 2020 Giants don't quit or tank, and little by little they are learning not to lose. Now that's progress.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
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