I don’t think I’m ready to sign off on that. Certainly not the “by far” part. The AFCN is definitely the division with the most parity and the least bad bottom feeder. But they are kind of mushy at the top.
The Ravens are very good but the offense is so dependent on Lamar. They are super inconsistent. The Browns, who won today, have truly dismal QB play. Great D but I would trust them against a good team on the road. The Bengals are an enigma and injuries continue to cripple them. And the Steelers are a really annoying bad team. I’m not sure who has worse QB play, them or the Browns. The Steelers could lose to anyone, even the pathetic Cards, Pats and Colts.
The Eagles are better than the Ravens and the Cowboys are better than the Browns. Certainly the Giants are dismal but I’m not sure that I value that much in the debate.
The Bills and Dolphins are inconstant as hell but I think they’d be a pick ‘em against the Ravens and Bengals respectively. The Browns and the Jets are mirror images of each other. The Pats are clearly worse than the Steelers but would you bet that game?
So there’s definitely a case in favor of the AFCN, wins and losses being the most compelling, but half the division is a dumpster fire at QB.
Yeah, it’s always a debate as to how to rate a division with respect to all the other divisions in the league. After today’s games, the AFCN will still be the only division in which all four teams are above .500. Their combined record is 24-13. No other division is close to that record. And every other division has at least one team sub .500.
Houston, however, now has the 3rd WC slot, ahead of the Bengals.
In part because they have to play each other, which limits their wins. It’s much easier to be the top team in a bad division and rack up easy wins.
Eagles over Ravens is probably fair but I’m not sure Dallas over the Browns is true, and Pittsburgh/Cinci beats Washington/Giants by a much bigger margin than the Eagles/Cowboys might have over the Ravens/Browns. There’s no other division that has a serious chance of sending all 4 of their teams to the playoffs, which would be an incredible feat though not likely to actually happen.
The main real difference is the uniform numbers. For the past twenty-ish years, they’ve used rounded numerals (and, I think, a different font for the name on the back). The “throwbacks” use the block numerals that were used in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Given the stats I quoted above, I don’t know what other division could lay a claim to being the best. I mean, the Bengals are last in that division. Yes, the Eagles and Cowboys are two of the better teams in the league…but their division also has the Commanders and the Giants.
So here’s my question to any Giants fans out there: Daboll seemed to be a good coach last year, so is the problem the team building? I know Schoen has only had a couple of offseasons to work, so did Gettleman really fuck them this badly?
(though fortunately for them, they get Washington next)
The main problem is the offensive line, which has been the main problem for a decade. The Giants completely wasted the second half of Eli’s career by not restocking the offensive line properly after the guys who won the Superbowls (David Diehl, Chris Snee, Kareem McKenzie) retired around 2013.
Finally the Giants have an actually good LT in Andrew Thomas, ranked something like top five by PFF last season. Thomas went down in the season opener against Dallas, and ended up missing the next 7 weeks. It wasn’t just that the Giants no longer had their stud LT on the field. And it wasn’t just that they had to move guys out of position to cover LT, weakening other positions along the line. The real loss is that Thomas made the rest of the guys play better. Without him the entire OL has been in disarray for pretty much all of 2023 so far, and he’s far from the only lineman who’s missed time due to injury this year.
So many injuries on the OL, in fact, that they signed former Giant (and then Cardinal) LG Justin Pugh from off his couch. And then in today’s game, when Thomas went down with a knee, Pugh moved over to LT. He’s a decent guard, but not a great LT.
Meanwhile, all of this horrible line play has kind of turned Daniel Jones into David Carr 2.0. He did pretty well last year, but this year he was all skittish and staring at the pressure. Tyrod Taylor looked better to me, but then he went down.
This decade of offensive futility (that did include two playoff appearances) has unfortunately set in such that the Giants players have a tendency to give up and quit. As soon as something goes wrong, you can see it in their eyes: “Oh no, here we go again.” Last season it was all about it being a new day, but this season we’re right back to oh no here we go again.
Combine the endemic OL issues of the franchise with having to start a third string practice squad QB for the rest of the season, plus the team’s propensity to shrink in the face of adversity, well, Vince Lombardi wouldn’t be able to turn this group into winners.
The only question remaining is: With the inevitable top 5 draft pick next year, do the Giants look for a new quarterback? Can they eat Jones’ contract?
EDIT: I didn’t even mention the horrible wide receiving corps, in the conversation for worst in the league for several years running now. Who is the last actually good Giants wide receiver? Victor Cruz?
Darius Slayton has the talent to be a backup to the slot receiver, and he’s their WR1. It’s comically bad that they started the season with Slayton at WR1. What the hell were they thinking?!
How bad is Slayton? He is literally a WR1 in the league, yet nobody in the SDMB Dynasty League has him on a roster. This is a fantasy league where there are 12 managers who can start up to four wide receivers, and can roster 25 players. That’s 300 players rostered in the Dynasty League, with 48 potential starting wide receiver slots, and not one owner considers him worth stashing. He’s a freaking WR1! Except, of course, he’s not. The Giants just seem to be utterly inept when it comes to wide receivers. Kenny Golladay, anyone?
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