What we learned from the Giants' 26-18 loss to the Steelers

The New York Giants fell to 2-6 this season after another loss in another winnable game, a 26-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday Night Football.

Here are five things we learned from the recent disappointment.

The season is essentially over

At 2:6, the Giants are virtually out of contention. They would need to be at the top of the table in their last nine games to be eligible for the postseason.

Do the 2024 Giants look like a team that can do that? Absolutely not. On the one hand you can count the positive aspects of this season and even then: what do you have?

They spent the entire offseason improving their offense, only to suffer a worse performance than last season. Ironically, it's their defense that keeps them in the game.

Time until sunset, Daniel Jones

Daniel Jones is a serviceable quarterback on a team that has everything else going for it. The Giants are not that team. He had a chance to lead the Giants to victory on Monday night, but, like so many times in his career, he didn't get it done.

Don't pay so much attention to his numbers, but rather how he performs when the game is on the line. It's not pretty and the Giants delayed this farce too long.

It's almost certain that Jones will be released after this season and could end up on the bench long before then.

Still not ready for primetime

The Giants lost again on national television and in prime time. Since 2019, they are 1-18 on national television in the regular season and 1-16 in prime time with Daniel Jones taking center stage. These numbers are unconfirmed, but who cares at this point?

NFL fans across the country typically cringed when they saw or heard the Giants were playing on Sunday or Monday nights. Now they just sit back and watch the Giants find new ways to lose and embarrass themselves.

As you know, disaster stories are very popular with audiences.

Time to sell?

What are you selling, you ask? How about everything, including the team?

That won't happen. The Mara family will own this franchise for the rest of eternity.

John Mara is so frustrated that he stopped himself from really addressing the front office and players this week and instead gave them a lot of confidence. As we know, a vote of confidence is a sneaky way to notify employees.

We expect the Giants to begin trading away anything and everything of value that isn't in the long-term plan. The trading deadline ends in one week, on November 5th.

You were right about Tracy

The Giants told us they had a special player in fifth-round pick Tyrone Tracy Jr., a former wide receiver from Iowa who transferred to Purdue and became a running back.

Tracy was a breath of fresh air in the Giants' backfield and the entire nation got a glimpse of how good he is on Monday night. Tracy rushed for 145 yards (7.3 YPC) on 20 attempts and had a 45-yard touchdown run – the Giants' longest offensive play of the season.

Tracy left the game in the fourth quarter to be checked for a concussion, just as the Giants had an opportunity to tie the game. Hopefully he will be released and can continue his outstanding rookie season.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: What we learned from the Giants' 26-18 loss to the Steelers