Well, New York, at least you’ve got the Yankees

The good news for New York Giants fans is that, in some ways, their quarterback, Daniel Jones, compares well to crosstown rival and future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers.

Jones has a slightly better completion percentage than Rodgers through seven weeks, their passer rating and QBR are almost identical, and their touchdown-to-interception ratios are similar.

The bad news for Giants fans is that these are some of the worst numbers of Rodgers’ career.

Autumn in New York hasn’t been pleasant. The Jets and Giants are both 2-5, each with a couple of truly embarrassing losses on the ledger. They’re already outside the playoff picture despite playing in divisions that have turned out to be far from loaded.

But what’s interesting is how they’ve gone about achieving their disappointments in different ways. The Giants, at least, had relatively low expectations. They entered the season with some glaring limitations on offense, most notably star running back Saquon Barkley’s departure to Philadelphia. There was even the ominous foreshadowing from a scene in HBO’s “Hard Knocks” documentary series when owner John Mara warned the Giants front office that there would be hell to pay if Barkley went on to have a great season with the division-rival Eagles. Barkley is having a great season with the Eagles.

The Giants’ biggest problem remains the quarterback, or, more specifically, the fact that head coach Brian Daboll squeezed a shockingly competent campaign out of Jones when he first arrived in New York two years ago. That one good year, in which Jones had 22 total touchdowns and just five interceptions, led to a four-year, $160-million contract extension and almost immediate regret.

Jones threw two touchdown passes against six interceptions to open last season, was sacked a remarkable 30 times, and suffered a season-ending knee injury after six games.

He’s been marginally better this campaign, but the Giants benched Jones in a blowout loss to the Eagles following two dismal performances. It seems unlikely he’ll play out the back half of that contract in a Giants uniform. Jones, drafted sixth overall in 2019, has appeared in just two playoff games. There’s been chatter in New York that the Giants ought to bench him for good rather than risk an injury that would trigger a 2025 contract guarantee to keep him around. That’s not the kind of chatter you want.

The Jets can at least say they have more clarity at the quarterback position. Rodgers is locked in at large salary-cap numbers for this year and next after what looked like a two-year commitment turned into a three-year one when he was lost to injury on the opening series last season.

Whether the Jets should still want to be locked into Rodgers is less clear. The idea was simple enough: the team had an elite defense but was plagued in recent seasons by disastrous quarterback play, whether it was highly drafted rookies (Zach Wilson, Sam Darnold) or assorted journeymen (Trevor Siemian, Mike White, Tim Boyle, among many others). Rodgers, a four-time MVP, would at least establish a much higher floor at the position, even as he approached his 40s.

It worked in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady and in Denver with Peyton Manning; in their dotage, they managed Super Bowl wins thanks to their giant football brains, even if their physical gifts were diminished.

Rodgers and the Jets aren’t close to following that script. Their wins this year came against New England and Tennessee, two of the worst teams in the NFL. And New York hasn’t scored more than 20 points in any of its losses.

They’ve also gone 0-2 since firing head coach Robert Saleh after Week 5 and taking the play-calling duties away from offensive coordinator (and Rodgers’ pal) Nathaniel Hackett. Even the trade for star receiver Davante Adams didn’t make a quick impact: The Jets built a 15-6 lead against the Steelers on Sunday night before giving up 31 straight points as Rodgers threw two interceptions.

It’s worth noting that Pittsburgh was being led for the first time by Russell Wilson, who was so underwhelming in Denver that the Broncos released him with $161 million of guaranteed money owing on a contract extension that had yet to kick in. That same guy torched the Jets with five straight scoring drives to close the game Sunday.

Weirdly, that may give some hope to Jets fans. If a quarterback who looked as washed as Wilson last season can suddenly appear reborn in a new environment, maybe Rodgers can find some of his four-time MVP form.

It’s not like the Jets have any other moves left. They have a new coach, a new play-caller, and a new receiver to play alongside other various former Rodgers teammates. They couldn’t be more in on their 40-year-old quarterback. Hope is pretty much all that remains.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.