New York Giants

Ahead of the final day of the NFL regular season Sunday, speculation about potential coaching changes is getting louder.

Per CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora, the New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks and Houston Texans are all "at least having internal discussions" about making a change at head coach after this season.

The most surprising team on that list is the Seahawks, if only because there's been no real chatter about Pete Carroll being in danger. He signed a contract extension last season that runs through 2025.

One potential complicating factor is Russell Wilson's status. The eight-time Pro Bowler told reporters this week he hopes to win more Super Bowls in Seattle.

"My goal is to win more Super Bowls, and my plan is to win them here," Wilson said. "It's that simple. There's nothing really else other than that."

Mark Rodgers, Wilson's agent, told ESPN's Adam Schefter in February his client hadn't asked for a trade but would approve a deal to the Las Vegas Raiders, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys or New Orleans Saints.

It's unclear if Wilson will want to pursue a trade this offseason, but this is the first time during his 10-year career the Seahawks have posted a losing record.

The Texans and Giants are both in a bad position right now and may want to move forward with someone new in 2022.

David Culley was hired by Houston in January 2021 after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant on John Harbaugh's staff with the Baltimore Ravens. He has led the Texans to a 4-12 record heading into the final game of the season.

Joe Judge has a 4-12 record in his second season as Giants head coach. Ralph Vacchiano of SNY reported Dec. 13 that Judge was "widely expected" to be back for another season because team owner John Mara is high on him.

That report did come out before Judge went on an 11-minute rant defending the program he brought in after New York's 29-3 loss to the Chicago Bears on Jan. 2.

Heading into the final game of this season, Judge has a 10-22 record for the Giants. They have ranked 31st in scoring offense in each of his two seasons as head coach.

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders have already fired their head coaches during the season.    

Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera expressed frustration about comments made by New York Giants counterpart Joe Judge that were viewed as a jab toward Washington.

Judge made the remark Sunday after the Giants lost their fourth consecutive game, a 29-3 blowout defeat to the Chicago Bears, to drop their record to 4-12.

"This ain't a team that's having fistfights on the sidelines," he told reporters. "This ain't some clown show organization or something else, OK?"

Some viewed that as a shot toward Washington after Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne were shown in an altercation on the sideline during the team's Week 16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Judge has denied that was his intent with the comments.

Rivera was asked about the situation Friday during an appearance on The Kevin Sheehan Show (via MSN's Ed Valentine) and said he believes Judge should focus on his own team because he doesn't understand the context elsewhere:

To be upfront about it, it disappoints me because for somebody to make a comment like that and not really know the circumstances of the situation we've gone through. I mean for goodness sake you know if you pay attention to what's happening you would have found out that we had just had one of our most popular players [Deshazor Everett], a guy that's very popular amongst his teammates, was in a terrible car accident where his longtime girlfriend is killed. We had another player [Montez Sweat] who lost his brother to murder and then we had another player who lost another brother.

There's reasons why things happen, and to take a shot at people when people are going through what they're going through, that's not right. If you don't know and understand other people's teams, talk about yourself, talk about your own team. That's what's fair.

Washington (6-10) and New York (4-12) both entered 2021 with high expectations in what's typically a wide-open NFC East race. Instead, Dallas (11-5) ran away with the division title and the Philadelphia Eagles (9-7) also made the playoffs out of the NFC East.

So the exchange between the coaches adds a little drama to Sunday's regular-season finale between the Football Team and the Giants, which have both been eliminated from playoff contention.

New York City resident Abdiell Suero filed a lawsuit against the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets for $6 billion in damages he alleges are the result of the teams labeling themselves as New York despite playing their home games in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Trademark lawyer Darren Heitner provided details from the civil suit Wednesday:

Along with the $6 billion requested as part of the class-action lawsuit, Suero also asked for a court to order both franchises to play in New York by 2025 in order to retain their names or rebrand as East Rutherford, according to Larry McShane of the New York Post.

"If the Giants and Jets want to call themselves New York teams, they need to come back to New York," Suero wrote in court papers. "I've traveled to and from MetLife Stadium by mass transit and car service, and both ways are a nightmare."

Suero argues the legal basis for his claims include false advertising, deceptive practices, the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and unjust enrichment, per Heitner.

The Giants told McShane "this case has no merit and we will defend it vigorously." The Jets have not publicly commented on the matter.

Neither organization has played its home games in New York City since 1983.

The Giants made stops at the Polo Grounds (1925-55) and Yankee Stadium (1956-73) before a two-year stint at the Yale Bowl in Connecticut. They briefly returned to NYC at Shea Stadium in 1975 before opening Giants Stadium in New Jersey in 1976.

The Jets played at the Polo Grounds from 1960 through 1963 and then spent two decades at Shea Stadium before leaving for Giants Stadium in 1984.

MetLife Stadium, the teams' current shared facility in New Jersey, opened in 2010.

There aren't many situations that look much worse in the NFL than the spot the New York Giants find themselves in, but head coach Joe Judge said some of the team's former players wish they were getting paid less to be in the Big Apple.

Judge told reporters players from last year's team that are now suiting up elsewhere called him to say "how much they wish they were still here even though they're getting paid more by someone else."

