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Jayden Daniels, Saquon Barkley crashing all-NFC East Championship Game portends more Giants dark days
The NFC East talent gap hasn’t closed. It has widened – significantly.
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There is nothing more embarrassing for the Giants than Saquon Barkley’s superstar explosion deep into his first NFL playoffs with the Philadelphia Eagles.
But there is something worse:
The simultaneous ascension of Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels to immediate elite status in the nation’s capital.
Two years ago, in Jan. 2023, Giants GM Joe Schoen said: “There’s a talent gap there that we need to close, and to me, it’s the NFC East.”
Now, Sunday’s upcoming all-NFC East Championship Game at Philly’s Lincoln Financial Field isn’t just a commentary on a special 2024 season for Nick Sirianni’s and Dan Quinn’s teams.
It is also, from a Giants perspective, reinforcing a frightening reality in their division:
Schoen created a monster in Philadelphia by letting Barkley’s contract negotiations become contentious before letting him walk to New York’s biggest rival in free agency:
Barkley, while playing every down with a colossal chip on his shoulder, has 2,329 total rushing yards this regular season and postseason after his 205 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday’s 28-22 Divisional Round win over the L.A. Rams.
He is only 148 yards shy of breaking Terrell Davis’ all-time record of 2,476 from 1998.
Barkley will turn just 28 years old on Feb. 9. And Eagles GM Howie Roseman’s draft picks of defensive tackle Jalen Carter, center Cam Jurgens and corner Quinyon Mitchell – plus his signing of linebacker Zack Baun – have restocked the Birds for both the present and future.
Then there is Washington. Daniels, 24, is already one of the better quarterbacks in the entire NFL as a rookie.
In December, when NFL employees were going around locker rooms polling players about the league’s top 20 talents for the annual Top 100 list, Daniels was getting some votes.
As one of the best 20 players in the NFL.
When Giants rookie Malik Nabers, Daniels’ former LSU teammate, was asked if he can replicate that success and rapport with the Daniels in the NFL with a new franchise quarterback, he put his confidence in context:
“I mean, I’m sure I can, but that kinda dude that you just mentioned, though, he’s different. He just changed his franchise around,” Nabers said of Daniels on the Giants’ Jan. 6 breakup day. “He’s a great quarterback. It helped me for sure. But I’m not sure how my steps are gonna look with another QB, consistency. I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to see.”
Daniels’ 299 passing yards and two touchdown passes in the Commanders’ 45-31 upset of the No. 1-seeded Lions in Detroit reinforced why he is more than just an exciting rookie.
Daniels, who has dual threat ability, is maturing quickly and has been playing as a passer first.
He did run 16 times for 51 yards and has the ability to change games with his legs. But his 42-yard and 38-yard downfield shots to wide receiver Dyami Brown were shots heard ’round the league.
There are not many quarterbacks who threaten every inch of the field when they take the snap and drop back. But Daniels is one of them.
His 271 combined passing and rushing yards on Saturday were the most in the first half of a playoff game since Tom Brady had 282 in the Patriots’ Super Bowl LII loss to the Eagles.
And most importantly, he now has won his first two career NFL playoff games without turning the ball over even once.
“I always believe,” Daniels said.
Certainly, Washington GM Adam Peters and Quinn will have work to do to continue reinforcing and building the roster they inherited around Daniels. But in professional football, finding the star quarterback is the most difficult part of the puzzle.
And they’ve done that.
They also look smart for drafting Michigan corner Mike Sainistril at No. 50 overall three slots after the Giants took Minnesota safety Tyler Nubin at No. 47. Sainistril snagged two interceptions of Jared Goff in Saturday’s upset.
The Giants — who missed out on coveted corners Kool-Aid McKinstry (No. 41 to the Saints) and Kamari Lassiter (No. 42 to Houston) due to Schoen’s trade of the No. 39 pick for edge rusher Brian Burns — then made a need-based pick at safety due to Xavier McKinney’s departure to Green Bay instead. Then they took Kentucky corner Dru Phillips in the third.
The Giants went 0-6 in the NFC East this season, and Schoen and Brian Daboll are 4-14-1 in division since they took over: 0-6 against the Dallas Cowboys, 1-6 against the Eagles and 3-2-1 against Washington, including 0-2 against Daniels.
The Giants were outscored 143-91 in their six division losses this season. That 0-6 record included a loss to the Eagles in which Philly rested almost all of its starters.
And now one of the Giants’ division rivals is guaranteed to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl during a year when the Giants (3-14) tied for the worst record in the entire league.
The NFC East talent gap that Schoen noted hasn’t closed. It has widened – significantly. The Giants’ ineptitude has helped create and compound the problem.
And that’s what makes co-owner John Mara’s decision to take no action on his GM or coach that much more ridiculous: he has accepted it as the Giants’ new reality for now and the foreseeable future, and crossed his fingers that something will change.
