Sully loaded
Giants offense transforms under its new play-caller
S UNDAY was a different kind of game day for Mike Sullivan, a more rewarding game day than most — not only did his team win, but he had a tangible hand in the victory.
For the past two years, serving as Ben McAdoo’s offensive coordinator, Sullivan has been more consultant than coach on game days, because McAdoo called the plays.
That changed Sunday night in Denver, where McAdoo handed over the play-calling duties to Sullivan — who, by all accounts (not to mention the end result), excelled in a 23-10 Giants win over the heavily favored Broncos.
With the 1-5 Giants playing the 3-2 Seahawks on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Sullivan is expected to continue the playcalling for an offense that remains short-handed with the team’s top two receivers, Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall, out for the season and an offensive line (five starting combinations in six games) that has struggled to find consistency. No timetable has been set for how long Sullivan will continue to bark out the plays from his headset to Eli Manning’s helmet — whether this is a weekto-week thing or the rest of the season or the rest of McAdoo’s tenure. But that doesn’t matter much at the moment, as the Giants continue to try to salvage their wayward season.
It’s difficult to tangibly measure Sullivan’s impact on the offense as a the play-caller, but the results showed a stronger commitment to the running game than the team had shown in the previous five weeks, all losses.
The Giants rushed the ball a season-high 32 times for 148 yards. Orleans Darkwa finished with a career-high 117 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Under Sullivan’s play-calling, the Giants went with more twotight-end sets than usual, and rookie Evan Engram finished with five catches for a careerhigh 82 yards and a touchdown.
“I have great confidence in Sully,’’ Manning said. “It’s the first time that he’s called a game that I’ve played in, but I think he’s done a good job. I thought he did a good job just sticking with the run and knowing it was going to be that game, got a little lead and just staying with it.’’
Sullivan told The Post that being the playcaller “was enjoyable from the standpoint of actually having a direct influence on what’s going to happen in the game.’’ Sullivan is a former U. S. Army Ranger. He doesn’t flinch. His players see that, and their responding accordingly in Denver in an against-all-odds situation was Exhibit A. He grew up a big boxing fan and has practiced Brazilian JiuJitsu since he got out the Army. His players say there isn’t a team meeting that doesn’t include a boxing or MMA reference, and they embrace it. “He loves boxing and he translates it into football, which is basically f ighting,’’ receiver Roger Lewis said Thursday. “That’s one of the things I love about him is that he brings that military style. He’s real big into MMA and boxing, and everything he does he always brings it back to a fight reference … and football is really a fight,’’ offensive lineman Justin Pugh said. “When watching those sports like boxing or MMA, you see an indi- vidual all by himself walking to a cage or a boxing ring completely exposed,’’ Sullivan said. “All of the things we talk about from a team standpoint — overcoming adversity, showing courage, getting hit, getting knocked down and getting back up — it’s a pretty good parallel to football.
“If we can get players to buy into that warrior type of mindset, a fighter’s mindset, in their own personal battles, I think that can help them fight through those individual challenges and move onto the next play.’’
The Giants next play on offense will come shortly after 4:25 p.m. Sunday against a talented, mentally tough Seattle defense, and Sullivan can’t wait to enforce his influence again — from his headset to Manning’s helmet to the other 10 players in the huddle.
Sullivan called Sunday’s Denver game “very gratifying.’’
“It was a great memory, but obviously that’s way in the rearview mirror,’’ he said. “We’ve got an even greater challenge ahead of us to try to keep some momentum and keep this going.’’
And, as it should be, he’ll have a hand in it on game day. Just as he did a week ago.