New York Giants' fans are already be in off-season, what will it take to fix this team, mode. The Giants themselves, however, have two games remaining in their regrettable 2013 season. The first of those is this Sunday at Ford Field in Detroit, MI. vs. the Detroit Lions.
The meeting between the 5-9 Giants and the 7-7 Lions is one that has the potential to be entertaining, even if the football is unlikely to be pristine. The Giants lead the league in turnovers with 39 and their -17 turnover differential is second only to the New York Jets. The Lions are second in the league with 31 turnovers and have a -13 turnover differential, fourth-worst in the league. Giants' quarterback Eli Manning has, as we know, been an interception machine with a league-worst 25. Detroit's Matthew Stafford is third-worst in the league with 17 picks of his own.
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Those factors alone mean a high probability for some serious comic relief Sunday afternoon.
Throw in the fact that both of these teams chug toward the finish line of the season in some level of turmoil, and that makes this game even more interesting.
Giants' fans know what the issues surrounding their team are. Four playoff-less seasons now in five years. Signs of internal frustration finally getting out. The head coach will stay if he desires to, and all signs are that he does. His coaching staff? That is anybody's guess right now. A franchise quarterback who appears broken, and an offense that apparently missed the memo that there is a point-scoring explosion going on around the league.
The Lions are a mess, too. Detroit is 7-7 and still technically in the playoff race in the NFC North. The Lions, though, are pretty much that division's equivalent of the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East. Even when things appear to be handed to them on a silver platter, they manage to mess it up.
In the NFC East, with the Giants and Washington Redskins floundering the division should have been the Cowboys' for the taking. With two games left, it appears they will find a way -- once again -- not to win it.
Detroit is a team that, Monday night, found on a way to lose a game to the Baltimore Ravens during which it did not surrender a touchdown. How does that happen in the NFL in 2013? Beyond that, the Lions find themselves in third place in the NFC North despite the division-leading Chicago Bears (Jay Cutler) and second-place Green Bay Packers (Aaron Rodgers) playing without their quarterbacks for much of the season.
How is it, exactly, that the Lions are not leading that division?
However they have gotten into this mess, SB Nation's Pride of Detroit fully expects the organization to fire head coach Jim Schwartz if the team misses the playoffs, which seems likely. POD's Sean Yuille wrote:
"If they can't get the job done and win the NFC North this year, there's no reason to expect that they ever will. At this point, it has simply become clear that it's time for a change."
See, Giants' fans. Your team isn't the only one with problems.
Game Details
Game Time: 4:05 p.m.
Location: Ford Field, Detroit, MI.
TV: FOX
Odds: The Giants are 9-point underdogs.