Giants and Eagles fans in same sinking season

There's nothing like having your football season end in September, especially when you're a Giants or Eagles fan.

We won't even talk about the Jets! They were expected to lose and if things continue to go the way they have been going, the Jets may lose their head coach before the end of the season.

But the Giants fans had all this hope fed to us with the hiring of Joe Judge, who from his first press conference made us want to smash lockers. We expected a new offense designed by former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett to run through Saquon Barkley, who we would have for a full season. Big steps were expected from quarterback Daniel Jones in his second year. And we had an aggressive defense led by first-round draft choice Dexter Lawrence, franchised tagged free Leonard Williams and free agents Blake Martinez and James Bradberry.

For the first two weeks, the Giants showed fight and promise of good things to come in their losses to both Pittsburgh and Chicago. Surely, they would blossom hosting the 49ers, who were missing about three quarters of their Super Bowl team.

It did not happen. Instead, with Saquon Barkley lost for the year last week in Chicago and Daniel Jones throwing yet another interception and a defense that was so bad the San Francisco offense was playing "odd finger" to see who would get the ball, the G-men were blown out 36-9, tanking their record to 0-3. Normally around now you would be snickering if you were an Eagles fan. But not this time.

This was the year the Eagles could have really taken a step back to the prominence of when they won the Super Bowl in 2017. Seems like light years ago, doesn't it? They were the only team in the NFC East coming back with the same coaching staff while the other three, Dallas, Washington and the Giants all hired new ones. Without a pre-season and with a pandemic, this was thought to be a good thing. Then they started playing.

First they lost to the Washington Football Team and their new head coach Ron Rivera. They weren't supposed to do anything this year except maybe find a name, but for one glorious week, they were in first place in the NFC East beating the Eagles in the opener 27-17, then the Eagles lose to the Rams at home 37-19.

Surely they would beat the lowly Cincinnati Bengals. Then all would be right with the world. Except that they ended up in an overtime tie. That's right America, they Eagles couldn't beat the Bengals in FIVE quarters. In face the last time the Birds tied the Bengals was in 2008 when quarterback Donovan McNabb claimed he didn't know the overtime rules!

So my question here as a fan of the Giants who gets paid to cover the Eagles: Which is worse? Being a Giants fan where the expectations weren't that high but you've been so low for so long? Or being an Eagles fan, watching your quarterback whom the whole team was built around regress before your very eyes.

That's exactly what Carson Wentz is doing. He almost won the MVP in that magical year of 2017. Now he can't beat the Bengals in 5 quarters! Meanwhile, Nick Foles, who came off the bench when Wentz got hurt in 2017 and led the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory in 2017 then in 2018 came off the bench to lead the birds to a playoff win, today came off the bench in Atlanta to lead the Bears to a 30-26 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Now an easy answer to that fan question. The only good news is at least thanks to our governors not allowing fans in the stands, no one has to pay to see it.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.

More from New Jersey 101.5: