Strength of upcoming schedule, depth of roster will test Giants
Head coach Brian Daboll of the New York Giants during the first half against the Detroit Lions at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Giants have won seven of their first 10 games, a heck of a warm-up act given the modest expectations most NFL observers had for them entering the season.
But now comes the featured attraction — four consecutive NFC East games in a division in which every team is above .500.
It begins Thursday against the Cowboys, who are coming off a 40-3 road rout of the previously once-beaten Vikings.
Then come the Commanders, Eagles and Commanders again. The Eagles have the best record in the league at 9-1; Washington has won five of its last six games.
When this stretch is over, we will have a far better handle on whether the Giants are an early-season flash in the pan or a legitimate playoff team.
Only one of the Giants’ final seven games is against a team that currently has a losing record — the 4-6-1 Colts on New Year’s Day.
Complicating matters is a series of injuries in Sunday’s 31-18 loss to the Lions, including rookie receiver Wan’Dale Robinson suffering a right ACL tear that ended his season.
The level of competition, the short work week and a raft of injuries should make for a good test of first-year coach Brian Daboll’s season-long focus on keeping his team on an even keel and treating each game like every other.
“You’re always going to hit adversity, whether it’s in a game, whether it’s in a season,” Daboll said on Monday. “We’ve talked about that since April. I don’t think that’s something you all of a sudden talk about. You have to teach it and you have to try to learn from it.
“You have to believe in your process. You have to go out there and try to execute the best you can. And if you do those things, you live with the results. And you move on to the next week.”
The Giants’ performance on Sunday was their least impressive of the season, and it flipped most of the script that helped them to a fast start.
Saquon Barkley, who had been having as good a season as any running back in the NFL, rushed 15 times for 22 yards. Daniel Jones, who had not thrown an interception since Sept. 26, threw two. The defense faltered repeatedly, especially against the run.
Even reliable Graham Gano missed two extra points for the first time in his 184-game NFL career, including the playoffs.
The fact that the team is banged up is a negative for the short work week. (The Giants will not hold a traditional practice at all this week.)
“When you’re losing starters to injury, that’s going to be tough on any team,” defensive tackle Leonard Williams said. “But we have confidence in the guys who are going to step up in those positions, and we’re going to do our best to let them know that we’re confident in them so they’re confident on game day.”
But psychologically, the short week could help in putting Sunday’s flop to rest.
“Mentally, I think it makes it easier because we have no choice but to just quickly move on to the next opponent,” Williams said. “And regardless, win or lose every week, we’ve talked about flushing the last game and moving on to the next one.”
Said Daboll, “It wasn’t our first loss. You come in after a loss, you don’t feel great. You feel very disappointed. You put a lot of work into it during the week, and you don’t get the results you want.
“You should be disappointed, but you can’t let it linger. In this particular case, it’s such a quick turnaround. You’ve got to move on quickly. That’s something that we’ve stressed really since we’ve gotten here: Take it day by day.”
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.
