Giants vs. Patriots: Ryan Nassib could use a good performance

The unfortunate season-ending injured suffered by Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has led to panic in Minnesota, and speculation about what the Vikings will do from all corners of the NFL world.

Will Minnesota roll with the quarterbacks they have — Shaun Hill, Joel Stave and Brad Sorenson? Will they look for help from the outside?

Look around and you see speculation about a lot of the usual suspects. Mark Sanchez. Nick Foles. Josh McCown. Former Viking Christian Ponder. Michael Vick. Shoot, there is probably someone out there believing the Vikings could talk Brett Favre into a comeback.

What you haven’t heard, though, is anyone suggesting the Vikings approach the New York Giants about a trade for Ryan Nassib.

Ever since the Giants traded up to get Nassib in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft some have speculated that the Giants would eventually try to spin Nassib to another team for a couple of draft picks. At one time, that seemed like a plausible plan. At this point, it seems pretty obvious that is highly unlikely to happen.

Entering his fourth season it is still anyone’s guess as to whether or not Nassib is a real NFL quarterback. In three seasons, Nassib has complete 9-of-10 regular-season passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. None of those, though, have come in any sort of meaningful situation.

The Giants, of course, pledge that they have faith in Nassib should they ever have to call upon him to step in for Eli Manning when it matters.

Still, Nassib’s preseason has been disturbing. He has completed just 15-of-46 passes (32.6 percent) for 169 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. His quarterback rating is a paltry 40.9.

Let’s be fair to Nassib here. The porous blocking has done him no favors as he has been sacked six times and forced to run seven times. Working with a game plan suited to his strengths would likely help, as would playing with the full starting offense.

Yet, we continue to wait for Nassib to show something that excites, that makes us believe the Giants would be OK if Indestructible Eli somehow breaks. It has taken Dak Prescott three preseason games with the Dallas Cowboys to make their fans believe he is the heir apparent to Tony Romo. In his fourth season, we’re still waiting to see that from Nassib.

What you want to see is Nassib, a veteran at least in the preseason sense, show some mastery of many of the backups and guys who will end up being cut that he spends so much of his time playing against.

Instead, we have seen too many issues with ball security, questionable throws into traffic, open receivers missed by off-target Nassib throws and opportunities for big plays go up in smoke with underthrown deep balls.

“We have a lot of confidence in Ryan,” McAdoo said. “We know he can go out and run the system.”

Maybe the Giants are right. Maybe Nassib is the best backup quarterback in the league. Maybe after this year he moves on to another franchise via free agency, wins a starting job and keeps it for the next 10 years. Nobody really knows.

Right now, though, it would simply be nice to see Nassib put together a solid performance Thursday night against the New England Patriots in the Giants’ preseason finale. That might help make everyone feel a little better about the answer to the “what happens if Eli goes down” question.