Paul Schwartz

Paul Schwartz

NFL

Giants must feast on backup QBs

It is the Age of the Quarterback in the NFL, but the Giants are in the midst of a very different era as they desperately try to achieve relevance this season.

They got the benefit of living through a period that can be designated as the Stone Age of Quarterbacks, dating back to a time when the forward pass was in its infancy. On Sunday, they get to face the Raiders and Terrelle Pryor, who may be dealing with a gimpy right knee and unquestionably will arrive with a suspect right arm. The next week, in a game that has already been flexed out of prime time because of the Giants’ fall from grace, instead of the gifted Aaron Rodgers, it looks as if the Packers will visit New Jersey with Seneca Wallace or Matt Flynn or Brett Favre or “Magic Man’’ Don Majkowski calling the signals.

If the Giants, buried and barely breathing at 2-6 after a 0-6 start, do not get on the roll they predict for themselves, they cannot blame bad luck or bad breaks for their demise. The health of their roster heading into the second half of the season is fairly vibrant and the competition they will confront at quarterback is less than fearsome. After a challenging opening month (Tony Romo, Peyton Manning, Cam Newton, Alex Smith), the drop-of has been stark.

The Bum of the Month Club started two games ago, when Vikings coach Leslie Frazier somehow took a look at his roster and came to the conclusion: “I think I’ll go with Josh Freeman as my starting quarterback.’’ Sure, Christian Ponder was hurt, but picking a player who barely arrived on the scene (Freeman), had barely studied the offensive playbook (plays 1-27 should be “Hand the ball to Adrian Peterson”) and had already been sent packing by the lowly Buccaneers, instead of opting for Matt Cassel, was just dumb. Freeman threw 33 incomplete passes against the Giants and afterward Frazier decided well, maybe Freeman wasn’t quite ready.

The next week, the Giants were able to glimpse into the future to see what Michael Vick might look like when he’s 78 years old. Vick came back way too soon from a strained hamstring because first-year coach Chip Kelly didn’t want to flip the ball to rookie Matt Barkley. Vick was a statue before he re-tweaked his hammy and took a seat, allowing Barkley to create more turnovers than a pastry chef.

The page on the sumptuous menu now turns to Pryor, who is so one-dimensional he might as well be a stick figure. He can run like the wind (485 rushing yards in eight games) but throws as if he’s firing into a hurricane (one touchdown, seven interceptions in the past three games). And now one of his wheels might be flat. Pryor came out of last week’s 49-20 loss to the Eagles when he hurt his right knee while falling awkwardly on a scramble. He said the knee is “stable’’ and taking a seat was “just precaution’’ because the Raiders were getting blown out and the coaching staff wanted to take a look at backup Matt McGloin.

Oh, and in case Pryor is fine and the Raiders want to attack the Giants on the ground, running back Darren McFadden re-injured a strained hamstring last week.

If the Giants can extend their winning streak to three games, they’ll unquestionably see the Packers with someone other than Rodgers at the helm of the offense, as he suffered a fractured left collarbone that could keep him out several weeks. Since becoming the Green Bay starter in 2008, Rodgers has missed only two games, and without the 2011 NFL MVP, the Packers are just another team.

Romo, Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson and Matt Stafford remain on the schedule but before they get there, the Giants have some quarterback bottom-feeding to do.