There is no universe in which the 3-13 New York Giants’ 2025 season can be considered successful. Back in the summer, though, there was optimism that things might be looking up for the Giants. Finally.
As training camp and an undefeated preseason ended and the regular season approached, I put together a list of what I thought were six keys to a successful 2025 season.
As the season comes to an unsatisfying conclusion, let’s look back at those six keys and see how each played out.
Quarterback play
The Giants, basically,
threw last season’s 3-13 mess at the feet of Daniel Jones and screamed “his fault.” Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito, too.
They insisted that better quarterback play would elevate a team that lost eight one-score games and a 10-point game in 2024 where a play or two from the quarterback might have changed the outcome.
GM Joe Schoen was desperate enough to prove that that he spent the offseason changing future Hall of Famers. There were discussions about Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers before the Giants landed on Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston as a veteran duo, then drafted Jaxson Dart as the future.
Just about the only thing Schoen didn’t consider was calling Philip Rivers.
There was hope that Wilson had enough left to stabilize the position until the Giants were ready to turn the keys over to Dart.
All the Giants got for the $10 million they spent on Wilson was three losses. Even in Wilson’ 450-yard game against the Dallas Cowboys, mistakes in overtime by the quarterback contributed to the loss.
So, Wilson was a bad gamble by Schoen.
Dart more or less proved the point that better quarterback play could lead to better results as he helped the Giants defeat the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles, both playoff teams, in his first three weeks as the starter.
Dart, though, could not in the end overcome all of the other issues the Giants had — injuries to offensive playmakers, disastrous defense, placekicking woes and other special teams nightmares.
On the bright side, Dart was better in 2025 than any quarterback the Giants used in 2023 or 2024. He offers them hope for the future, and that is something to hang on to.
Health of key players
Well, we know how this one turned out.
- Star wide receiver Malik Nabers was lost to a torn ACL in Week 4.
- Running back Cam Skattebo had his season end with a fractured ankle in Week 7.
- Starting linebacker Micah McFadden hasn’t played since Week 1 due to a foot injury.
- Star left tackle Andrew Thomas missed two games at the beginning and two games at the end of the season.
- Edge defender Kayvon Thibodeaux played in just 10 games.
- Paulson Adebo, signed to be the team’s No. 1 cornerback, missed five games with a knee injury. He didn’t play up to expectations when he was on the field.
- The Graham Gano gamble backfired. The Giants stuck with the 38-year-old placekicker despite back-to-back injury-shortened seasons. Gano got hurt twice, played in just five games, and the Giants are now on their fourth placekicker of the season.
- Defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches has missed five games and might miss a sixth this weekend.
- Beyond McFadden, the linebacker position was crushed by injuries. Chris Board has been on IR since Week 3. Darius Muasau missed five games. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles missed eight.
So, no, the Giants did not stay healthy.
The defense matching the hype
Umm … no. This did not happen. Not close. The defense, for the part of the season that mattered, was a disaster.
Remember the days of hope when Abdul Carter was looked at as the favorite for Defensive Rookie of the Year rather than an immature kid who didn’t know how to be a pro? When the defensive front seven was thought to be among the best in the game? When analysts thought the Giants’ pass rush would win games by itself? When it looked like the free agent signings of Paulson Adebo and Jevon Holland, and development from Dru Phillips and Tyler Nubin, would fix a leaky secondary? Darius Alexander was drafted to help Dexter Lawrence on the defensive line.
Back in those days analysts — myself included — figured the Giants should be in the top half of the league, perhaps even in the top 10, defensively.
I wrote this:
It is the defense that is going to have to carry this team against a difficult schedule, keeping the Giants competitive, making game-changing plays, setting up the offense to make big plays and be opportunistic.
If it can’t, the Giants won’t be winning very many games.
The Giants, of course, have not won many games. The biggest culprit? Awful defense.
The Giants are 29th in the NFL in yards allowed per game, 30th in rushing yards allowed per game, tied for last in the league in yards allowed per rushing attempt, 28th in red zone touchdown rate allowed, 26th in points allowed, 26th in the league in interceptions, and 27th in total takeaways.
Maybe things would have been different had Brian Daboll fired defensive coordinator Shane Bowen last January when co-owner John Mara said of the defense that he was “tired of watching teams go up and down the field on us.” Or, if he had fired Bowen after the Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys when the defense allowed more than 500 yards and couldn’t hold a three-point lead with :25 to play. Or, if Daboll had fired Bowen after the Week 7 meltdown was the Giants blew a 19-point lead and gave up 33 fourth-quarter points in a 33-32 back-breaking loss to the Denver Broncos.
