After big off-season contracts for quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley, Giants fans had big dreams heading into their Sunday night opener with the Dallas Cowboys. Those dreams lasted about as long as Aaron Rodgers’ season.
After a 40-0 drubbing that wasn’t that close – anyone who had Dallas QB Dak Prescott on their fantasy team knows how little he had to do – the Giants are in the desert on Sunday for a game against the 0-1 Cardinals. Arizona lost, 20-16, at Washington in a game in which the Cardinals’ offense did nothing – but at least they got some field goals. That’s more than the Giants offense did. The Giants were so bad in their opener, coach Brian Daboll was seen asking for a football mulligan.
So, both the Giants and Cardinals are staring 0-2 in the face. If you have playoff dreams, which the Giants do, 0-2 is not how you want to start.
EmpireStakes.com – your source for NY sports betting – analyzed how teams that started 0-2 fared throughout the season. Utilizing Stathead.com, we looked at how teams since the 1970 merger ended up the rest of the NFL season after starting with 0-2 records. There have been 406 teams that have started 0-2 since 1970. Here are the numbers:
Performance of NFL Teams Starting 0-2
Giants Have Bounced Back Before
Yes, the 2007 Giants won the Super Bowl after dropping their first two games, but since the NFL merger in 1970, the Giants are one of only four teams to do it. Only 10% of teams that have started 0-2 – and it’s 406 since 1970 – have even made the playoffs. On average that’s less than one per season. Less than 15% of teams that start 0-2 end with a winning record. You can follow the Giants' Super Bowl odds here all season long.
In terms a gambler would understand, if your team starts the season 0-2, their odds of finishing with a winning record are about 7-to-1. Their odds of making the playoffs are 10-to-1, and the odds of making it to the Super Bowl are 100-to-1.
And with the Cowboys playing like a steamroller and the Philadelphia Eagles predicted to grow into one, the NFC East doesn’t have much room for error. With the Cardinals likely to be the weakest team on the Giants’ killer schedule – non-conference games include at San Francisco and at Buffalo – this is about as much of a must-win Week 2 game as a team can have. Surprisingly, Fan Duel NY has the Giants as 6-point and -235 moneyline favorites.
The 2013 Carolina Panthers and 2022 Cincinnati Bengals have the best regular season records of any 0-2 team. Each finished at 12-4. Last year’s 0-2 teams were the Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers, and those 12-4 Bengals. Only the Bengals finished over .500.
