Nothing but football misery in our town

Once again the Giants and Jets put on an awful product that causes us to ignore them the rest of the year.

It’s a tradition like no other at this time of the year.

The Giants and Jets are basically playing out the season and competing for draft positions after what appears to be another losing season. Once again, both teams will be out of playoff position before Thanksgiving.

The Giants are 2-8, and they are entering the bye on a five-game losing streak with no hope in sight. The Jets are 3-7, and they look like an aging team that can’t play together.

All this after both teams enter their respective seasons with high hopes. For the Giants, it was about making the playoffs after a disappointing 6-11 season last year. For the Jets, it was about being all in for the Super Bowl with a healthy Aaron Rodgers after a 7-10 season last year as a result of Rodgers being out for the season with an Achilles injury four snaps into the Jets’ season opener.

Who knew last year would be the good old days?

The Giants may be in the midst of a quarterback change after another ineffective Daniel Jones performance in their 20-17 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in Germany.

Jones has been awful all season. As usual, he struggles to get the Giants to the end zone once he and his team reach the red zone. He has thrown eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in 10 games. Most importantly, they haven’t won with him. When he played great, it was during garbage time when the game was out of hand as the Giants lost to the Washington Commanders and Panthers.

Before Big Blue’s 27-22 loss to the Commanders at MetLife Stadium, Jones failed to throw a touchdown at home. That’s all you need to know about the year he has had here.

Jones has all but earned a pink slip from the Giants after the season whether he’s benched or not.

The defense has been awful after the Giants let Wink Martindale leave as their defensive coordinator in the offseason. They can’t stop the run, and they can’t cover wide receivers. Their pass rush can’t get to the quarterback. They can’t tackle. They don’t inspire fear in other teams’ offenses. Jones has been so bad that he has provided cover for the defense by having people talk about him.

Joe Schoen’s draftees have regressed as players. Has any of them made a highlight play this year? Has any of them elevated the Giants?

This team is poorly coached. They often are unprepared and disorganized. They play with no purpose in each game.

Their record is based on merit. It has nothing to do with the Giants being unlucky.

The Jets offered hope that they could go on a run after a 21-13 victory over the Houston Texans on Thursday Night Football. They quashed that after a hideous 31-6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

10 games should give you a feel for a team, and the Jets have a look at a team that won’t be playing in the playoffs this season.

Face it: Aaron Rodgers is washed up. He has failed to elevate the Jets. He has struggled to throw the deep ball. The offense hasn’t been dynamic because of the lack of points. There is certainly not much creativity on offense with him, as he struggles to move. Yes, he has 15 touchdowns, but he also has seven interceptions. He has not made anyone better on offense. He has been out of sync with Davante Adams and Garrett Wilson.

The defense has been atrocious. Sauce Gardner has regressed this season. He hasn’t shut down any wide receiver this season, and he can’t tackle. On Sunday, the Jets missed 20 tackles and allowed 406 total yards, 28 first downs and 70, 70, 70 and 83-yard touchdown drives to the Cardinals, who scored on their first five possessions. The Cardinals did not even punt until the fourth quarter.

Jets owner Woody Johnson fired Robert Saleh and acquired Adams after five games to provide a spark for a team trying to find its way. He even played a role in getting Haason Reddick to end his holdout. It did not produce any effect on the team. The Jets are 1-4 since those moves. It’s hard to think it will get better for the rest of the season.

Right now, one can make a case this is the worst season in Jets history. Yes, we lived through Rich Kotite’s 1-15 season in his final forgettable season with the team, but at least, there was something positive that came out of it with then-New England Patriots head coach Bill Parcells wanting to coach the Jets and Peyton Manning considering coming out of college to be the No. 1 pick and play for the Jets, which did not happen as he decided to stay in Tennessee for his senior year.

It’s hard to think anything will get better after this season. Once the Jets fire general manager Joe Douglas and interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, just exactly which coach and general manager want to work for Johnson after so many head coaches and general managers have come and gone after their experience with Johnson. With Bill Belichick trashing Johnson frequently on ESPN’s Pat McAfee show and several other media outlets, there’s no way anyone would want to work for him. Forget Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson coaching here since he may not have a quarterback to work with.

Also, what young quarterback wants to play for the Jets after Mark Sanchez, Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson fizzled out?

Only hope for the Jets is if Woody Johnson sells the team to Mets owner Steve Cohen. Cohen at least has the cache of football executives wanting to work for him. Johnson has a bad history.

Thiswill be the Jets' 14th year without playoffs, the longest such drought in North American sports history.

As for the Giants, it’s laughable when players make a case that ownership knows how to win with their great pedigree. Really? This is a franchise that missed the playoffs 10 of their last 12 times. They made the playoffs twice and won a playoff game since they last won a Super Bowl. That’s nothing to be proud of. What faith does anyone have in Mara to think he will get it right? This is an owner who has hired and fired coaches since his father died.

Right now, Schoen and Giants head coach Brian Daboll don’t appear to be in danger of being fired. But things can change. Just ask Ben McAdoo, Jerry Reese, Pat Shurmur, Dave Gettleman and Joe Judge. They all got a vote of confidence until Mara decided to fire them.

What about those two that offer any confidence that it will get better? Daboll is even worse than the last three failed Giants coaches in McAdoo, Shurmur and Judge. Schoen has been awful as a general manager. It sure would be funny if they stayed and then drafted a Jones wannabe in Carson Beck, who has the highest potential of all quarterbacks in 2025 class despite his interception problems at Georgia.

Here’s what damning about both of our football teams: They are not fun or interesting. It’s hard to laugh at them when they have been doing this every year. It gets frustrating.

It can’t be fun for Commissioner Roger Goodell to watch two of New York’s football teams not participate in the playoffs year in and year out. Yes, the NFL boasts great ratings, but the league is always better when the New York teams are in the playoffs.

It’s not fun every year for all of us to watch this. We would love to celebrate January with our teams in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, that’s never the case, and that’s why the Giants and Jets are an NFL laughingstock year in and year out.

It probably will get even worse before it gets better. That’s scary considering we have seen bad football for the last 12 years and counting.