The popular assumption is that Jets coach Adam Gase, right, is in slightly more hot water than Giants coach Pat Shurmur, left. The two are shown here before their preseason matchup Aug. 8, 2019, at MetLife Stadium. Credit: AP/Evan Pinkus
This is hardly the most consequential matchup in the long, albeit infrequent renewal of the Jets-Giants rivalry on Sunday. In fact, the teams haven’t been this collectively bad since 1974, when Bill Arnsparger’s 2-7 Giants faced off against Charley Winner’s 2-7 Jets, a 26-20 Jets win during some of the darkest days of both teams’ history.
It is a similarly morose backdrop to this year’s game, just the 14th in the head-to-head series: It’s Adam Gase’s 1-7 Jets against Pat Shurmur’s 2-7 Giants, as both teams lurch toward the finish line of a crushingly disappointing season.