The Giants almost pulled off an incredible upset: with all of their starting offensive skill players inactive and resting, starting a third-string QB against one of the best defenses in NFL history, Big Blue fell 22-16 in a game that meant nothing to them in the standings – and they were an onside kick late in the fourth qyarter away from a chance to drive for a game-winning (and playoff-shuffling) victory.
Big Blue has been next man up all year, but no one predicted they’d even come close, as the Eagles opened as more than a two-touchdown favorite at kickoff.
No one, that is, except everyone in the team facility.
“It’s the NFL, so the guys you have on your team, you have confidence in, and I certainly have confidence in everyone we have,” head coach Brian Daboll said afterwards. “You’re not playing walk-ons, you’re playing guys who have earned the right to be on the team and compete. We have confidence in whoever we have out there; they all know what to do, and I thought we played a very competitive game. Tough, competitive, smart guys that we value on our roster.”
Interesting take, as even Daboll noted that he tried a fake field goal, a second half-opening onside kick, and some other trickeration “just to try to get the offense going a little bit,” as the Giants had been shut out in the first half.
All it took, though, was Davis Webb to get comfortable in the offense, because Philly was never ahead by more than two possessions the entire way, and was forced to play their starters the entire way while they fought for the NFC East title and No. 1 seed.
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In the first half, Webb looked like a quarterback who had never seen real game action, but come the second half, he led two touchdown drives and looked more than capable against a top-tier defense.
“Very exciting. I want to thank all the o-linemen, all the guys – it was a lot of fun playing with them. Darius (Slayton) came in for a couple plays, and I appreciate that,” Webb said. “We battled. They’re a really good team, and we took them four quarters. I wish myself first and the offense second got off to a better start, but that second half was really fun, and something I’ll never forget.”
Of course, the Slayton line may have been a little in jest, as the receiver came in for one play late in the fourth when Marcus Johnson had to come off the field, ran an understandably less-than-full-speed route, and went back to the sideline.
But even that, in the past, would be cause for consternation with the Giants. Not today, though, because this game was, no matter the result or the effort, a formality of the schedule, and the more important work begins on Monday.
That’s when the Giants will begin preparing for a return trip to Minnesota, a Wild Card Game where they hope to have a better result than the near-miss in Minneapolis a few weeks ago.
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Big Blue won’t know the date and time of that game until late Sunday night or even Monday morning, so they won’t know exactly how much time they’ll have to prepare, but rest assured, they’ll use every minute of it the same way they’ve done things for the last 18 weeks.
“When you play a team close, all the way to the end, usually the team that makes a few more plays wins the game, and they did,” Daboll said of the previous matchup. “All our preparation will be geared towards them; they’re a fantastic, well-coached team, and we’ll have to put in a good week of preparation.”
And as they showed that week in Minnesota, this week in Philly, and in eight other games against teams that had playoff spots locked up or on the line heading into Week 18, seed ain’t nothing but a number.
“That’s the playoffs; whatever the seeds are, the seeds are,” Daboll said, “so we’ll prepare as hard as we can to go play a really good football team in a hostile environment.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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