End of the season becomes heartbreaking to the Giants
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham says it's the last time some of the players will be on a football field on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It’s been a season of disappointment and frustration, but as the reality of its end comes crashing on the Giants, they seem to find themselves dealing with a new emotion.
Melancholy.
"This is the last time we’re going to have this group of guys out there," defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said on Thursday. "This is the last Thursday meeting I’m going to have with the guys. Tomorrow is the last Friday meeting. Today’s the last Thursday practice. You think about it, it gets kind of sad sometimes."
Good riddance, most would say. And you’d think the Giants themselves would just want this miserable season to end already. The results they have provided leave little to feel proud of or nostalgic about.
But since late July they have spent more time with each other than they have with anyone else including their families and loved ones. They bonded over adversity, fought through injuries (and, for the past two seasons, illnesses), and after Sunday’s game against Washington it will be over.
Even Joe Judge who has fought hard to keep the team focused on one objective — playing to win on Sunday — admitted there are times for such reflections.
"You do look at players and you never know what the future holds," he said. "There are guys you look at sometimes and you think ‘Man, I hope this isn’t the last time I get an opportunity to coach this guy on the field.’ That’s just natural."
For some, Sunday may be their final opportunity to play or coach football … ever. Whether they are released or retire or go unsigned or, in the case of coaches, get fired, a lifetime in the sport could be coming to an end.
"There are guys on this team who will never put cleats on again," Judge said. "Football is a unique sport. It’s not like when you are done playing basketball and you can just go down to the YMCA and find four friends and go out there and play. When do you go down to the park, put on full pads, go out with 21 other guys and play 11-on-11 full tackle? It doesn’t happen… At the end of it the thing we’re all trying to do is hold on as long as we can."
Every season ends, of course. Sometimes with smiles reflected in silver trophies, more often with disappointment. Tom Brady, who has more pleasant endings than just about anyone, once described losing in the postseason to falling off a treadmill. For these Giants the plummet has been far less abrupt.
Their chance of making the postseason has long since vanished and been processed. This week, the Giants are coming to grips with the finality of it all.
"There’s been great energy this week and guys have really been hanging out a lot more knowing that we don’t have another week together," safety Logan Ryan said. "Guys have really been embracing this and hanging in the building longer and putting the work in to make the last performance a good one."
Notes & quotes: WR Kadarius Toney (shoulder) did not practice after being limited on Wednesday, putting his availability for Sunday in doubt … Graham, who turned down a request by the Jets to interview for their head coach position last offseason, indicated he would be open to any opportunities this offseason. "The idea is to one day be a head coach," Graham said. "If someone wants to talk to me, they want to talk to me. I’m sure I’ll consider it. I would be flattered to have an opportunity." … LB Lorenzo Carter was excused from practice with an illness.
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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