Victory against bitter rival would be a sweet finish
A virtual lock is not a certainty. Any percentage under 100 isn’t high enough. For now, several playoff scenarios still exist. Other scoreboards could still matter.
Though a highly unlikely sequence of events would need to occur to keep the Giants from the postseason, the possibility still exists. But with a win Thursday night against the Eagles, the Giants will clinch their first playoff berth in five years, playing in their first win-and-in opportunity since defeating the Cowboys in the 2011 regular-season finale.
“It’s good to be in a position where that’s pretty much the course, but we just got to do it,” defensive end Olivier Vernon said. “When the opportunity presents itself, it’s something you got to take. … We control everything that goes forward, so right now we’ve just got to handle our business.”
The Giants earned the opportunity by ripping o ff eight wins in their past nine games, sprinting past Phil adelphia, which had opened the season with three wins, but fell from playoff contention after losing seven of its past eight games, including five straight.
Even against the NFC East’s worst, the Giants face obvious obstacles—playing on the road and on a short week — to achieving one of their biggest goals of the season, with the Eagles hoping to prevent their rival from celebrating at Lincoln Financial Field. “Obv i - ous ly, the history between these two teams, I don’t think it really needs tobe explained ,” O dell Beckham Jr. said. “I feel like we’re going to come out f ired up .… Since I’ ve been here, we haven’t beaten the Eagles even at home besides this year. I don’ t think web eat them the past two years unless I’m wrong.”
He isn’t wrong. Before the Giants ’28-23 win over the Eagles on Nov. 7, Philadelphia had won four straight meetings, and 13 of the previous 16 encounters.
B eckham was still at LSU during the Giants’ most recent win in Philadelphia, on Oct. 27, 2013, in which Josh Brown kicked five field goals in the 15-7 victory.
Now, on the same night, the Giants can take back control of the rivalry and end their postseason drought.
“I love the city of Philadelphia. I hate the Philadelphia Eagles,” said Justin Pugh, who grew up in the Philly suburbs. “It would be huge. … We have to go out there and get a win and play a good game of football, play a complete game of football. We still have yet to do that.”
With a win, the Giants can start thinking about the possibilities in the playoffs, about what Eli Manning-led teams have accomplished with a wild-card berth.
At the Giants’ facility, the players see the path every day.
“There’s a whole bunch of pictures of Super Bowls around the building so it’s constantly a reminder ,” Dominique Rodger s-C rom artie said .“When you walk around this building t hat’s all you think about. … Every meeting you attend, it’s always about putting that fifth trophy in the case. … Everybody’s goal when you play this game is to go the Super Bowl. To harp on it day in and day out, it’ s not common .… To see it when you walk around and to always incorporate it in your meetings, you get a better understanding of what it truly is.
“It’s a big motivation, especially when you realize you’ve got the team to do it. … The main thing is you don’t want to bea letdown, so you fight that much harder to do that. … In your mind you’re saying you know what time it is. It’s kind of like all or nothing.”