LAS VEGAS — It was almost exactly one year ago to the day.
Return with us to Week 17 of the 2024 season, with the Giants in their post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s malaise that for the better part of a decade has been their annual state of being. There was nothing tangible to play for in the final two games, and the thoughts of fans — and, whether they want to admit it or not, a few of their front office executives — drifted away from the field and toward the upcoming draft.
The Giants were 2-13 and oh-so-close to controlling their draft fate, and putting themselves in position with all the losing to be able to select quarterback Cam Ward with the top pick. There was no reason to believe they would win another game, but lo and behold they did.
Their here-today, gone-tomorrow itinerant quarterback, Drew Lock, tossed four touchdown passes and ran for another in a 45-33 victory over the Colts in a performance that seemingly came out of nowhere. The next week, on cue, the Giants lost to the Eagles’ B-team, ended up with the No. 3 pick and out of the running for Ward.
In the minds’ of many, the Giants lost by winning.
Here we go again, one year later.
The Giants, again, are 2-13 and at the moment hold the No. 1 spot in the 2026 draft. All that stands between them and securing that prize pick is a loss Sunday at Las Vegas and a loss seven days later at home to the Cowboys.
If that happens, the Giants can wait for teams interested in trading up to get Fernando Mendoza or possibly Dante Moore, knowing they have a quarterback, Jaxson Dart, and can gain a bounty of picks from a team that needs one of their own.
So, if the Giants beat the Raiders, the losing-by-winning discussion will begin anew.
“I guess you could say it feels a little similar, just losing so many in a row,” wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said. “But that Colts win, it was a fun day. We were out there executing, especially on offense. I feel like that’s the mindset that we have to have every time we step out there. Hopefully we can look like that on Sunday.”
The Giants went into that game a year ago on a franchise-record 10-game losing streak. Well, history is back again, with a vengeance. They cart a nine-game skid into this game, as do the Raiders. It will be difficult for either side to win this one because both sides rarely are capable of coming out on top.
Gauging motivation is always tricky at times like this. Do players have one or both feet out the door as another miserable season grinds to a close?
Here is a general rule of thumb: The younger they are, the more resilient they are. That certainly feels like the case with the 22-year old quarterback who won two of his first three career starts and nothing since.
“I just — you know, we’re sick of losing, so we definitely are just wanting to get that feeling back,” Dart said. “It’s hard to go week to week and have these close games where you put in a ton of hard work and things just haven’t really paid off for us this year. Just as a locker room, from a morale standpoint, it’ll be huge for us these last two weeks to give everything we can to try to go get a win.”
Bingo. For the sake of the morale of the locker room, halting this losing would do wonders for the psyches of those who have put their bodies on the line week after week only to come away with the sting of defeat. For those outside the locker room, focusing on the external aftereffects of actually winning a game is completely understandable.
Both sides this weekend are embroiled in this.
The Raiders’ best player, defensive end Maxx Crosby, early in the week said, “Yeah, I don’t give a s–t about the pick. I don’t play for that.”
Then he was angered to learn the team wants him to shut it down the final two games. Players want to play. We get it. And fans root for their team.
But sometimes they root for their team to lose.
