Tom Rock: Giants are the center of attention among NY sports teams for the first time in a while
Giants QB Jameis Winston reacts after a game against the Arizona Cardinals at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 4, 2026 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Jim McIsaac
John Harbaugh was asleep for one of the Giants’ biggest moments of this week: When the division rival Cowboys looked awful in a loss to the Bucs on Thursday night.
“I didn’t stay up for it, it was too late,” he said. “But I saw the highlights in the morning, and guys were talking about it.”
He said general manager Joe Schoen gave him the rundown of what happened.
“It’s more like you probably talk about it at work with your colleagues and friends and stuff,” Harbaugh said. “ ‘Hey, you see the game last night?’ ”
Cam Skattebo, meanwhile, continued to downplay the early success that the Giants have had in their own games, the ones Harbaugh has managed to be awake for, the ones that have them in sole possession of first place in the NFC East through four weeks of action.
“We’re not really thinking about that,” the running back said. “Not really worried about first place yet.”
Good. That’s the way it should be. For them, at least, with their fancy “1-0” T-shirts and week-to-week myopia.
For the rest of us, it’s a totally different story.
In fact, it’s pretty much the only story.
With the Mets’ season wrapping up long ago and the Yankees crashing out of the playoffs, nearly all of this city’s sports attention is on football. And with the Jets reverting to being nearly unwatchable, all of the attention is on the Giants.
They are the team that will have to carry us for the next few months, whether they are up for the challenge or not.
Sure, there will be times when other teams will pitch in on the load. The Knicks will raise a banner at the Garden and that’ll be awesome, but their games won’t really matter until after the new year at the earliest. Losing Igor Shesterkin for the rest of the season turns an already thin ice hockey season a little more slushy.
At some point, baseball will hot stove its way back into our collective attention, maybe with a firing or two and a signing or three, but those news cycles will burn bright, then fade quickly.
We won’t even mention the Nets because, well, no one else really does.
And we’re not even given the liberty to keep watching the Liberty.
But the Giants have a rare opportunity to be a big deal for a while. And it’s important that they take advantage of it. For themselves and for us.
The fact is the Giants haven’t had this kind of opportunity in many years. It’s the first time since Nov. 29, 2015, that they have had sole possession of first place in the division, but this moment feels like more than that, even.
The Cowboys are so bad that they are getting heckled by their own employees as they come off the field at AT&T Stadium, perhaps the biggest affront to the franchise in the tunnels below their castle since Eli Manning signed the wall in the visiting locker room.
The Eagles had 40% of their starting offensive line either retire or get traded this past week, have an injured Saquon Barkley and face the Jaguars in London on Sunday morning (a game that will be on early enough for Harbaugh to tune in if he so chooses). And the Commanders’ franchise quarterback will be wearing an elbow brace against these Giants.
Meanwhile, after they visit Washington, the Giants will face the Saints (1-3) and the Texans (0-4) before their Week 8 bye.
There is a real chance that they can go into that break with a 6-1 record. Even 5-2 would feel special compared to what we’ve been subjected to in recent years.
It’ll mean that we can spend our time playing those “if the season ended today . . . ” games projecting playoff scenarios rather than visiting Tankathon.com to see where they’ll be drafting.
It’ll mean games on the back end of the schedule that fans can hope they win to stay in contention rather than hoping they lose so they can add better players.
The Giants certainly have flaws. They are going to spend all year without their starting quarterback and best defensive edge rusher in Jaxson Dart and Brian Burns, and everything they do will be compared to how it might have been had they remained healthy. They have a quarterback who can be erratic in Jameis Winston and a newly acquired backup to him in J.J. McCarthy who has received glowing marks — including an “A-plus” from offensive coordinator Matt Nagy — in terms of his practices and preparation since arriving last week. McCarthy’s GPA will go up with every Winston INT.
And they have back-to-back nail-biting wins over the Titans and Cardinals, teams that, well, aren’t very good. They are two plays away from being 1-3 right now, two late red-zone interceptions away from their season already essentially being over.
But it’s not. And who knows where it’ll go from there?
After the bye, there isn’t a game that feels as if the Giants will be punching up at any significant angle until December, when they face the 49ers and Seahawks in back-to-back weeks.
“I mean, there is an opportunity,” Harbaugh said of being able to stretch this tiny one-game lead into more. “We might mention it, but it’s more offhanded.
“I think everybody understands really none of it matters unless you play well. You’ve got to play well enough to win and then find a way to win the game. That’s what creates the space for you. It’s not really talking about it. You’ve got to go play well.”
Fine. You go do that, Giants. But we’re gonna talk about it. A lot.
Right now, from a local sports perspective, it’s about the only thing we can do that with and enjoy it.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
