Pat Shurmur, John Mara
ESNY Graphic, Getty Images

The New York Giants 2019 season hit a new low on Sunday when they were defeated by the Jets, 34-27, in the MetLife Stadium Bowl.

Jason Leach

The New York Giants came into their matchup with the Jets on Sunday hoping to get a win and end their five-game losing streak heading into the bye week.

Instead, they suffered their most disappointing loss of the season. They lost to a team they were expected to beat and now must address many questions and issues heading into their bye week.

Sure, there were some positive takeaways from the game, such as Daniel Jones having the second four-touchdown passing game of his young career and fellow rookie Darius Slayton enjoying the best game of his career, catching 10 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns.

But outside of that, there was nothing to be positive as the Giants made the Jets look like a playoff team at times.

The Jets defense came into this game with only 13 sacks on the season, but on Sunday, they constantly put pressure on Jones and sacked him six times. The Giants came into this game with a banged-up offensive line. They were without center Jon Halapio, right tackle Mike Remmers. Also, left tackle Nate Solder left the game due to a concussion.

Nevertheless, that’s no excuse. The Jets’ front seven dominated the line of scrimmage.

There is one particular statistic that illustrates how the Jets defense overpowered the Giants’ offensive line. The fact that Saquon Barkley gained a total of one yard on the ground on 13 carries is an alarming piece of information. For a back the caliber of Barkley to only gain one yard is an example of how putrid the offensive line was.

Then there was the Giants defense that allowed a Jets team that was averaging 12 points a game to score touchdowns on their first two possessions on drives of 75 and 50 yards to open up a 14-0 lead. Sam Darnold craved up the Giants secondary early and completed his first seven completions of the game.

The Giants had a 27-24 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the lead quickly disappeared thanks to a Deandre Baker pass interference penalty that placed the ball at the Giants’ one-yard line. Le’Veon Bell would score on the next play and the Jets never looked back.

In addition to the Giants finding new ways to lose each and every week, a major issue that has yet to been rectified is Jones’s ball security. Jones fumbled twice more on Sunday and the one he lost came when Jets safety Jamal Adams ripped the football from his hands and ran 25 yards for a touchdown.

Having won four Super Bowls, the Giants are one of the marquee franchises in the NFL, but they haven’t looked like a marquee franchise in a long time. The team is now 2-8 and have an embarrassing 10-32 record over their last 42 games.

The once-proud franchise is headed towards a third consecutive season in which it put up double-digit losses. It’s safe to say the franchise has hit rock bottom, and now, it’s up to ownership to come together to find out what it’s going to take to bring back credibility to the franchise.

Co-owner John Mara was too upset to talk to anyone after the game, but you can rest assured he and Steve Tisch will have a long conversation during the bye week on the current state and future of their franchise.

Changes are desperately needed and although head coach Pat Shurmur said in his postgame press conference that there wouldn’t be any changes to the coaching staff, Mara and Tisch may feel differently about that.

This could be a very tense and intriguing bye week for the Giants players and coaching staff.

Jason's first love was football while growing up in northern New Jersey. For the past three years, he has covered the New York Giants, as well as several boxing events along the East Coast.