Instead, Daboll stayed with Bowen, got himself fired, and left it to interim head coach Mike Kafka to fire Bowen after a 34-27 loss to the Detroit Lions in which the Giants gave up 517 yards and surrendered a 27-17 fourth-quarter lead.
For the record, under interim coordinator Charlie Bullen the Giants have been fifth in the NFL in yards allowed per rushing attempt (3.7) over the past three weeks, and seventh in points allowed per game (18.3) over that span.
Had they played defense like that over the first two-thirds of the season, things might have been different for the Giants.
They didn’t, though, and things aren’t different.
The offensive line being at least adequate
Since Andrew Thomas returned to full-time duty in Week 4, the Giants have hit the mark on this one.
Until a hamstring injury felled him for the final two games, Thomas was playing as well as he did in his 2022 All-Pro season. Right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor had an excellent season, one that will earn him a nice pay day in free agency. Center John Michael Schmitz continued to show improvement in his third season, and Austin Schlottmann has played well when Schmitz has been out of the lineup. Veteran guards Jon Runyan and Greg Van Roten may not be long-term answers, but both have been competent.
Pro Football Focus actually ranks the Giants’ offensive line No. 12 in the NFL heading into the final week of the season. It has been a long time since the Giants had an offensive line considered to be among the top half of offensive line units in the league.
The Giants have a decision to make with Eleumunor and they need to keep adding young talent to this group, but this has been the best line of the Schoen era.
Don’t blame the blocking for the mess the Giants have been.
Bono or Bozo?
Mara had a warning for Brian Daboll after Daboll was named Coach of the Year following the Giants’ surprising 2022 season.
“Right now he’s Bono walking around New York City. But I’ve told him — I’ve said: ‘In this business, it doesn’t take long to go from Bono to Bozo.”
Daboll looked a lot like Bozo in 2023 and 2024. A 9-25 won-loss record. Flipping a tablet in the direction of Daniel Jones. A blowup with former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. Assistant coaches being shown the door while players showed a lack of discipline on the field. Too many highly drafted players not performing as anticipated.
I wrote this in August:
Not much went right the last two seasons.
Daboll went from a cigar-smoking hero of Giants fans to a cigar-smoking hack. Some fans were so distraught they were paying for planes to fly above MetLife Stadium begging John Mara to make changes.
Bono to Bozo.
Can Daboll recapture the magic?
The answer, of course, was no.
The Giants blew five double-digit leads in their first 10 games. The team’s No. 3 overall pick, Abdul Carter, was underwhelming. The defense was abominable, and Daboll stubbornly wouldn’t make the move with Shane Bowen that everyone else knew was necessary. Daboll again showed his volatility by barreling into the medical tent — a violation of the NFL’s protocol he and the Giants were fined for — to find out the progress of a Jaxson Dart concussion check. Dart, getting mixed messages from the coach about the aggression he was showing as a runner, finally did suffer a concussion in Week 10.
With the Giants at 2-8 after that Week 10 loss to the Chicago Bears, Daboll got fired.
So, no, Bono left the Giants’ building after the 2022 season and never returned.
A little luck
Luck, as they say, is often the residue of design. Maybe better design is part of the reason the Giants got two interceptions on Sunday in their victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
It isn’t hard to argue, though, that a little bit better luck in several situations might have helped the Giants’ season turn out better.
- Week 2 against Dallas, Kayvon Thibodeaux forced a Dak Prescott fumble with :19 to go and the Giants protecting a three-point lead. George Pickens of the Cowboys recovered the ball. The play was overturned to an incomplete pass. But, a different result there changes the game’s outcome.
- In Week 7 against the Broncos the Giants needed ONE fourth-quarter play against the Broncos to change the outcome of their 33-32 loss. Maybe that play would have been Dru Phillips avoiding a pass interference penalty on a failed Denver fourth-and-2 that gave the Broncos a first down. Maybe it was kicker Jude McAtamney missing the second of two failed extra points. A real NFL kicker and maybe the Giants win that game.
- Maybe the Giants defeat the Bears if Dart doesn’t get concussed.
- Maybe they beat the Washington Commanders in Week 15 if Jalin Hyatt runs the correct pass route.
- Maybe they beat the Vikings if they don’t lose a 96-yard pick six to an Abdul Carter offside penalty.
Maybe those things are not all luck. Point is, though, that one play or one bounce of the ball could have changed the outcome of a number of games. The margins are so small in the NFL that sometimes you need a little bit of luck. Bad teams generally don’t have it, and the Giants were a bad team in 2025.
