The New York Giants have missed the playoffs 6 of the last 7 seasons, with an early exit coming in the 2016 playoffs. Since the 2013 season, the Giants have turned into the team that everyone expects to struggle again every season. And with the exception of a lone playoff appearance in 2016, the Giants have turned into that team. For years now the Giants have been doing what some would consider insanity: losing and not changing anything to fix it.
The 2019 season started out just like the others, 0-2 and the Giants looking like they were already done with the season. In week 3, the team finally decided it was time to make a change and give the organization the spark it's lacked since the 2011 Super Bowl run. This spark, however, meant benching a Giant that has won the organization 2 Super Bowls and has been a brick wall for the team for 15 seasons -- Eli Manning. Giants fans love Eli, and I love Eli, but Eli's time in New York had to come to an end with all of the losing that has happened in New York for the past 7 seasons. This meant starting the man that Giants fans booed on draft night, Daniel Jones.
The benching of Eli, and the first start for Daniel Jones, gave the whole team, and Giants fans, the spark it needed going into a must win week 3 game. In his first start as the Giants quarterback, Daniel Jones lived up to his nickname, Danny Dimes. In the game against the Buccaneers, the Giants went into halftime down 28-10, but Danny Dimes played great and gave the team hope for the second half. On the first play of the second half, Danny fired a dart to Even Engram who took it to the house for a 75-yard touchdown. From there on out the Giants played like the old Giants that won Super Bowls. Danny led the team to a comeback win, 32-31, and had 336 yards passing with 4 total touchdowns, 2 of them rushing. Even though it took the Bucs rookie kicker missing an easy game-winning field goal, the Giants won.
As a Giants fan myself, I felt like I was watching a team with no spark -- and no hope -- every week. A team that looked defeated before the game even began, and especially during the game on every play. With Danny Dimes in at quarterback, the New York Giants look revived, like they have something to play for again, and they're playing like they feel this, too.
With the end of the Eli era, and the beginning of the Dimes era, Giants fans finally have what they've been lacking for so long: hope.