USA TODAY International Edition
GIANTS’ MISSION:
Don’t get embarrassed by Patriots
EAST RUTHERFORD, N. J. – Michael Thomas has his own Tom Brady story, one he will never forget.
In some ways, Thomas, now a co- captain for the Giants, hopes the message spreads throughout the locker room as “Big Blue” heads up to Foxborough, Massachusetts, and into a near- impossible situation against Brady and the Patriots on Thursday night.
An undrafted NFL rookie in 2013, Thomas was signed from the 49ers’ practice squad by the Dolphins as an extra reserve for a game against the Patriots. With one walk- through practice under his belt in Miami, Thomas entered the game as an emergency fill- in at defensive back and wound up with the victory- clinching play by intercepting Brady in the end zone.
Some of his teammates with the Dolphins didn’t even know his name, so they referred to him on the field and after the game in the celebratory locker room as “31,” his jersey number.
“That’s one I’ll be able to tell the grandkids,” Thomas recalled with a smile last year in an interview with North Jersey. com and USA TODAY Network Northeast.
It’s one the Giants need to hear this week as they prepare to face the best team in the NFL. How do the shorthanded Giants – likely without Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard – step into the prime- time spotlight and compete in a game in which they are currently 17point underdogs, according to
Pregame. com?
The mission is simple, although the challenge is certainly daunting: The Giants can’t be awestruck by the Patriots, and whatever the perception might be regarding their chances, they have no choice but to compete to survive.
It would be somewhat understandable if Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones lost himself a bit in the moment. He was three months shy of his fifth birthday when Brady and Belichick won their first of six Super Bowls together in 2002.
“I think you certainly respect what they’ve done and you acknowledge the fact that they’re a good team,” Jones said. “But I don’t think we can let that affect our confidence or the way we kind of attack the preparation, or when we get there, the play of the game, and I don’t think it will.
“So I think they’re a good team, we know that, but we’re confident in what we do.”
Let’s play a game: say the Giants did have Barkley, Shepard and Engram, even Wayne Gallman, who is also out with a concussion. They likely still don’t win. Without them, the Giants need to take this game for what it is: a chance to learn a thing or two about the young players on their roster, even the veterans who want to show they are part of the future here, and do that while being smart for the rest of a long season that lies ahead.
This is when you learn about the locker room and the coaching staff.
Play rookies Corey Ballentine and Julian Love more on defense.
Watch how Dexter Lawrence, B. J. Hill, Dalvin Tomlinson and Oshane Ximines compete.
“As a player, you’ve got to live for these moments,” Ximines told NorthJersey. com on Sunday after the Giants’ 28- 10 loss to the Vikings. “Prime- time game against one of the best teams, if not the best team in the NFL, defending Super Bowl champs, this is what you dream about when you go out in the backyard and start playing.
“I’m excited to go out there and compete against the G. O. A. T. ( Brady). Got a lot of respect for him, been watching him since I was this big ( points to his waist), and I’m definitely going to try and get after him, that’s my job. We’ll see how that goes, but I’m going to compete, we all are.”
Golden Tate brushed off the suggestion that the Patriots carry with them an intimidation factor of sorts uncommon in the NFL, especially for young players who have spent their football lives watching on television the faces of what has become an iconic franchise.
“I don’t think we have a locker room full of fanboys,” Tate said. “I think we understand we’re all in the NFL, we’re going out there to do a job. We’ve all played in big games, I think, at some point, and it’s a big one because it’s the next one on our schedule, but I don’t think we need to put too much pressure on ourselves.
“I think we need to keep our emotions in check – I don’t think we want to get too high, we don’t want to get too low – just live in the moment, enjoy having the opportunity to go play in a very hostile environment against a great team, and go out there and shock the world. It’s as simple as that.”
A mission rooted in simplicity, but a challenge about as daunting as they come.