The Dramatic Conclusion of the NFC East, and the Bright Side for the New York Giants

Last night, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Football Team played each other in a game that would paint the final touches on the NFC East playoff picture. The Football Team was vying for their spot in the NFL playoffs, and should they have lost, the New York Giants would’ve secured the division title and hosted Tampa Bay next week.

Anyone who’s scrolled through Twitter or watched ESPN over the past 24 hours knows how the story unfolds. The game was a close contest through three quarters of play. Down 17–14 in the 4th quarter with a chance to kick a chip shot field goal and tie the game, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson elects to go for the touchdown on 4th down and take the lead. It was a gutsy move, but not too far out of the ordinary given Pederson’s coaching style.

The Eagles failed to score and ultimately turned it over on downs.. Alright, fair enough. Pederson took a risk and it didn’t pay off. It was a questionable call, but there was still time to get the ball back and try again. Right?

Wrong. The Eagles defense held the Football Team to 17 points, and the offense took the field, not with Jalen Hurts, but with Chase Sudfeld. If you’ve never heard that name, it’s because he hasn’t played a single snap in the NFL since being drafted by the Eagles 4 years ago. Sudfeld’s offensive highlights consisted of an interception and a muffed snap that led to a turnover. Needless to say, Sudfeld and the Eagles lost the game, and the Washington Football Team punched their ticket to the playoffs as NFC East Champions.

Doug Pederson was not coaching to win last night. And despite his postgame statements, I think that’s pretty obvious to anyone who watched the game. He was tanking, and from a moral standpoint, that has to be one of the worst decisions you can make as a coach. I won’t spend too long grandstanding about this, but when you have a group of guys who have committed every last shred of their time and energy to your team, you owe it to them to, at the very least, try to win. These guys don’t care about draft picks or cap space. They might not even play for the Eagles next season. They want to win. Period.

Now, as a Giants fan, watching the fourth quarter of last night’s game was torture. It was the slowest, most twisted departure from the playoffs I had ever experienced. I would’ve rather watched the Football Team slaughter the Eagles by 40. Hey, Dougie P. Next time, forfeit the game. Or start Chase Sudfeld from the get-go. Don’t pretend you care about winning this game, only to wave the white flag when you’re down by three points in the fourth quarter. The Eagles have crushed my hopes dozens of times in the past, but last night, they pulled off an entirely new form of heartbreak that I didn’t even think was possible.

Naturally, I was disappointed after the game. But I had to stop and remember my preseason expectations for the Giants. I didn’t think there was a remote chance that we would make the playoffs. I predicted we would win five games at the very most, and assumed we would continue to be the doormat of the NFL.

Sure, we only won six games. And we were competing in a historically awful division. But this season showed fans there are ample reasons to feel optimistic about the future of the Giants. We stayed competitive in almost all of our games. We have a young, mobile quarterback who seems to be improving and making smarter passes. We have a coach who’s earned the respect and admiration of the players. And we have a defensive unit that, at times, has looked like one of the best units in the NFL.

Let’s be real, Giants fans. We should be happy that we even had a shot at the postseason. The Dolphins missed the playoffs with 10 wins. We were the benefactors of an extraordinarily awful division, and even though it would’ve been exciting to watch our team in a playoff game, we had no business competing in January football.

So curse off Doug Pederson all you want, but hold your head high while you do it, because the future is slowly getting brighter in New York.

(I’m definitely going to regret that last sentence by September.)