Out of 53 players on the active roster, 16 on the practice squad, and 11 on injured reserve, only 14 of the 80 players on the Giants’ payroll were in the NFL the last time the team made the playoffs – and of that group, only two – Landon Collins and the injured Sterling Shepard – were actually on that 2016 Big Blue roster.
Sure, there are a few others who have playoff experience, but for the majority of this group, the postseason experience later this month will be the beginning – and it’s likely sweeter for no one than Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, back-to-back Top 6 picks of the previous regime who are not under contract for next year and have been through nothing but losing in their tenures.
“It’s real special. It's a huge accomplishment. You've got to give credit to all the guys—from OTAs, coming in every single day with the right mindset, with the right work ethic. I've got to give credit to the coaches. And it's a beautiful thing,” said Barkley. “I mean no one, let's be honest, no one besides the men and women in that facility gave us a chance to accomplish this and we just stuck to the script, kept believing in each other and gave ourselves the opportunity and we did it.”
“It’s special; a lot of guys put in a lot of work and we've been through, certainly, some tougher times, and it feels good to be on this side of it, for sure,” Jones added. “Really proud of this team, and grateful to be a part of it. A lot of hard work has gone into it from a lot of different people and like I said, I'm grateful for my teammates, grateful for this organization and looking forward to a lot of work ahead.”
So, you can understand if, regardless of who it is and how much playoff experience they have, this one is a little more special for Jones and Barkley.
“Yeah, I will (savor it) and we'll enjoy it and celebrate it, but I think we all understand there's a lot of work to do ahead of us,” Jones said. “It’s hard to win in this league and it’s hard to make the playoffs, as we’ve learned, so we’ll enjoy it, but there's a lot still out there for us, a lot we can work on and work to improve on.”
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Head coach Brian Daboll was, as he has been all season, subdued but clearly happy for his squad, saying he was excited but “the playoffs are a different breed” and “we have to get ready to play another game.”
But even he had to admit that the locker room was raucous after the win, and rightfully so.
“You work with these guys every day. A lot of them are my kids' ages. Some of them have had some challenging times here. So, I'm extremely happy for the players, first and foremost, but the staff, trainers, ownership, coaches,” Daboll said. “Obviously it’s a big win because we clinched a playoff spot, but that's what I like most about coaching: the relationships. Seeing that two to three minutes in the locker room when it's just the team of all the hard work they've put into it to try to get a result that you hope for…I'm very thankful and appreciative for all the players, the staff, the coaches, but to see smiles on the faces, that's the best time of the week for me, when you watch these people who put so much into it to try to get a result you want.”
The team even got some dap from President and CEO John Mara, who congratulated the team and chatted with Daboll and GM Joe Schoen as he normally does, albeit with a slightly more upbeat tone than usual.
“He was excited, happy, smiling,” Daboll said of Mara. “We made the playoffs, but there’s a long way to go here, and you have to take it one game at a time. This is a humbling league, and in the playoffs, when you lose, you’re done.”
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They have one more between now and then, a season finale with the Eagles that’s more important now for Philly than a Giants team locked into the sixth seed, but in 17 weeks, a Giants team that clearly has less “sex appeal” than most other playoff squads has become exactly what their head coach imagined.
“We came in and wanted to be smart, tough, dependable, which is what Coach Daboll wanted,” Barkley said. “That’s why we win football games.
I think if you go in that locker room, you are going to see a lot of smart, tough, dependable guys.”
“That’s what we try to be - smart, tough, and dependable – and be in the right spot, where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there,” Daboll added. “Have the playbook down for that particular week, understand your opponent, and then fight through, whether it's some mental toughness or physical toughness things. I'm not going to stand up here and give a critique of the season, but I think we're competing and playing hard. It's not always perfect.”
It doesn’t have to be, because all it takes once you get into the tournament is a chance, and the Giants’ last two Super Bowl runs have proved that a team that’s cohesive and gets hot at the right time is even more dangerous than those that have been rolling all year.
“It’s the playoffs, anything can happen, so you have to take it one play and one game at a time, because you get one shot, and if you lose, you go home,” Barkley said. “But, I think we're clicking at the right moment, giving ourselves a great chance. We’ve shown that no matter what, we're going to fight, and that's a scary team to go against that will never go away.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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