Other than the opportunity to be in New York for a team that receives plenty of national attention because of its history, location and division, it is difficult to imagine why players would rather be on the Giants roster for less money than taking the field for other teams.

New York fell to 4-12 with Sunday's 29-3 loss to the Chicago Bears in a game that was never competitive against a fellow NFC team that has struggled and not in the playoff picture.

Mike Glennon was an ugly 4-of-11 passing for 24 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. The defense gave up two rushing touchdowns to David Montgomery and failed to keep the game close even though Chicago quarterback Andy Dalton wasn't exactly great at 18-of-35 passing for 173 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

This will mark the fifth straight losing season for the Giants, and they haven't won a single playoff game since they captured the Lombardi Trophy during the 2011 campaign.

What's more, supposed franchise quarterback Daniel Jones has struggled with consistency since the team selected him with the No. 6 overall pick of the 2019 draft. While he is still young and can make plays with his legs in addition to his arm, he hasn't shown enough to trust him as a long-term solution at the position.

Running back Saquon Barkley looked like a surefire star as the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year, but he tore his ACL last season and entered play Sunday averaging a mere 3.5 yards per carry. He at least ran for 102 yards against the Bears, but Barkley has not looked nearly as explosive since his return from the injury.

Judge, in his second season as the coach of the Giants, was surely frustrated with the poor play during the loss to the Bears. There may be some players who wish they were still in New York, but it may take a group of new ones to return the franchise to a competitive one during the head coach's tenure.                      

Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy says Andy Dalton will start at quarterback for Sunday's game against the New York Giants.

Dalton gets the nod over Nick Foles, who started Week 16's win over the Seattle Seahawks. Starter Justin Fields remains out with an ankle injury.

Dalton will be making his fifth start of the 2021 season. He began the campaign as the starter but gave way to Fields after being injured in Week 2's win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Fields has started 10 games, with Dalton mixing back in when the rookie missed Weeks 12 and 13 with injuries. 

Injuries to Dalton and Fields paved the way for Foles last week, who responded with 250 yards and a touchdown without an interception in the Bears' 25-24 win in Seattle.

It's unclear why Dalton will get the nod over Foles this week, other than some strict adherence to a preseason depth chart. Foles' performance against the Seahawks was arguably better than any effort Dalton has put forth in what's been a wildly disappointing campaign for the Bears offense.

With Nagy likely playing out the string on his final two games as Bears coach, it's perhaps one final head-scratching decision to leave on. 

Saquon Barkley has one season remaining on his contract with the New York Giants after the 2021 campaign, but he isn't focusing on his future for the time being.

"I can't control those things," he said Wednesday, per Jordan Raanan of ESPN. "I can't control those. I can't have that thought process. My thought process is come in every single day and try to be a leader I can for the team and try to get better physically, mentally and all the above."

Raanan also noted the running back "reiterated that his hope is to remain with the Giants long term."

New York made Barkley a key part of its present and future when it selected him with the No. 2 overall pick of the 2018 NFL draft after his impressive collegiate career at Penn State.

He wasted no time making an immediate impact as the Offensive Rookie of the Year with 1,307 rushing yards, 721 receiving yards and 15 total touchdowns. While he was less effective in his second season, he still topped 1,000 yards on the ground as a key playmaker.

However, Barkley suffered a torn ACL while facing the Chicago Bears in the second game of the 2020 season and has not been the same during the 2021 campaign. The injury happened at Soldier Field, which is where the Giants will be when they take the field for Week 17 on Sunday.

"No, I'm not thinking like, 'I hate the field,'" Barkley said. "I'm excited that I'm healthy enough to be able to go out there and be able to play another game. Like I said, you never know when these are opportunities are going to be taken away from you. That's my whole mindset is cherish these last two games that we have and go out there and try to finish on a high note."

The Penn State product has averaged just 3.5 yards per carry this year for a Giants team that has struggled on the way to a 4-11 record.

New York is simply playing out the string at this point, but Barkley will look to turn around his season on an individual level before entering an important 2022 campaign.         

The New York Giants are reportedly expected to bring back quarterback Daniel Jones and head coach Joe Judge in 2022.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Giants are expected to make organizational changes this offseason, but general manager Dave Gettleman is the likeliest to depart. Gettleman, who plucked Judge from near-obscurity to be the team's head coach and selected Jones well ahead of his projected draft value in 2019, has been with the Giants the last four seasons.

Neither Jones nor Judge has provided much evidence that Gettleman made a sound decision bringing them into the fold. Jones flashed some promise during his rookie season, throwing for 3,027 yards and 24 touchdowns against 12 interceptions in 13 games, but he has thrown 21 touchdowns versus 17 picks in 25 games since. He will miss the final three remaining games in 2021 with a neck injury.

Judge is 10-20 since leaving the New England Patriots' special teams staff to take over in New York. He's made headlines for his unorthodox coaching tactics, drawing criticism from former players.

It's hard to see why any new general manager would retain Judge, or why Giants ownership would insist on his return. Jones likely tops out as a below-average NFL starting quarterback, but at least he's shown some flashes. The Giants' core skill-position players have also been riddled with injuries the last two seasons, so there is justification for bringing Jones back in the final year of his rookie contract and giving him one more chance.