Giants relish road warrior underdog role
"This team plays better than we're an underdog," said Giants defensive tackle Barry Cofield, above. Credit: AP
GREEN BAY, Wis.
Barry Cofield can't quite put his finger on why the Giants are like this. He just knows they are. Call it a gut feeling.
A few days before the Giants played the Eagles at New Meadowlands Stadium in a matchup of NFC East co-leaders, the defensive tackle got this gnawing feeling after he kept hearing and reading about how good the Giants are.
"Everyone's picking us to win, we're riding so high, and I get nervous," he said.
That turned out to be more than simply unjustified anxiety; after building a 31-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Giants collapsed in epic fashion. Their 38-31 loss to the Eagles dropped them to 9-5 with two games left in the regular season.
Odd as this might sound, Cofield is more comfortable in the predicament the Giants now face. "I think we're in a better position now, coming off a loss and having people write us off," he said. "This team plays better when we're the underdog."
And that they are. Facing the Packers at Lambeau Field Sunday in a rematch of the NFC Championship Game in January 2008, the Giants can clinch a playoff spot by winning. A loss, and they'll have to beat Washington the following week and hope for help elsewhere in the NFC to reach the tournament.
It would have been a lot easier with a win over the Eagles, but there's this odd sense of tranquility that descended upon the locker room during the week. Denial in the wake of a collapse that's being mentioned with some of the worst in franchise history? Perhaps. But more likely a familiar feeling for a team and a coach who have been here before.
"I think this is a mentally tough group," coach Tom Coughlin said. "I think that we're all since - and I know I am - in the approach we take. There's not a whole lot we can do about yesterday. What we can do is have something to do with right now, and hopefully, that will contribute to what's going to happen in the future, so let's go about our business."
Coughlin has been here before. In 2006, with his job on the line, the Giants needed a win over the Redskins in the final week of the season to make it to the playoffs. The Giants responded with a 34-28 win at FedEx Field as Tiki Barber ran for a franchise-record 234 yards.
A year later, with the same 9-5 mark they have now, the Giants came off a humiliating home loss to the Redskins and beat the Bills on the road to clinch a playoff spot. They lost the following week at home to New England after going toe-to-toe with the unbeaten Patriots, then reeled off three straight road wins to qualify for a rematch in Super Bowl XLII. The Giants beat the 18-0 Patriots to win the third Super Bowl title in franchise history.
They earned the right to get to the Super Bowl by upsetting Brett Favre and the Packers, 23-20, in overtime at Lambeau Field in the NFC title game. Eli Manning outdueled his more accomplished adversary in minus-23-degree wind chill.
To get back to the championship game this year, they'll have to do it on the road again, unless the Eagles stumble and allow the Giants a crack at the division title. Not likely.
"You stress the road-warrior mentality," Coughlin said, "and the idea that we have been able to come together as a team and really depend and rely on each other for strength and support."
Since the start of the 2007 season, the Giants have the NFL's third-best regular-season road record at 20-10, trailing only the Colts (23-8) and Patriots (21-10). Starting in 2005, the first year the Giants made the playoffs under Coughlin, the Giants are 9-4 in regular-season road games in December and January. The Giants are 4-2 on the road this season.
"As long as I've been here, since 2007, we've always done well in those situations," tight end Kevin Boss said.
They'll have to add to that success against the Packers to be assured of a sixth trip to the playoffs in the Coughlin era. No better way to flush out the memories of last week's meltdown.
