Win is Giants' first step on long road back from 1-7
Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard (87) and quarterback Eli Manning (10) celebrate as they run off the field after beating the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif., Monday, Nov. 12, 2018. Credit: AP/Tony Avelar
The Giants are 12.5 percent of the way to the “not impossible” goal Odell Beckham Jr. set last week: an eight-game winning streak to close out the season.
So why not suspend disbelief for a few days and play along? It beats moping and / or debating Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame prospects.
For fans, that approach is complicated by a desire for another high draft pick come spring. But for coaches and players, the company line is that there is no past, only a present and future that on Monday night finally allowed them to smile.
After a 27-23 victory over the 49ers, coach Pat Shurmur’s message was clear in his locker room address: The season is eight games long, not 16. Pay no attention to that 1-7 start hiding behind the curtain.
“I’m proud of you guys not quitting,” Shurmur said in a video posted by the team. “This is Game 1 of our eight-game season. Game 1 . . . We’re going to get on a plane and put all our energy and all our focus into Tampa Bay. Game 2 of our eight-game season, right?”
Right. If the Giants fail to show up for work over the next seven weeks, their paychecks will be docked accordingly, so they might as well win. Other than the improved draft position, more losing is not good for anyone.
The win-now plan with which the season began is mostly kaput, but with stars such as Beckham and Saquon Barkley in the fold and Shurmur likely to be back for at least one more season, negativity is . . . well, it’s a negative.
“Anytime you win it kind of verifies that what you’re doing is right,” Shurmur said Tuesday on a call with reporters. “On game day you put all your energy into winning, all your energy into putting a winning performance on the field, so I sensed a real joy in the locker room.”
Things came perilously close to being joyless again.
The drive that led to Manning’s game-winning pass to Sterling Shepard with 53 seconds left was resuscitated by a defensive holding call on a third-and-12 incompletion to Barkley and pass interference on a second-and-20 incompletion to Beckham.
Speaking of Barkley, at times he continues to eschew modest rushing gains in search of huge plays. Shurmur acknowledged that Tuesday on WFAN, saying, “I think there’s times when you have to just take a dirty 5-yard run.”
For once, it all worked out, with Manning securing the Giants’ first road victory in a game they trailed at halftime in their past 29 (!) tries dating to 2011, and earning Manning at least one more start.
On WFAN on Tuesday, he said it did not cross his mind that he needed the victory to keep his starting job, but he added, “We needed a win. I needed a win. Everybody in the organization needed a win, just to calm the fire.”
The remaining schedule is manageable, beginning with the 3-6 Buccaneers Sunday at MetLife Stadium, where the Giants are winless.
Adding to the plausibility of a late-season run is that the Giants are unusually healthy for this time of year, far more so than last year. Then again, that also makes their 2-7 record even more indefensible.
Oops, did we say “2-7”? Sorry. They are “1-0” in their new season.
“I wasn’t joking when I said we had to win eight games,” Beckham said after the game. “That’s obviously the goal. I don’t come here to just line up and lose.”
Miracles can happen. Exhibit A: The offensive line played well against the 49ers. Shurmur said it was the line’s best job of pass protection this season.
That includes recently arrived guard Jamon Brown, who knows all about eight-game winning streaks. The Rams were 7-0 when they waived him two weeks ago; the Giants are 1-0 with him on the field.
“It feels great just bringing that vibe or whatever to this team,” Brown said. “It has been something that all the guys have been joking with me about. Hopefully, I can help us in any way possible try to create that for the remainder of the season.”
Only 87.5 percent to go!
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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