New York Giants pulse: What are analysts and fans talking about in Week 13?

The New York Giants suffered another fourth-quarter collapse on Sunday at Ford Field in Detroit, blowing a 10-point lead late and falling to the Detroit Lions in overtime, 34-27.

The loss was the final straw in the Giants career of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who was fired by the team on Monday in a move that has been a long time coming.

Sunday's collapse didn't even register on the scale for Giants fans, who have seen this script play out five times this season now. They are already looking ahead to the 2026 NFL draft (in which they currently hold the second overall pick) and focusing on other things.

With the 13th game just around the corner, here's a look at the pulse of Giants fans, analysts, and former players.

Dissension growing on defense?

The Giants' defense is the main culprit for five games blown in the fourth quarter this season so far. The inability to hold leads late in games has been so frustrating that players have begun pointing fingers. The secondary, which is already undemanned due to injuries, is being put under more pressure by the defensive front's inability to stop the run. The fact that star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence was hurt and spent a lot of time on the sidelines had much to do with the failures.

On Sunday in Detroit, the Lions ran all over the Giants with little resistance. They gained 237 yards on the ground at a clip of 11.9 yards per attempt. The crowning moment came in overtime when running back Jahmyr Gibbs ran 69 yards untouched for the game-winning score on a first-and-10. Giants safety Jevon Holland told New York Daily News reporter Pat Leonard that he blames his teammates up front.

That prompted fans to respond to Holland's gripe with their own frustrations:

"First of all Holland sucks. I watched him in Miami and after a great rookie year his play fell off a cliff so of course Schoen signed him to a ridiculous contract.," @skyeluque wrote on X. "The run defense has been the worst in the NFL for 3 seasons now and the GM has done nothing. Your all pro DT needs help. The guys next to him stink. Bowen was so awful….his scheme and calls were consistently wrong. No DC worth having wanted to work under Daboll especially after Wink drama. Bowen will never sniff another DC job again and the GM kept him when everyone with eyes knew that he never should’ve gotten another year after last season. The head of the snake is Schoen. If he doesn’t get fired then it will continue to be a sinking ship."

From @Jesse Barstow on X: "Both of Gibbs long TDs were on the same exact play. So, the Giants were victimized once to make the score 27-24, but made no adjustments and gave up the same play again in overtime. That was 118 yards of mistakes."

The Giants took the easy way out and canned Bowen on Monday.

Why not stick with Jameis?

Veteran Jameis Winston started at quarterback for the second consecutive game with rookie Jaxson Dart still in the concussion protocol. Winston responded with a monster game, tossing for 366 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught a 33-yard pass for a score.

With the Giants at 2-10 and officially eliminated from the postseason, there is less and less need to rush Dart back into action. What would be the point other than to get him more experience heading into next year? But the Giants do run the risk of putting the rookie in harm's way again.

"We’ll just see where Jaxson is in the protocol, and then we’ll just make a decision based off that info," interim head coach Mike Kafka said after Sunday's game. "We’ll kind of play that out. But I like Jaxson if he’s healthy and ready to go.”

At the same time, though, Kafka had to acknowledge that it was Winston, a former Heisman Trophy recipient and No.1 overall draft pick, that had made his first two games as head coach winnable ones.

"Jameis played his tail off. Very, very proud of him. I mean the throws he made – he stood up in the pocket versus a very good defense, had a lot of production in the pass game, our guys won for him early, our O-line blocked their tail off all game, our backs ran hard. I really liked the plan and I thought Jameis executed it and managed the game excellently.”

Winston is just 31 years old. He is in his prime years. Keep in mind that he is a gently used 31, too, having been a backup more than a starter in his career. Considering the age of some of the league's franchise quarterbacks in his age bracket, such as Dak Prescott (32) and Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, and Patrick Mahomes (all 30), Winston still has plenty of gas in the tank.

Jameis is signed through next season. The Giants should hang onto him for at least that long, if not longer. Dart has the potential to be a superstar, but his reckless style of play has to have them a bit nervous. You've seen what Winston can do, so why the rush to run Dart back out there in this lost season?

Bowen is gone, but the defense is still a mess

The firing of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen was low-hanging fruit for Kafka. With all those blown fourth-quarter leads and the lousy statistics, it was a no-brainer. But now comes the hard part. The Giants' defense must step up in the final five games and show some progress under interim coordinator Charlie Bullen to give Kafka a fighting chance at winning the head coaching job full-time.

Bullen, the outside linebackers coach, has never been a coordinator on any level and will be charged with running a defense that not only has been ravaged by injuries but has several players in key positions underperforming. The odds of turning this listing ship around are not in his favor.

The Giants have spent the most money on defense in the NFL this season. They have a defensive salary cap hit of $108.8 million, nearly $9 million more than the next team, Pittsburgh. They have nothing to show for it. They are 30th in total defense and last in the league against the run.

"Bowen’s vanilla schemes and conservative play calling late in games were major problems this season. But having the 32nd-ranked rushing defense seems more tied to personnel," writes Dan Duggan of The Athletic.

"For all of the money and draft assets (general manager Joe) Schoen has poured into the defense in his four years as GM, he has never placed a priority on stopping the run," continued Duggan. "Schoen has made 14 picks on the first two days of his four drafts. He has only used one of those picks on a defensive tackle — third-rounder Darius Alexander this year — and no picks on an inside linebacker."

To add injury to insult, the Giants have been decimated by injuries at the inside linebacker position. Starter Micah McFadden has been out since Week 2 with a foot injury. His replacement, Darius Muasua, suffered an ankle injury in Week 9 and is on IR. The latest blow came last week when Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles left Sunday's loss in Detroit with a neck injury.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants pulse: What are analysts and fans talking about in Week 13?