Giants must overcome brutal schedule to avoid late-season collapse

If the New York Giants are going to secure a playoff spot in the NFC, they are going to have to overcome one of the NFL's toughest remaining schedules to stop what is looking like a brutal late-season collapse.

The Giants have not made the playoffs since the 2016 season, their only appearance over the past decade, and looked to be a virtual lock after winning six of their first seven games under first-year coach Brian Daboll.

But the wheels have started to come off in recent weeks as the offense has stalled, the competition has gotten tougher, and the wins have dried up. 

Entering Sunday's game against the first-place Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants are just 1-3-1 over their past five games and have fallen into a three-team fight with Seattle and Washington for the final two Wild Card spots in the NFC.

If you are a Giants fan, there has to be at least some concern starting to creep in.

Not only because the Giants have been playing some of their worst football of the season offensively over the past month-and-a-half, but also because there are almost no breaks on the remaining schedule. 

The Giants' final five games come against teams with a combined winning percentage of .710, which trails only Chicago (.729) for the toughest remaining schedule. Only one other team (Washington) faces teams with a combined winning percentage over .600 the rest of the way.

That schedule features two games against the NFL-leading Eagles (11-1), as well as road games at Washington (7-5-1) and Minnesota (10-2). The only remaining game that is not against a potential playoff opponent is a Week 17 home game against Jeff Saturday and the Indianapolis Colts.

The Giants are 7.5-point underdogs for Sunday's game and figure to be underdogs in every remaining game outside of that Colts game. 

They already missed an opportunity to distance themselves from Washington with a 20-20 tie at home this past week where they gave up a late lead. That game in Washington next week might be pivotal in deciding one of the last playoff spots in the conference. But with those two teams trending in very different directions recently it might be difficult to buy into the Giants winning that after already failing to do so at home. 

It has been a strong debut season for Daboll with the Giants, and they have positioned themselves nicely to get a seat at the postseason table. But they are not there yet and if they end up falling short after a 6-1 start that is going to be a bitter ending to a season that started with such promise.