Anybody who has ever been to Las Vegas has misplaced in Las Vegas. However most on line casino losers don’t stroll away with the grand prize as a reward.
That’s what the Giants (2-13) will do on Sunday in the event that they fall to the Raiders (2-13) at Allegiant Stadium simply off the Vegas strip.
A loss will put the Giants within the drivers’ seat for the No. 1 total choose in April’s NFL Draft, because the Raiders are their major competitors for that slot.
Not that the Giants’ gamers care. They’ve their very own motivations, like attempting to snap a nine-game dropping streak and bettering their stats in opposition to one of many NFL’s worst groups.
“I really don’t think we talk about that part too much, about the draft positioning and wanting a certain pick or anything like that,” vast receiver Wan’Dale Robinson mentioned. “I think we just want to go out there and play our best football and go out there and get a win.”
However there isn’t a lot else left about this Giants season that’s of any curiosity.
There’s solely the top teaching search, the job safety of GM Joe Schoen, the continuing analysis of quarterback Jaxson Dart and the draft choose that New York will land for being one of many worst groups within the NFL — once more.
Nearly all of the Giants’ disgusted fan base desires their crew to lose this recreation. The upper the choose the Giants land, the higher the participant they will choose or the larger the property they will purchase in a commerce again this spring.
Contained in the constructing, there are a number of causes to need a win regardless of the draft choose {that a} loss may earn them.
The Giants, who’re 0-8 on the street this season, are one loss away from recording their first winless season on the street since 1976, after they went 0-7 on the street, per Elias Sports activities Bureau.
The Giants have misplaced a franchise file 13 straight street video games relationship again to a 29-20 win in Seattle on Oct. 6, 2024, of final season. So a loss to the Raiders would lengthen that unthinkable streak to 14.
Dropping to the Raiders additionally would give the Giants 10 straight losses total, which might tie the franchise file that Brian Daboll and Schoen simply set final 12 months from Oct. 13 by means of Dec. 22, 2024.
Interim head coach Mike Kafka (0-5) continues to be in search of his first win operating the Giants, too. And though the Dallas Cowboys could also be sitting gamers for the Week 18 season finale at MetLife Stadium, this journey to face the Raiders completely appears like Kafka’s greatest and probably solely likelihood to get that win.
What the remainder of the league will probably be watching, although, is how this Giants-Raiders consequence impacts the NFL Draft order.
It’s principally a three-team race for the No. 1 total choose between the Giants, Raiders and Cleveland Browns.
The Raiders have a 37.3% likelihood of touchdown the No. 1 total choose, per ESPN Analytics. The Giants are shut behind, with a 36.1% likelihood of choosing first. And the Browns have a 24.4% likelihood of touchdown the No. 1 choose.
The Jets (2.2%) are on the skin trying in.
So in a full circle second, Raiders quarterback Geno Smith — whose lone 2017 Giants begin at quarterback rather than a benched Eli Manning prompted the firings of Jerry Reese and Ben McAdoo — will both hand New York the highest choose within the draft or put his previous franchise within the historical past books for extra ineptitude.
Raiders defensive coordinator Pat Graham, the Giants’ DC beneath former head coach Joe Choose, will influence the notion of Dart and the destiny of his former employer with how his facet of the ball fares in opposition to Kafka’s offense.
And Schoen will both have a prime draft choose or a long-awaited win to incorporate in his gross sales pitch to possession come the New 12 months.
These are excessive stakes. Acceptable that it’s taking place in Vegas.
