There was a football game on Sunday in New Jersey.
Two teams representing New York played each other.
There were four quarters, plenty of touchdowns, and plenty of excitement from a pair of fan bases that have had little to celebrate the past few seasons.
But most of all, there was a ton of bad football.
The Jets defeated the Giants for a second-straight time in the MetLife Stadium rivalry, which is nicknamed the “Snoopy Bowl” — though I preferred the multiple “Toilet Bowl” signs and headlines throughout the week.
In the days leading up to the trainwreck that was Sunday afternoon’s matchup, the talk of the town was how the Jets have to get rid of head coach Adam Gase.
It’s an understandable argument. Gase had gotten nothing out of his offense — which is counterintuitive for a head coach that was labeled an offensive guru entering this gig. The Jets had scored eight offensive touchdowns in their first eight games and were averaging just 12 points per outing.
Yet the Giants found a way to one-up the Jets in the battle of ineptitude as it’s becoming more and more clear that this franchise has to clean house.
Defensive coordinator James Bettcher’s unit was torched by the Jets for 27 of their 34 points, including a pair of touchdowns on their opening two drives of the day.
He made the Jets’ sieve-like offensive line look like a brick wall at times as they couldn’t get to Darnold when it mattered most. The secondary wasn’t much better as they looked like a bunch of clueless toddlers trying to keep up with a set of Jets playmakers that have done nothing for most of the season.
But Bettcher can’t hold a candle to the walking disaster that is head coach Pat Shurmur — who continues to field unprepared teams each week.
Daniel Jones managed to have a fine day with four touchdowns and over 300 yards passing under center despite his bumbling head coach’s bizarre play calls.
Shurmur remains ignorant to the fact that the has one of the most explosive playmakers in football in the backfield with Saquon Barkley. While the Jets run defense was stout, the Giants head coach did absolutely nothing to exploit the second-year star’s skillset behind an offensive line that was without three starters.
He could have at least drawn up a few more designed screens for Barkley and get him in 1-on-1 coverages. The one time it happened, Barkley broke one open for 22 yards.
But Shurmur’s playcalling is basic and predictable — and it was never more evident on a 4th-&-1 on the Giants’ 39-yard-line during the second quarter in a one-point game. With a TV timeout allowing him time to draw up a perfect play, Shurmur called a QB sneak for Jones only to be stuffed by a Jets defense that constantly dominated the Giants’ shorthanded offensive line.
The Jets let him off the hook by missing a field goal, but that’s what happens when two bad football teams play each other.
After his latest loss, Shurmur is now 17-42 as an NFL head coach and 7-19 with the Giants.
An embarrassing loss to a Jets team that resembled the JV squad more than a pro team will only make his hot seat warmer.
At the end of the day, though, this is a bad football team that lacks the talent to win football games because owner John Mara opted to hire Dave Gettleman as his general manager.
The decision has seen the Giants part ways with key franchise players — like Odell Beckham Jr. and Landon Collins — while enabling a man with little football sense to drive a proud organization into the ground.
What makes it all more infuriating for Giants fans is the fact that they all saw this coming. Yet Mara still chose this route.
Now he’s stuck in the mud and the only way to get out of it is blowing this whole thing up and starting from scratch with your rookie quarterback and franchise running back.
