When it comes to knocking off top seeds, Giants are No. 1
The Giants' Jaylon Smith celebrates after an NFL wild-card game against the Vikings on Sunday in Minneapolis. Credit: AP/Abbie Parr
Top seeds usually come with an impressive aura, having just navigated the entire regular season and finished as the best of the best. They usually have a dozen or more wins. They get the bye and the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They are, generally speaking, the favorites to make it all the way to the Super Bowl.
In short, it’s good to be No. 1.
Except when facing the Giants.
This team’s nickname may be more closely associated with a goliath, but their recent history in the postseason has been more similar to a bunch of Davids, slinging stones and knocking off bigger and better teams.
Since the restructuring of the NFL playoffs in 1990, the Giants have faced a top seed six times.
They are 6-0 in those games.
It’s a trend that began in the 1990 season when they knocked off the 49ers and Bills, both the best teams in their conferences. In 2007, they pulled off the exacta again, beating the Cowboys (in the Divisional Round) and the Patriots. In 2011, it was Green Bay (again in the Divisional Round) before another win over New England.
No one in the league has done better against the best. That six-game winning streak is the longest by any franchise since the NFL began seeding its playoff teams in 1975.
On Saturday night, they’ll have the chance to extend it when the No. 6 Giants face the No. 1 Eagles in Philadelphia in the NFC Divisional Round.
This time, though, there is no mystique to the team with that designation. It’s just the Eagles, the same team the Giants have been playing twice a year since forever, the same team they faced two weeks ago and nearly beat despite resting most of their key starters.
The Eagles may be the best, but have they seen the Giants’ best?
“No,” safety Xavier McKinney said when asked that question. “They’ll see it come Saturday.”
With the exception of the Colts, the Giants have played only three other teams since Thanksgiving: Washington twice, Minnesota twice and now Philadelphia a third time. In each of those contests, with a chance for the coaching staff to flex its creativity, the Giants played better in their second opportunity.
Familiarity has been the Giants’ friend.
“We’re a very confident team,” Saquon Barkley said. “We’ve kind of been that way throughout the whole season. Had our ups and downs, faced adversity, but our mindset has kind of been the same. Just continue to come out, go out there with a competitive mindset, believe in each other, and that gives us the best opportunity.”
In both of their meetings with the Eagles this season, the Giants were shorthanded, either because of injuries or coaching decisions. They did not have McKinney, Adoree’ Jackson or Leonard Williams healthy enough to play in the Dec. 11 game at MetLife Stadium, and they did not deploy Daniel Jones or Barkley in the Jan. 8 game at Lincoln Financial Field.
Davis Webb, who started the regular-season finale for the Giants, said he believes that experience will help the Giants because it gave Jones a different view of the Eagles’ defense.
“I think that’s given him some new ideas, and I think that’s neat for him,” Webb said. “It’s like a bird’s-eye view as opposed to being out there in the fire. If you are on the sideline, you pick and choose half the field [to watch]. If you are out there, you have 11 you have to deal with. I think it’s a nice different viewpoint.”
Rarely are NFL teams intimidated by any other, but the Giants’ recent play and their circumstances in those two games against the Eagles have allowed them to slip out of any inferiority complexes that might otherwise accompany facing the top team in the conference.
“Underdog means nothing,” McKinney said. “You’ve got to go out there and play regardless of being favored, the underdog, it doesn’t matter. In this league, anything can happen. Obviously in the playoffs, anything can happen. So really nobody’s an underdog in the playoffs because you all got there. You’re the top teams. You’ve got to go out there and play, compete, and we’ll be looking to do that.
“We’ll be looking to win.”
If that means bringing down another top seed, so be it.
If that means beating the Eagles, well, even better.
The Giants have the NFL’s best winning percentage vs. No. 1 seeds since 1990 (minimum two games):
Team W-L PCT
Giants 6-0 1.000
Buccaneers 4-1 .800
Cowboys 2-1 .667
Patriots 7-4 .636
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
