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EAST RUTHERFORD - Of all the takeaways from John Mara's season-ending interview session with reporters nine months ago, there was one statement that should have resonated far more than it did.
"I'm tired of watching teams go up and down the field on us," the New York Giants' co-owner and team president quipped, pledging support for general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll while also calling for a mood shift and a change in mentality.
The Giants have been pushed around for too long on both sides of the ball.
And while Mara's statement above was about the defense, the sentiment applied to the offense, too.
The Giants emphasized building a team that refuses to get bullied between the lines, in back page headlines and on banners pulled by planes over MetLife Stadium.
That was going to take making over a locker room that needed to not only help establish a shift in expectations and results, but also do what is needed to change perspective and performance.
Last season's three-win campaign was framed around sleepless nights for Mara, whose Giants were mocked incessantly about the Saquon Barkley decision and the fallout from that, leading to Barkley and the rival Eagles winning the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
This stunning Giants' 34-17 victory over the Eagles on Thursday night was about fighting back, and no one symbolizes that fight more right now in the eyes of his team than Mara himself, who has been open about his ongoing battle with cancer.
In giving Mara the game ball in the post game locker room, Daboll said: "There's one tough son of a bitch in here. His name is John Mara."
With the way his Giants responded against the reigning Super Bowl champions, just four days after an ugly turnover-filled loss to the Saints that had some calling for the end of this regime, Mara undoubtedly slept well last night.
The makeover needs to start somewhere, and maybe just maybe, the Giants are finally getting there.
Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo represented that Thursday night, breaking free of the old buttoned-down Giants way that had - quite frankly - gotten stale with all the losing around here for more than a decade.
The Eagles, the Cowboys and as of last year the Commanders all took turns pushing the Giants around, mocking their very existence regardless of the four Vince Lombardi trophies that sit in the lobby of their training facility.
This time, the Giants answered back. They did not stay quiet, acknowledging the perception around the team that a while ago became a pushover in the NFC East and beyond.
No more, the Giants declared under the lights and with a national audience watching.
"Well, first of all, we can't be naive to everything. We hear what people say," Dart said, mentioning the negativity directed at these Giants following their loss in New Orleans, including predictions of just how badly the Eagles would embarrass them. "Definitely lights a fire in us. ... . I think we're just trying to set a standard of intensity here each and every day."
We talk about creating identity, and for years - during the recent decade of despair in particular - the Giants were quick to try and steal that from their past, instead of coming up with a new way of defining themselves.
Schoen and Daboll want the identity of this team to be about its attitude. There must be a refusal to let opponents force their will upon the Giants, which has happened far too often. Sure, when this regime took over three years ago, the foundation was built on being Smart, Tough and Dependable. It's still canon around here.
But the toughness needs to come from the players, and it's not solely about want-to. Some players are just made that way, and in order to compete with the Eagles and the Commanders, the Giants were not going to measure up until they could match that edge not only with talent, but in their hearts and minds.
These Giants want to play with attitude, which they did. They want to hit you and hit you hard, and if they take a punch, be resilient enough to hit back just as hard, even harder. For years, the Eagles have been that way, and it's shown up on the scoreboard and in the standings - especially against the Giants, who have not won in Philadelphia since 2013.
If the Giants are going to compete at that level, they must alter the mindset - not just the football - from the inside out.
"With what they did, I think the message was sent," a league source told NorthJersey.com and The Record this spring after the draft. "It's been a while, but they're done getting pushed around."
Pass rusher Abdul Carter is a difference-making beast who plays with violent aggression. His presence has certainly contributed to Brian Burns' undeniable breakthrough with two more sacks against the Eagles, giving him an NFL-best seven on the season.
Dart is fiery and he lets his teammates know the expectations and the standard, showing the way with reckless abandon. Rookie defensive tackle Darius Alexander is going to get after you, promising that his love of the game comes from "taking my opponent's will, and just watching them go to the sideline and not knowing what to say to the coach," and he's continued to emerge.
Skattebo is infatuated with contact. He knows no other way to be, and it's been that way since he started playing football at 6 years old. He would put on his older brother's shoulder pads, go out into the street and run into telephone poles, just to prove his toughness.
On the day Saquon Barkley released his documentary that, in part, once again poured salt in the Giants' wounds, Skattebo took the same field as Barkley and rushed for three touchdowns and 98 yards. He battered the Eagles' defensive front with the attitudes of Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Jacobs and Jeremy Shockey boiled into one rookie unafraid of stepping up to anyone, regardless of expectation.
Waking up to Skattebo and former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick bare-chest bumping after a postgame interview on the Amazon Prime stage with Dart acting as Mean Gene Okerlund with the microphone is something that, for Giants fans everywhere, had to be equally jarring and welcomed.
"I mean, physicality is definitely contagious," Skattebo said. "If someone gets run over, it hypes the other guys up and gets them going."
The audacity of Carter even asking two days into his Giants tenure to speak with Lawrence Taylor about the No. 56 he made iconic, unafraid of the answer, that should have been what got the attention of the franchise. The newest Giants promised they would not be borrowing the identity from the past, but redefining a mindset and a franchise as their own.
This was just one game, but the ramifications should shake the foundation of an organization desperate for an attitude makeover.
"We have to continue to build on this - we're still 2-4," Skattebo said. "We still have to go out there and win the next one, and win the next one, and win the next one. So, I'm excited for the future and I can't wait."
For the first time in a long while, the Giants have reason to believe they belong in that fight.
With Dart and Skattebo leading the way, after Thursday night, this franchise might actually be able to win a few rounds here on out, too.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: How NY Giants proved they will no longer back down in fight vs. Eagles
Continue reading...
