Ex-Raven Justin Ellis has been warning Giants about how quickly things can change
New York Giants defensive tackle Justin Ellis (71) walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022, in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Justin Ellis has been sharing his experience from last year with as many current teammates as possible. The veteran defensive lineman was part of last year's Ravens team that started the season 8-3 and things were looking great. Then, very quickly, things were not. They finished 8-9 and did not make the playoffs. It’s one of the reasons why he and a number of other players and coaches are with the Giants now and not still in Baltimore.
But it also serves as a warning for his current team.
The Giants are 6-1. No team in the league has more wins than they do. They are off to their best start since 2008, a team that may have been the most complete and talented roster the team has assembled this century before it was undone by Plaxico Burress’ unfortunate marksmanship. It would be easy for them to start thinking about the postseason, about the possibilities that January and perhaps even February may hold for them. Natural, even.
The players are trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“[It’s helpful] to have that perspective and understand that it doesn’t really matter how you start, it’s really about how you finish,” cornerback Adoree’ Jackson said of Ellis’ parable from the Ravens and how it resonates with many in a locker room who have never tasted this level of success in the NFL, either because of previous losing seasons or because of their newness in the league.
Jackson has another angle to drive home the same theme. He was part of a Titans squad that made it to the AFC Championship after starting out 2-4.
“You just never know how this league may go,” Jackson said. “It’s hard to get wins. It’s hard to collect them. We’re just trying to keep stacking those wins and keep coming into work each day and trying to get better.”
It’s an important mindset for the Giants to maintain in these heady times. Past failures make it feel as if they have accomplished something by getting to this point with this record. All they've really done, though, is surprise most outsiders so far. They have bought themselves relevant games in the second half of the season. For the Giants to make this a really special season they have to win them.
That means winning divisional games. The Giants play four of them in a row starting on Thanksgiving in Dallas and close their regular season against the as yet unbeaten Eagles. While they have been able to collect victories from the rest of their opponents, they have won just three of their last 22 combined games against the Cowboys and Eagles.
It’s why the players who have experienced playoff runs have important voices in tempering the euphoria that surrounds the Giants now.
“I think the main thing is you’ve got to take it week-by-week,” said running back Matt Breida, a member of the 2019 49ers team that went to the Super Bowl. “We’re not trying to look too far ahead. I think we’ve got guys on the team that have bought into that.”
Such messaging starts with the head coach.
“I know I sound like a broken record, but this league humbles you very quickly,” Brian Daboll said. “Thinking about things that could happen in the future does you no good because you better stay right in the present and focus on the things that you can control. That’s something that I’ve preached to our players, to our staff, to myself. I think that takes discipline and it takes a consistent approach to do that each day.”
And it takes people such as Ellis and Jackson and others who have learned that lesson the hard way to reinforce it in this locker room.
NOTES & QUOTES: With TE Daniel Bellinger out indefinitely with an eye injury that will require surgery the Giants added rookie TE Andre Miller to their practice squad. Miller was with the Giants in the summer but fractured his forearm early in training camp … The Giants must decide on the fate of OL Nick Gates who returned to practicing with the team three weeks ago. If he is not added to the active roster by Wednesday he will revert to season-ending PUP.
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.
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