Giants can’t get too far ahead of themselves, but playoffs a reality
Before we go any further … Let’s not mistake these Giants as being remotely close to the great teams in franchise history, shall we? And certainly not in the realm of the Super Bowl winners of 1986, 1990, 2007 and 2011.
At 3-7, they’re still light years away from even thinking in those terms.
But in this wacky 2020 season that is the NFC East, three wins going into Week 12 are still enough to dream about a divisional championship. And with the Giants, Washington, Philadelphia and Dallas all having won that many times, all that matters over the next six weeks is this: There’s still a chance.
“It’s a unique opportunity for us,” tight end Evan Engram said Monday as the Giants returned from a bye week. “There’s a lot of meaningful football for us, and we’re heading into it with the right mindset.”
Engram spent his final day off watching the NFL RedZone channel, spending extra attention on games involving the Cowboys, Eagles and Washington. And by the end of the day, after Dallas upset the Vikings, Philly lost to Cleveland and Washington beat the Bengals, the Eagles had a half-game lead at 3-6-1 over the rest of the 3-7 teams in the division. While the Giants won’t look beyond Sunday’s game in Cincinnati against a Bengals team that will be without injured quarterback Joe Burrow, they at least know that their labor won’t be in vain for the foreseeable future.
Which is a refreshing change for Engram, who hasn’t come close to a playoff berth in his three previous seasons with the Giants. That goes for most of the Giants’ young roster, although Logan Ryan has two Super Bowl rings with the Patriots and a handful of other teammates have at least been in the tournament.
“When it’s meaningful football and the playoffs are involved,” Engram said, “everybody’s sense of urgency goes up. For me, it’s different being here the last three years in the situations we’ve been in, and I know it’s different for a lot of the young guys that are here coming into the league and getting an opportunity to play meaningful football.”
Make no mistake: Getting to January won’t be easy. The Giants’ schedule includes four games against
playoff-worthy opponents. After the Bengals — a game they absolutely should win now that Burrow is out — they’re at Seattle and then home to the Cardinals. Both NFC West teams are among the best in the conference, with quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray enjoying remarkable seasons. After that, it’s home to the resurgent Browns, who are 7-3 after beating the Eagles at home. Then it’s at Baltimore against a Ravens club that at 6-4 isn’t as good as last year’s 14-2 team but will certainly be favored to beat the Giants.
And then the regularseason finale at home against the Cowboys, a potential winner-take-all scenario. There’s still a long way from here to Jan. 3 at MetLife Stadium, but if the Giants create a win-and-in situation, then they will have survived a legitimate late-season test against a formidable group of opponents.
First things first, though. “It’s still kind of far down the line,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “It’s hard to look that far ahead. If we do something like that, we might mess around and overlook a team. We really have to focus week by week and right now, we have the Bengals and we’re looking to go 1-0 after this bye week. Try not to look too far ahead that.”
Coach Joe Judge refuses to engage in any what-if talk about playoffs and has so far pooh-poohed the idea of looking ahead to the playoffs. He insists he doesn’t care about the record; all he’s concerned with is getting better. In the next practice. In the next game.
But that won’t — and shouldn’t — stop Giants fans from dreaming. Same with the playoffs.
“I haven’t been to the playoffs yet,” Williams said. “I got close one year when I went 10-6 with the Jets my rookie year . Since then, I haven’t been close to getting to the playoffs.”
Now it’s showtime. “People say the ‘realest’ football is playing around these months, Thanksgiving onward,” he said. “This is definitely the time
you have to play some of your best football. We just came off a bye week, so people should be feeling fresh and ready to attack the rest of the season.”
And if they attack it the right way and build on the modest two-game win streak going into Sunday’s game, then they will create all they need at this point: a chance.
With six weeks to go in one of the most unconventional seasons imaginable, that chance still exists.