It’s been a rough patch for both the New York Giants and Jets. Both franchises have picked in the top 5 of the NFL Draft the last few seasons. Also, they’ve each had playoff droughts. The Jets haven’t qualified for the playoffs since the 2010 season. To make you feel old, Rex Ryan was the Head Coach, Mark Sanchez was the starting Quarterback, and the defense was an elite group with Cornerback Darrelle Revis who was 1 of the best defensive players in the league at that time. Who could forget Revis Island? As for the Giants, they haven’t made the playoffs since the 2016 season. When that happened, Eli Manning was the starting Quarterback and Odell Beckham Jr was still a member of the team. Since Tom Coughlin stepped down from the team, the Giants have had their share of head coaches. Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge simply didn’t cut it. Brian Daboll has changed this entire franchise in a short period of time. The Giants are 4-1 and the Jets are 3-2. Let’s talk about their surprising starts.
Giants: For years, I noticed a team that quit on their coaches, meaning they didn’t want to play for those guys. I can’t say I’ve seen the same under Coach Daboll. They respond to him by playing hard and leaving everything on the field. When I watch the Giants offense now, they’ve made Saquon Barkley the focal point of the offense. Taking that pressure off Daniel Jones has helped him significantly because when you press, you turn the ball over and that’s exactly what he was doing in previous years. Speaking of Daniel, he’s taking much better care of the football. I see a much better effort altogether on both sides of the football. I remember after seeing the game against the Tennessee Titans in week 1, I said to myself if this is 5 or 6 years ago, this is a loss. They throw the towel in and give up. Now, they feel they can defeat anyone every single week. There’s a confidence within the Giants that we haven’t seen in years. On the defensive side, they’ve also been handling their business. They do a much better job of finishing football games. Most importantly, they believe in themselves. That’s all Coach Daboll.
Jets: When Robert Saleh was hired to be their next Head Coach, I was thrilled for him to get a shot at being a head coach. Back when he was the Defensive Coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, his players loved him, and they took after him. His personality rubbed onto his players. In the NFL Draft back in 2021, the Jets drafted their future franchise Quarterback in Zach Wilson from BYU. His first year was a struggle as to be expected. The 2022 NFL Draft saw the Jets were active and aggressive. I thought they actually won the draft with their picks of Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson and Jermaine Johnson. Watching this team so far, the Jets are a physical and hard-hitting group that’s punishing their opponents. The Jets offense has an identity now. They run the football. Since Zach came back from his knee injury, they’ve won their last 2 games, including a stunning victory over the Miami Dolphins. The Jets are taking after their head coach and it’s showing.
If you told me after week 5 both the Jets and Giants would each, be above .500, I’d look at you as if you were crazy. That’s the thing about football, you truly have to expect the unexpected. It’s been fun to see both teams playing some good football after seeing them struggle for a few years.
