Will the New York Giants win the NFC East? It’s a question that has been in the background since the Giants got the lead in the division way back in Week 1.
Eight weeks later, the Giants haven’t relinquished their lead and the Giants have a golden opportunity to do something they haven’t don’t in a decade and a half: Win the NFC East. Everything the Giants have said and done over the last two months indicates that not only do they want to win the division, they truly believe they can.
Giants fans believe
them, too.
A full 91 percent of Giants fans believe that Big Blue is going to execute the Worst To First jump and come away from the 2026 season as the NFC East champions.
Las Vegas agrees with them, and the Giants are now the fifth most likely team in the NFC to make the playoffs (-136, per FanDuel), edging out the Seattle Seahawks. And while the most common line you’ll here from national commentators is some variation on “I just don’t know who the Giants are yet”, John Harbaugh is the betting favorite for Coach Of The Year (+250), Arvell Reese is the favorite for Defensive Rookie Of The Year (+250), and Malik Nabers is second in Comeback Player Of The Year (+550, all per FanDuel) — though he’s trailing Patrick Mahomes.
This is a pretty remarkable shift from a month ago. We asked a similar question back on October 10th, and 39 percent of fans believed that the Giants would miss the playoffs, and only 24 percent of fans believed the Giants would win the NFC East.
It’s difficult to overstate just how important the Giants’ upset win over the Houston Texans was for their playoff odds, particularly in light of the Dallas Cowboys’ collapse against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 8.
Now, the Giants game against the Eagles is one of the most consequential of Week 9.
If the Giants beat the Eagles, they’ll become one of the most likely teams in the NFC to make the playoffs. Even if the Cowboys beat the Indianapolis Colts this week, simply keeping pace cuts the amount of time Dallas would have catch the Giants and reduces their margin for error.
John Harbaugh believed when he was hired to be the Giants’ head coach that his new team had the pieces to win in 2026. It was one of the things that attracted him to New York over places like Tennessee and Miami.
Now, the Giants are being aggressive in trying to add an impact player before the trade deadline to prepare for the stretch run to the Playoffs. It’s widely reported that John Harbaugh wants Jonathan Taylor to be his bellcow running back, and the Giants have also pursued multiple top veteran defensive tackles to reinforce their defense.
And it should be no surprise that Giants fans remain very confident in the direction of their team.
This is down slightly from last week’s 98 percent fan confidence in the direction of the Giants.
The slight dip in fan confidence could be due to a few factors. It’s possible that some of the enthusiasm following the Giants’ overtime win in Week 7 faded over the bye week.
Finally, there could also be fans who are skeptical of John Harbaugh’s willingness to use premium draft picks to acquire Jonathan Taylor or a defensive tackle. Such a move would likely help the Giants now, but it could make adding young (and relatively inexpensive) pieces in the draft more difficult.
Or it may just be that the dip is just statistical noiset due to a different sample of fans answering our poll.
Regardless, Giants fans are still briming with confidence in their team, and excited in a way we’ve rarely seen in the last decade.
