Last year, the Giants were 2-6 through eight games, and 3-6 heading into their bye week – but this year, in a stark contrast, they’re 6-2 as they take their mid-season break, going 3-1 in each “quarter” of the season so far.
For the guys that remember the losing seasons of the last few head coach eras, 6-2 feels pretty darn good.
“I'm still happy about where we are at. I think we have no reason to hang our heads down low now. That was a good team that we played just now,” Leonard Williams said after Sunday’s loss in Seattle. “It wasn't against slouches or anything like that. Guys have been nicked up, banged up, and we're hoping to go for a stretch after the bye week and hope that guys are able to take care of their body for a little bit.”
“When you put it into perspective, it's a tale of two years, and we still have accomplished a lot this first half of the season,” Julian Love added. “Now, it's going to be a race. The second half is going to come down to nut-cutting time. You've got to lock in, shake this off, enjoy the bye week, get rested.”
And for those who are new and responsible for the turnaround (read: head coach Brian Daboll), well, it’s business as usual after a pair of 3-1 four-game stretches.
“I thought we did some good things. There's things obviously that we need to improve on. You know, long season left,” Daboll said about the first half. “I’m not happy with what we did (Sunday), but yeah, I’m thinking (pretty good) right now. Like I say every week, a lot to work on, but we’ll do some self-scout, make those corrections, get rested up and come back out ready to go, and have a good week (after the bye).”
The offense hasn’t been lights out over the first half, but Daniel Jones’ marked improvement, Saquon Barkley’s return to his rookie year form, and a lot of hard work have carried a team that is very thin at receiver to six wins so far.
“I think we have done some things well. You know, found a way to win some games. But like we've said, there's a lot still out there for us, and (Sunday) shows that a little bit,” Daniel Jones said. “There's a lot we need to improve on and shore up if we want to continue to be the team that we think we can be. That's what our focus is; we have been able to pull out some of these games and you know, 6-2 is not bad, but there's a lot of work to do.”
The defense, meanwhile, has been very strong, making key stops when they needed to make them to let the cardiac kids on offense make all their fourth-quarter comebacks.
“I think, overall, we have done a great job, situationally specifically. I think we do a good job in two minute situations, backed up situations, two minute, four minutes before the half, and before the end of the game type of things,” said Leonard Williams. “I think those are the defenses that do really well, the ones that do well in those situations. Regardless of stats or anything like that, I feel like we have done a good job of not giving up too many points in each game.”
Now it’s the bye, but even before they get there, the Giants will see come Tuesday’s trade deadline whether or not any reinforcements will be added.
During the bye, different groups will focus on different things – Darius Slayton said the receivers will work on routes and getting open, Nick Gates said the whole group will work on consistency – but the biggest key is a little R&R: rest and reflection.
“It's really important to reset. It's a great time to look back at what we did so far, what we accomplished in the first half of the season. Learn from the good, learn from the bad, use that to get ready for the second half of the season and come out with the right mindset,” said Saquon Barkley. “At the end of the day you want to win every single game, but being 6-2, there's a lot of good out of that, but there's also a lot we can learn from it to be the team we want to be.”
And if the Giants don’t add much, or anything, ahead of the deadline? Well, they’re already 6-2, and they feel like they have the horses to cross the finish line in similarly good shape.
“I do (think we have the group). I think we've got guys across the board who can make plays,” Jones said. “We have guys up front that have been playing really well all season. Like I said, there's certainly a lot of things we have to clean up but I've got a lot of trust, a lot of confidence in the guys we have in the locker room.”
And no matter what happens between now and early January, well, 6-2 definitely beats the alternative, but those two are just as important as the six.
“When you think of the four quarters of the season, the first quarter we were 3-1. Now the second quarter we're 3-1. But really, the story is going to be about the second half,” Love said. “I think we've done a great job so far, playing well, winning some close game, and the story is very promising going forward. We've just got to learn from this game, shake it off.
We did a great job from the last game we lost. Just adjust what needs to be fixed and just moving on. You can't have the high highs and low lows. It's about always improving.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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