WRAP IT UP!
Eli, Giants plan to give fans gift of playoffs tonight
PHILADELPHIA — The franchise was broken, the fan base disenchanted and disillusioned, the general manager under fire, the head coach who delivered two Super Bowl championships with Eli Manning replaced.
It is 343 days later, and this is the night the New York Football Giants have been chasing since Feb. 5, 2012, the night they won Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
This is the night that comes after four futile seasons when pride mattered to not enough of them, four futile seasons that often shamed the likes of Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson and Michael Strahan, four futile seasons watching the playoffs at home, four futile seasons when they forgot how to be Giants, four seasons of Manning’s prime he will never get back, three consecutive seasons below .500 and one empty February Sunday watching the Seahawks destroy Eli’s big brother in the first New York Super Bowl in MetLife Stadium.
This is the night they can clinch a playoff berth, in a hostile, venomous place that will prove to be the true litmus test of whether Ben McAdoo, the rookie head coach who succeeded Tom Coughlin and trumpeted evolution not revolution, successfully has conditioned his Giants to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
The Eagle-eyed Giants boarded a 3:30 p.m. bus Wednesday, 120 last miles and 60 last minutes to that long-lost playoff berth.
“It’s right around the corner,” Rashad Jennings said. Go get it. Pluck the Eagles and leave nothing to chance and punch that ticket to the Dance.
Jennings has played eight NFL seasons. This is his first winning season.
“I want to be able to wake up Friday and say I’m doing something I’ve never done before,” he told The Post. Bring it home. This is the night the wondrous Odell Beckham Jr. can reach the playoffs for the first time, and then get his chance to moonwalk to the Super Bowl.
This is the night a defense dramatically upgraded by $200 million worth of free-agent repairs can help carry Manning back in position to make a run at a third Super Bowl championship, even if it might be without both Jackrabbit Jenkins and Jason Pierre-Paul.
This is the night Jerry Reese can silence his critics and find vindication.
This is the night John Mara and Steve Tisch can share a heartfelt handshake and look forward to a Mara Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, respectively, and Happy New Year.
“In high school I never went to the playoffs, in college [Syracuse] we never won more than 10 games … so to be at this point now, this is the best year of my life playing football,” Justin Pugh said.
These resilient, irrepressible, battle-hardened Giants seem to understand the 5-9 Eagles will die trying to stop them.
They won’t be offering hot cocoa and marshmallows for the visitors when the Big Blue bus pulls up at the Linc.
The Giants have won four Super Bowls since the 1986 season. It is a sore subject in The City of Brotherly Love, which seemingly has hated the Giants from the time Chuck “Concrete Charlie” Bednarik plastered Frank Gifford.
It is a sore subject because, over the past 30 years, the Eagles have won four fewer Super Bowls than their Turnpike Tormentors to the north. And no one in these parts needs any reminding the Eagles never have hoisted a Lombardi Trophy. Or that their last championship came in 1960, when Norm Van Brocklin got the better of Vince Lombardi.
Will Tye was asked what advice he would have for the rookie Giants.
“You’re gonna hear it all,” he said, “but don’t be surprised by any of it.”
Olivier Vernon was asked if he likes being a villain. He chuckled. “There’s nothing wrong being a villain, man,” he told The Post. “Ain’t no room for good guys.”
Vernon played four seasons in Miami, never missed a game there or as a Giant. He never has played in a playoff game. “I had the opportunity twice to get into the playoffs in previous years, and it slipped through our hands,” Vernon said. “I’m trying to not let it slip this time.” Just Blue it.