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For the first weekend in about four months, the Giants and Jets were spectators, their seasons mercifully over at just about the same time of the year they have ceased playing for the past half-decade.

They watched from home as the old laughingstocks of the league demonstrated how quickly teams can emerge from the cellars.

As the Giants and Jets search for a way out of the hole in which they have regularly found themselves, glances at the winners of the first three games of the weekend can provide a reminder that in the parity-driven NFL, the jokes of the NFL can become juggernauts in a hurry.