EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — After 10 games, the New York Giants’ 2019 season is pretty much over.
Look at the NFC standings. The Giants are 2-8 heading into the bye week and riding a six-game losing streak after a 34-27 defeat to the rival Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
Their only hope of making the playoffs would be to win the NFC East. Dallas and Philadelphia share the division lead with 5-4 records and the Cowboys have beaten Pat Shurmur’s team twice.
Even if the Giants went on a six-game winning streak, the best they could do would be 8-8. That means beating Chicago (4-5), Green Bay (8-2), Philadelphia twice, Washington (1-8) and Miami (2-7), which is riding a two-game winning streak.
That’s asking a lot of a young, error-prone team.
“There is a lot to be learned,” Shurmur said Monday. “There’s, I guess, pains that come with growing and we’ve just got to be very consistent, we’ve got to raise them right, we’ve got to coach them hard, and we’ve got to do like you do with any player. But they have the ability to get experience, and we all know there is no substitute for experience.”
To be honest, it’s experience that might be useful in 2020. It’s hard to say whether Shurmur will be the coach, James Bettcher will be the defensive coordinator or Dave Gettleman the general manager. Change happens when a team makes the playoffs once since 2011.
Shurmur has no plans of making coaching changes during the bye. He just wants to win. A couple of games would be helpful after a 5-11 mark in his first season.
DEATH: Former Michigan State star and Detroit Lions receiver Charles Rogers has died at the age of 38.
A woman who identified herself as Cathy Rogers, his mother, confirmed the death Monday in a phone call from The Associated Press. Other details were not immediately known. Marshall Thomas, Rogers’ former basketball coach at Saginaw High School in Michigan, told MLive.com that Rogers died Monday of liver failure and also had cancer.
At Michigan State, Rogers was an All-American wide receiver who had 135 receptions for 2,821 yards in two seasons. He was college football’s top receiver in 2002 and the second overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft. He scored twice in his NFL debut, but suffered a broken collarbone that ended his rookie season and suffered the same injury a year later. Rogers failed a drug test in 2005 and was cut entering the next season. He had 36 career receptions for 440 yards receiving and four touchdowns in 15 NFL games.
BROWNS: Coach Freddie Kitchens said wide receiver Antonio Callaway’s benching was a one-game punishment.
Callaway didn’t play in Sunday’s 19-16 victory over the Buffalo Bills after being a surprising healthy scratch despite quarterback Baker Mayfield saying the receiver had been included in the game plan.
Kitchens did not divulge his reasons for sitting Callaway, who was suspended four games earlier this season by the NFL for violating the league’s drug policy.
BRONCOS: Drew Lock will get the chance to salvage his rookie season in Denver and show Broncos general manager John Elway his next quarterback won’t be found on a college campus or in the NFL’s bargain bin but right here on the roster.
Coach Vic Fangio said Lock will return to practice Tuesday, nearly three months after the raw right-hander sprained his right thumb in the preseason against the 49ers and landed on injured reserve to start the season.
WASHINGTON: Washington named rookie Dwayne Haskins their starting quarterback for the rest of the season.
Haskins is set to make his second NFL start on Sunday against the New York Jets.
The 15th overall pick out of Ohio State is 27 of 44 for 284 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions in three appearances. Interim coach Bill Callahan says veteran Case Keenum, who started seven of Washington’s first nine games, will back up Haskins and Colt McCoy will serve as the third quarterback.
Haskins takes over for a 1-8 team that has so far beaten only the Miami Dolphins.
Giving him the reins signals an organizational willingness to build for the future.
JETS: Tight end Chris Herndon will be out indefinitely with a broken rib and guard Brian Winters has a dislocated shoulder that will likely end his season.
Herndon made his season debut Sunday, catching one pass for 7 yards in the Jets’ 34-27 win over the Giants.
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