This deep into the quagmire that is the Giants’ season, it is the best the Giants can hope for. That Jake Fromm can provide a spark, move around a bit, make a few throws, pump his fist after a first down and — dare we say it? — get his team across the goal line and into the end zone.
Inject some life where there is none.
The lineup at quarterback on Wednesday featured Daniel Jones in the leadoff spot and he was, as you would expect, downcast and depressed that his season has been shut down. Batting second, Mike Glennon tried to summon up some positivism while not saying aloud what he suspects to be true, that his starting stretch with the Giants is going to end at three consecutive games. Stepping up third, last and not least, Fromm was a breath of fresh air and not only because he was outside without a jacket in the wintery crispness of barely 40 degrees.
The 23-year-old gives off the vibes of a bona fide quarterback. Self-assured. Relaxed. Prepared. Personable. Upbeat. At home on the stage talking about himself and his team.
There is nothing official yet from coach Joe Judge, who cautioned, “I wouldn’t expect any announcement until maybe the end of the week at the earliest.” There will not be any white smoke rising from the Giants’ facility when it comes time to name the starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. After all, the Giants are 4-10. It should be Fromm, a freshness to be embraced by anyone and everyone who has labored through the offensive embarrassment of this season.
Until the unknown is proven to be no better, might as well dare to dream.
“I would say I’m very confident in myself and what I can do,” Fromm said. “Winning football games is winning football games. Sometimes it may be pretty, it may not be, but at the end of the day, all that matters is a ‘W’ in the column. However we can do it, however it happens, let’s just go do it.”
If Fromm can do it and inflict a second loss to the Giants this season on the rival Eagles, well then, the day after Christmas will have been bountiful. More likely, Fromm will look like what he will be — a former Bills practice squad guy making his first NFL start — as the Giants continue to bungle and baffle in the point-scoring department no matter who lines up behind center.
But you never know. Fromm went 35-7 at Georgia and sometimes winning is part of DNA even though the body (6-foot-2) is not quite big enough and the arm is not quite strong enough. Colt McCoy, the Giants’ backup to Jones last season, went 45-8 at Texas and has fashioned a mighty-fine 11-year NFL career, with a similar body type (McCoy is 6-foot-1) and skill set.
McCoy is a backup who can go in for short doses and win games. Is there anything wrong with that? If this is Fromm’s upside, more power to him. Perhaps he is more than that. Maybe he is less than that. It is more than a stretch to suggest Fromm plays well enough in what might be a three-game audition to return in 2022 and challenge Jones for the starting job. No one will ever know, though, until Fromm makes a start.
“I think he’s a smart guy,” Jones said. “He’s picked up the offense very quickly. You can tell he studies hard and has done a great job.”
You could tell it pained Jones to be talking about another guy filling his spot.
Fromm in the closing minutes entered last week’s 21-6 loss to the Cowboys and completed 6 of 12 passes for 82 yards against a soft-zone defense, including a down-the-field shot to Kenny Golladay for 36 yards, throwing the ball up and allowing Golladay to win a battle with cornerback Anthony Brown. It was the sort of connection Jones and certainly Glennon were not making with the 6-4 Golladay, who endorsed Fromm for this week without actually saying as much.
“Things weren’t going well, so I think he kind of just went in there fearless really and kind of, ‘let me sling it around a little bit,’” Golladay said. “He did a hell of a job.”
From No. 4 on the quarterback depth chart in Buffalo to No. 1 with the Giants, all in the span of slightly more than three weeks.
“Yeah, it’s been crazy,” Fromm said. “There’s no other way to really put it.”
Even crazier would be Fromm doing something to make things even crazier, in a good way. At least there is hope, for now.