"I'm tired of watching teams go up and down the field on us," the New York Giants' co-owner and team president quipped, pledging support for general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll while also calling for a mood shift and a change in mentality.
The Giants have been pushed around for too long on both sides of the ball.
And while Mara's statement above was about the defense, the sentiment applied to the offense, too.
The Giants emphasized building a team that refuses to get bullied between the lines, in back page headlines and on banners pulled by planes over MetLife Stadium.
That was going to take making over a locker room that needed to not only help establish a shift in expectations and results, but also do what is needed to change perspective and performance.
Last season's three-win campaign was framed around sleepless nights for Mara, whose Giants were mocked incessantly about the Saquon Barkley decision and the fallout from that, leading to Barkley and the rival Eagles winning the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
This stunning Giants' 34-17 victory over the Eagles on Thursday night was about fighting back, and no one symbolizes that fight more right now in the eyes of his team than Mara himself, who has been open about his ongoing battle with cancer.
In giving Mara the game ball in the post game locker room, Daboll said: "There's one tough son of a bitch in here. His name is John Mara."
With the way his Giants responded against the reigning Super Bowl champions, just four days after an ugly turnover-filled loss to the Saints that had some calling for the end of this regime, Mara undoubtedly slept well last night.
The makeover needs to start somewhere, and maybe just maybe, the Giants are finally getting there.
Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo represented that Thursday night, breaking free of the old buttoned-down Giants way that had - quite frankly - gotten stale with all the losing around here for more than a decade.
The Eagles, the Cowboys and as of last year the Commanders all took turns pushing the Giants around, mocking their very existence regardless of the four Vince Lombardi trophies that sit in the lobby of their training facility.
This time, the Giants answered back. They did not stay quiet, acknowledging the perception around the team that a while ago became a pushover in the NFC East and beyond.
No more, the Giants declared under the lights and with a national audience watching.
"Well, first of all, we can't be naive to everything. We hear what people say," Dart said, mentioning the negativity directed at these Giants following their loss in New Orleans, including predictions of just how badly the Eagles would embarrass them. "Definitely lights a fire in us. ... . I think we're just trying to set a standard of intensity here each and every day."
We talk about creating identity, and for years - during the recent decade of despair in particular - the Giants were quick to try and steal that from their past, instead of coming up with a new way of defining themselves.
Schoen and Daboll want the identity of this team to be about its attitude. There must be a refusal to let opponents force their will upon the Giants, which has happened far too often. Sure, when this regime took over three years ago, the foundation was built on being Smart, Tough and Dependable. It's still canon around here.
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But the toughness needs to come from the players, and it's not solely about want-to. Some players are just made that way, and in order to compete with the Eagles and the Commanders, the Giants were not going to measure up until they could match that edge not only with talent, but in their hearts and minds.
These Giants want to play with attitude, which they did. They want to hit you and hit you hard, and if they take a punch, be resilient enough to hit back just as hard, even harder. For years, the Eagles have been that way, and it's shown up on the scoreboard and in the standings - especially against the Giants, who have not won in Philadelphia since 2013.
If the Giants are going to compete at that level, they must alter the mindset - not just the football - from the inside out.
"With what they did, I think the message was sent," a league source told NorthJersey.com and The Record this spring after the draft. "It's been a while, but they're done getting pushed around."
Pass rusher Abdul Carter is a difference-making beast who plays with violent aggression. His presence has certainly contributed to Brian Burns' undeniable breakthrough with two more sacks against the Eagles, giving him an NFL-best seven on the season.
Dart is fiery and he lets his teammates know the expectations and the standard, showing the way with reckless abandon. Rookie defensive tackle Darius Alexander is going to get after you, promising that his love of the game comes from "taking my opponent's will, and just watching them go to the sideline and not knowing what to say to the coach," and he's continued to emerge.
Skattebo is infatuated with contact. He knows no other way to be, and it's been that way since he started playing football at 6 years old. He would put on his older brother's shoulder pads, go out into the street and run into telephone poles, just to prove his toughness.
On the day Saquon Barkley released his documentary that, in part, once again poured salt in the Giants' wounds, Skattebo took the same field as Barkley and rushed for three touchdowns and 98 yards. He battered the Eagles' defensive front with the attitudes of Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Jacobs and Jeremy Shockey boiled into one rookie unafraid of stepping up to anyone, regardless of expectation.
Waking up to Skattebo and former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick bare-chest bumping after a postgame interview on the Amazon Prime stage with Dart acting as Mean Gene Okerlund with the microphone is something that, for Giants fans everywhere, had to be equally jarring and welcomed.
"I mean, physicality is definitely contagious," Skattebo said. "If someone gets run over, it hypes the other guys up and gets them going."
The audacity of Carter even asking two days into his Giants tenure to speak with Lawrence Taylor about the No. 56 he made iconic, unafraid of the answer, that should have been what got the attention of the franchise. The newest Giants promised they would not be borrowing the identity from the past, but redefining a mindset and a franchise as their own.
This was just one game, but the ramifications should shake the foundation of an organization desperate for an attitude makeover.
"We have to continue to build on this - we're still 2-4," Skattebo said. "We still have to go out there and win the next one, and win the next one, and win the next one. So, I'm excited for the future and I can't wait."
For the first time in a long while, the Giants have reason to believe they belong in that fight.
With Dart and Skattebo leading the way, after Thursday night, this franchise might actually be able to win a few rounds here on out, too.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: How NY Giants proved they will no longer back down in fight vs. Eagles
Continue reading...
