Giants success built on the right ‘click’

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Expect, not hope.

That is how the Giants move day to day, game to game.

There is no doubt winning five of their first six games, heading into their meeting with the Jaguars at TIAA Bank Field on Sunday has done something to empower the team.

“We have that confidence within ourselves,’’ Xavier McKinney said. “It’s a confidence in the way we work, the way we prepare for these games that has us ready to go out there already in that mindset of, ‘All right, let’s go win,’ instead of, ‘Let’s go survive.’ We’re going in there for one reason, and that’s to win the game. That’s how we see it every week.’’

McKinney did not see it that way in his first two seasons with the Giants. He arrived as a second-round pick in 2020 after having been inundated with heaping amounts of success at Alabama. He was supposed to be a building block for Joe Judge, but that coaching gig lasted just two years, leaving McKinney 10-23 as an NFL player and sensing that a negative vibe was creeping into his innermost thoughts when it came time for kickoff.

“In the last couple of years as a whole that wasn’t really the mindset,’’ McKinney said. “We were going into games not really, just didn’t feel the sense of confidence. But now we have that confidence. We always played hard, but I think it always started from the top down. Now we got that click and we’re ready to go, every game.’’

Whatever that “click’’ is, the Giants want to keep it close to their hearts. They have found a formula — delicate, to be sure — for success, showing an ability to close out games on defense and save their best for last on offense. The ringleader is Daniel Jones, who has orchestrated fourth-quarter comebacks an NFL-high four times this season.

Jones mentioned he knows the Giants are a “tough group,’’ and he also pointed out a Daboll methodology that has triggered the desired results.

“He has preached competitive stamina,’’ Jones said. “It has been one of his things he’s talked about a lot through training camp even back to the spring. I think guys have really grabbed on to that.’’ Competitive stamina? “Being able to compete for the whole game, for 60 minutes, regardless of what happens, regardless of the situation,’’ Jones said. “Being tough enough mentally and physically to compete for the whole game.’’

These Giants expect to win. And if they lose, it will not be because they grew too full of themselves.

“Because we’ve been at the bottom, at the bottom of the bottom,’’ McKinney said. “We’ve hit rock bottom, so we know what it’s like to be down there, and a lot of guys don’t want us to go back down there. I know for damn sure I don’t.’’