Best of the NFL on WFAN: Plenty at stake for Giants and Jets

Evan Roberts (0:00)

What's crazy about this rollercoaster of a week, a week that featured the Yankee season ending, it's also featured the New York Giants not taking a snap yet, and yet their chances of winning the NFC East has grown every single day.

You had the sort of surprise retirement of Lane Johnson, the Eagles then continuing to make over their offensive line with the Juergens trade, and then the topper was last night. And color me surprised. I didn't see this coming, but the Dallas Cowboys, who according to the fanatic sportsbook as of yesterday evening, were the favorites, the favorites to win the NFC East, put up a dud last night, and as we sit here on this Friday morning, and I'm not here to rub it into the noses of Sean and Big Mac for declaring the Giants season over three weeks ago, because you know what, I'm sure they're happy it's not, but the New York Giants' chances of winning this division grows by the day.

Tiki Barber (0:59)

Yeah, because anything can happen in football, and we're starting to see that, and I guess we should have assumed that at some point, the Cowboys were going to give us a dud like they did last night, where not only did they have three turnovers, the last one, the interception, that is what it is, but the first interception by Dak Prescott, and then the fumble by Turpin that resulted in points, all for the Tampa Buccaneers, who had a rookie quarterback who looked really composed. Despite only having his second start.

Evan Roberts (1:26)

Maybe they got something with their chain on Daniels.

Tiki Barber (1:29)

I know they extended Baker Mayfield, but this kid's a gamer, right? So either way, the Cowboys are cowboying at home against a team that they should have beaten by 20, and instead they lost. So when you look at it from a Giants perspective, it is nothing but winning without having to play. Yes. That's exactly what it is because it keeps you, or it keeps the Cowboys at bay from you should, whatever, you lose, you happen to lose the game over the next couple of weeks.

Evan Roberts (1:54)

You're creating a cushion.

Tiki Barber (1:55)

Yes, that's exactly right.

Evan Roberts (1:57)

And the other thing I think we forget about with Dallas, if they truly are the team now in the NFC East that you most fear with what's going on in Philadelphia, their head coach is 9, 12 and 1 Their head coach hasn't won a damn thing.

I know they were quick to throw Mike McCarthy out, I understand why because of the playoff defeats, but he had three straight 12-win seasons. When has Brian Schottenheimer had a winning season? He was an offensive coordinator for a million years and at times not a very good one as I know full well.

Tiki Barber (2:24)

Yeah, he was with the Jets.

Evan Roberts (2:25)

Yes, no, I know.

Tiki Barber (2:26)

We almost bought his house.

Evan Roberts (2:28)

What?

Tiki Barber (2:28)

I'm glad we didn't.

Evan Roberts (2:30)

So I look at Dallas last night and I see an opportunity. I look at what's happened this week to the Eagles and I see an opportunity and no one's going to tell you the Giants are perfect or they're a juggernaut or they're headed towards a 12-win season, but sometimes there are years and divisions where it only takes nine wins. I remember in 2020, Joe Judge's first year, the Giants had a legitimate chance to win the division by only winning six or seven games. Now, I don't think that's the case this year. I think nine, ten is going to be the magic number, but the flaws of Dallas as exposed last night, the issues Philadelphia has, a lot of it health-wise, it is allowing you to believe, not fantasize, because that's what we did three weeks ago. That's what I tried to instill into Sean. Hey, fantasize about it. It's football. You never know. It's no longer a you never know thing. This division is damaged. This division is flawed. And I'll tell you a moment from last night. There was one specific moment where I said, Giants make that play.

The Giants make that play. Do you know what that play is? I don't know if it jumps out at anyone. Maybe it was just me.

Tiki Barber (3:30)

Go ahead.

Evan Roberts (3:31)

Late in the game, when Dallas was trying to get off the field and get the football back down by eight, Deron Bland dropped a pick six. You're right.

Tiki Barber (3:41)

Yes.

Evan Roberts (3:41)

A pick freaking six. And all I could think about for everyone who wants to shortchange what the Giants did the last two weeks by saying they needed a late interception to win. Well, they would have gotten the late interception. I watched that last play, that drop by Bland, and I said to myself, if that's the Giants, they turn it over. They actually don't drop the interception. They take it back to the house. And I think that that kind of missed opportunity by Bland and by the Dallas Cowboys and the opportunistic nature of what the Giants did in those two weeks against Tennessee and Arizona right now in the early going, that's one of the big differences.