It was supposed to be the year. Seriously. Coming off an 11-5 run in 2016 with a defense that looked like a modern-day iteration of the Big Blue Wrecking Crew, the expectations for the 2017 NY Giants season were sky-high. Some experts literally picked them to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Brandon Marshall had just signed to provide that "big-bodied" target Eli Manning supposedly lacked. Odell Beckham Jr. was in his absolute prime.
Then, the wheels didn't just come off. The whole car disintegrated at 80 miles per hour on the Jersey Turnpike.
You remember the feeling if you’re a fan. That sinking sensation in your gut when a 0-1 start turns into 0-5. It wasn't just losing; it was the way they lost. It was a slow-motion car crash involving locker room mutinies, a legendary quarterback being benched for Geno Smith (of all people), and a head coach who seemed increasingly out of his depth.
The Blueprint That Crumbled Instantly
The logic going into the year made sense on paper. Ben McAdoo, in his second year as head coach, had a defense led by Landon Collins, Janoris Jenkins, and Damon "Snacks" Harrison that appeared impenetrable. They figured if the offense could just be average, the team would be elite.
But the offensive line was a sieve. Ereck Flowers, the former first-round pick, struggled immensely at left tackle, and the lack of a run game put everything on Eli’s shoulders. Eli Manning was 36. He wasn't exactly mobile. When you combine a statuesque quarterback with a line that can't block, you get a recipe for disaster.
Then came Week 5 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
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It’s rare to see a team’s entire identity vanish in four quarters, but that’s what happened at MetLife Stadium. In a single afternoon, the Giants lost Odell Beckham Jr. to a fractured ankle. They also lost Brandon Marshall. And Sterling Shepard. And Dwayne Harris. Basically, every viable wide receiver on the roster ended up in the training room or on IR.
Imagine trying to run an NFL offense when your top four options are gone. Suddenly, Roger Lewis Jr. and Tavarres King were the primary targets. It was brutal. Honestly, watching those games felt like a chore. The offense became a dink-and-dunk nightmare because they had no choice.
The Bench herding and the McAdoo Meltdown
If the injuries were the physical toll, the benching of Eli Manning was the spiritual one.
By late November, the season was long dead. But instead of letting a franchise icon finish out a lost year with dignity, Ben McAdoo and GM Jerry Reese decided to break Eli’s streak of 210 consecutive starts. They wanted to "evaluate" the other quarterbacks.
Fans were livid. Former players were screaming on Twitter. I remember seeing photos of Eli sitting on the bench during the game against the Raiders, looking completely dejected. It felt like a betrayal of everything the Giants stood for—stability, class, and loyalty. Geno Smith started that game in Oakland. He played okay, I guess, but it didn't matter. The Giants lost 24-17, and the locker room was officially gone.
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McAdoo’s "tough guy" act didn't work when the team was winning, and it certainly didn't work when they were 2-10. He’d frequently throw players under the bus in press conferences, which is a fast way to lose a group of professional athletes.
The Statistical Horror Show
Look at these numbers. They aren't pretty.
- Final Record: 3-13 (their worst since the league expanded to 16 games).
- Points For: 246 (31st in the NFL).
- Defense: They gave up 388 points, ranking 27th.
- Rushing: The leading rusher was Orleans Darkwa with 751 yards.
The defense, which was the heartbeat of the team a year prior, just stopped trying at various points. They allowed 51 points to the Rams. Fifty-one. At home.
Why the 2017 NY Giants Season Changed Everything
This wasn't just one bad year; it was the end of an era. It forced the Mara and Tisch families to do something they hate doing: fire a coach mid-season. McAdoo and Reese were both canned on December 4, 2017.
It also set the stage for the Saquon Barkley era. Because they were so bad, they landed the number two overall pick in the 2018 draft. There’s a massive "what if" here. If the Giants had just been mediocre—say 6-10—they wouldn't have been in a position to take Saquon. They might have drafted a quarterback earlier or rebuilt the line. Instead, that 3-13 collapse convinced the front office they were just "one playmaker away" from fixed, which we now know wasn't true.
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It was a year of "firsts" for all the wrong reasons. The first time the Giants had been this bad in decades. The first time the "Giants Way" of handling business felt broken.
Key Lessons from the 2017 NY Giants Season
If you’re looking for a silver lining, there isn't much of one, but there are takeaways for how NFL teams should—and shouldn't—operate.
- Neglecting the O-Line is Fatal. You can have OBJ and Brandon Marshall, but if your QB is on the ground in 2.1 seconds, it doesn't matter.
- Culture Over Everything. Once the players stopped believing in McAdoo’s messaging, the talent didn't matter. The suspensions of Janoris Jenkins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie for "violating team rules" were massive red flags.
- Manage the Exit. The Giants eventually brought Eli back as the starter for the final games of 2017, but the damage was done. How you treat your legends matters to the guys currently in the locker room.
Moving Forward: How to Analyze This Era
To really understand the 2017 NY Giants season, you have to look at it as the final gasp of the 2011 Super Bowl core. The transition was handled poorly, and the team spent the next five years trying to find an identity they lost during that cold December in 2017.
If you’re researching this season for a project or just a trip down a painful memory lane, focus on the Week 5 injury report. That is the definitive moment the season died. Everything after that was just a slow march toward the firing of the front office.
Next Steps for Fans and Analysts:
- Check out the Pro Football Reference splits for the 2017 defense to see the exact week they stopped producing turnovers.
- Compare the 2017 roster construction to the 2022 Brian Daboll turnaround to see how much more emphasis is now placed on coaching "buy-in" versus just raw defensive spend.
- Watch the highlights of the win over the Chiefs in Week 11—it was the only game where the team showed true grit in the face of the disaster.
The 2017 season remains a cautionary tale. It proves that in the NFL, you are never as good as you think you are, and the fall from the top is a lot faster than the climb up.