GIANT COMFORT
Daboll consoles Slayton after dropped pass
MINNEAPOLIS — When the Giants came up with the defensive stop they needed Sunday night in the closing minutes to secure a 31-24 playoff victory over the Vikings, there was one person in particular associated with the Giants who was far more relieved than euphoric.
“Ain’t nobody in this tristate area happier than me for that defensive stop,” wide receiver Darius Slayton said.
Slayton was able to laugh at that one.
He was not smiling or laughing with 3:07 remaining, when the Giants were clinging to their seven-point lead, hoping to keep the ball and keep their own defense from having to go back onto the field. Daniel Jones on thirdand-15 located Slayton running across the field, from right to left, and hit Slayton in stride. Slayton dropped the ball. If he caught it, he had room to run and might have picked up the first down. Instead, the
Giants had to punt the ball away, leaving Slayton anguished on the bench.
“It wasn’t great, obviously,’’ Slayton said. “It happens sometimes. I just took my eyes off it, I was trying to catch and go and left the ball behind. Fortunately I play on a team that has a really good defense and they got the stop and we were able to win the game.’’ Slayton otherwise had a solid game — four catches for 88 yards — but he needed some comforting as the Giants had to make another defensive stand. His head coach, Brian Daboll, consoled Slayton on the sideline.
“I said, ‘Put your head up,’ ’’ Daboll said. “He made a lot of good plays for us. That could have gone a ways — at least first down. He’s such a good teammate, he’s done everything he can do for us the entire year. You make a physical mistake, that’s going to happen in football and he made one at a critical time and there’s no one that felt worse than him. So we need him. He’s one of our best players on offense. I have a lot of confidence in him and I just told him to get his chin up and we need him to go back out there and he’s ready to go.’’