For New York Giants, To Play Or Not To Play Is Not So Simple

Few expected Week 18’s New York Giants game against the Philadelphia Eagles not to matter when the 2022 NFL season began — that is, unless it was due to New York being eliminated from the playoff chase.

Instead, the Giants are locked into the six seed in the NFC, and it is the Eagles who need a win to alter their playoff destiny. Accordingly, it should be an easy question whether or not to play their starters, right? Especially after head coach Brian Daboll outlined what the decision point would be on the issue back on Monday.

“I’d say we’ll talk about it and do what’s best for the team,” Daboll told assembled media. “So, it’s early Monday. We’ll go out there and try to have a good week of practice, prepare like we normally do and decide what we want to do relative to who’s playing, who’s not playing. Whatever we think is best for our team, that’s what we’ll end up doing.”

And the week has proceeded just that way, even with so many Giants players and coaches, Daboll included, navigating work with a heavy heart as Damar Hamlin, their former teammate with the Bills, fought for his life.

But with the NFL’s announcement that Week 18 will go on as scheduled, and the wonderful news that Hamlin is off a breathing tube and speaking to teammates, questions turn once more to how the Giants will handle a meaningless game for playoff purposes.

It is not so simple.

There’s the issue of franchise history, of course, though Daboll was clear it wouldn’t factor in the decision. Back in 2007, Tom Coughlin’s Giants played all out in the final regular season game against then-undefeated New England. They lost, but New York went on to build off that close loss, run through the NFC playoffs, and then helmet-caught their way to a Super Bowl win over that same Patriots team.

Nor will it matter that just a few years ago, the Eagles took the opposite tack against Washington, then-Eagles coach Doug Pederson pulling his starters and denying the Giants a chance at the playoffs if Washington had lost. Then-Giants coach Joe Judge was furious.

Joe Judge, of course, is no longer New York’s head coach, as you could probably tell from all the creative play calls and winning.

So instead, the Giants need to evaluate the dangers on an individual basis.

Start with Daniel Jones, the durable quarterback who has both passed and run his way into a critical part of the team’s present and, assuming they pay up this offseason, the future as well.

Putting him in harm’s way is a difficult decision against any team in a game that will not materially affect New York’s playoff position. But this Eagles team, in particularly, has excelled at reaching opposing quarterbacks. Haason Reddick, Brandon Graham, Javon Hargrave and the just-injured Josh Sweat all registered double digits in sacks already this season, while Reddick and Graham have 8 and 6.5 sacks since Week 13, respectively.

While offensive coordinator Mike Kafka parroted the company line — he’ll do whatever Daboll thinks is best — he did explain some of the ways he thinks Jones has managed to stay on the field this season.

“Daniel does all the right things on the field, off the field, prepping his body,” Kafka told reporters Thursday. “He spends a bunch of time doing that type of stuff, kind of the prehab for those soft tissue things and just the kind of normal aches and pains of a football season. He does a good job of taking care of it and on the field, obviously, protecting himself, getting up and out of bounds and sliding and doing those type of things that also I think helped.”

Still, seeing much if any of Jones and running back Saquon Barkley on Sunday would be an upset.

The defense is more complicated, though. The Giants’ best cover corner is Adoree Jackson, who has been out since Week 11 against the Lions with a knee injury. He played limited snaps in practice last week, but did not play in the playoff clincher against Indianapolis. So the Giants need to find out exactly what Jackson can do for them at game speed, and there’s only one place to do it between now and the playoffs — Sunday against Philadelphia.

The same is true, to an extent, with safety Xavier McKinney, who returned against Indianapolis, but is still working on playing while utilizing a splint to protect his broken, healing fingers.

At times, it appeared the Colts were targeting McKinney, and he dropped what would normally be a sure interception for the defensive captain of the Giants.

That’s before even considering the second-order effects defensive coordinator Wink Martindale addressed Thursday — can the return of the team’s most potent secondary weapons allow him to blitz even more?

“We talked about it last week, it all depends on the opponent that we play,” Martindale said. “How we’re going to match up and there’s just so many different things that go into it that I can’t give you an exact answer. I know I feel a lot better that they’re there. I think that (defensive backs coach Jerome) Rome (Henderson) has done a great job in the secondary room and (assistant defensive backs coach) Mike (Treier). We have developed some safeties while X has been out and now we’ve got even more players to add to the mix, which is exciting to me.”

But does it make this defense better?

“Oh yeah, I think it makes us better,” Martindale said. “How much better? We’ll see.”

Also a wait-and-see? Exactly when the Giants will choose to see it.