Calvin Munson

Raised in St. Charles, Missouri, Munson was a seventh grader spending time with family at a barbecue when he, too, couldn’t believe what he was seeing as Tyree hauled in arguably the most acrobatic catch in NFL history on the Giants’ game-winning drive.

“The Patriots were stacked, and I just remember the Giants came out and outplayed them. That was a fun game to watch,” Munson said. “Growing up, I was never a big Patriots fan. Just never really watched them and their record was good, so I always kind of liked the underdog.”

In his youth, Munson developed an affinity for the Dolphins and watched the Bears, his father’s hometown team, so he aspired to follow in the footsteps of middle linebackers like Zack Thomas and Brian Urlacher.

Munson, an undrafted rookie linebacker out of San Diego State, has also been grateful to learn from Pierce, a Giants intern coach who started at middle linebacker for New York in the Super Bowl.

“The Giants always had a great defense, so that was always fun to watch,” Munson said. “It’s cool now having AP here and getting to learn from him and just having some of his insight out there, just because I know he was a great player.”

Nearly 10 years since the greatest win in franchise history, perhaps the most important lesson these Giants can learn is that a Week 1 loss to the Cowboys is not an indictment on the season. The 2007 champion Giants also lost their season opener at Dallas.

“I think the players and the coaches have done a great job in the leadership aspect as far as just because you lose the first game doesn’t mean you can’t win every other game,” Munson said. “We’re just trying to go from here and learn from our mistakes and just get better.”