SPORTS NEWS
NFL Week 12: Mike Tanier's Previews and Score Predictions
By Mike Tanier,
Playoff push gives Giants a huge confidence boost
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, November 28, 2015, 3:50 PM
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JULIO CORTEZ/APEven with a 5-5 record, Odell Beckham (13) and the Giants have the playoffs fully within reach.
LANDOVER, Md. — No one has confused the Giants with any of the NFL’s powerhouse teams this season. They are stuck in the middle of a league overcome by parity, a big, indistinguishable, 20-team, mediocre pack.
But if they can win on Sunday afternoon in Washington and take control of the NFC East, and then hang on long enough to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011, they’ll learn quickly that regular-season mediocrity doesn’t really matter.
And all of a sudden they will look and feel like a very, very dangerous team.
“When you get in the playoffs anything can happen,” defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said. “And I know if we get in the playoffs it’s just an extra boost for us.”
JPP should know, because he was there in 2011, when Giants were a mediocre, 9-7 team that won their awful division on the last day of the season. That win was their second in a row in a streak that would become six, and would turn them into Super Bowl XLVI champs. They had floundered throughout that season, a flawed team seemingly playing far below their capabilities.
Once they secured that playoff berth, though, everything changed.
Of course, just because it happened in 2011 — and, to an extent, in 2007 too — that doesn’t mean the same thing will happen to the Giants. They have made the playoffs three other times in the Tom Coughlin era, only to get bounced in their first game. But there’s something about this team, a quiet confidence they feel that’s maybe undeserved by their record. They’re even encouraged by some of the close games they’ve thrown away.
And now that they’re re-energized by the first meaningful, late-season NFL games that some of them have ever experienced, they believe this could be the boost they’ve been waiting for. They look around their division and their conference and they’re not scared of anyone. They know all it takes is a well-timed hot streak. And they certainly feel like something special is starting right now.
“You can definitely feel it in the atmosphere,” Odell Beckham said. “It’s just buzzing around us. We all have a good feel about it and we’re all going to work for it. We know what we have at hand and we know we control our own destiny.”
ROBERT DEUTSCH/USA TODAY SPORTSEli Manning can help put the Giants comfortably ahead of the rest of the NFC East with a win on Sunday.
“It’s exciting. It’s just fun,” added Eli Manning. “This is the things you prepare for and hope for, to be in these moments and to have a chance, have a shot. It’s an exciting time.”
That could all be gone in a flash, of course, if the Giants (5-5) throw away the opportunity they have against Washington (4-6) — to all but bury their competition in the deeply flawed NFC East. With a win they’d have a two-game lead over the turmoil-charged Eagles (4-7), a virtual three-game lead over Washington (since they’d also lock up the tie-breaker), and a three-game lead over the Cowboys (3-8), who have lost their quarterback, Tony Romo for the season.
If they lose — a not-impossible scenario, considering their opponent is 4-1 at home — then all of a sudden Washington would be in control, especially with a softer December schedule that includes two games against Romo-less ’Boys. The Giants, who still have to face undefeated Carolina and make a dangerous trip to Minnesota, would be facing a difficult fight.
But if they win and end up wearing the sullied NFC East crown, who would dare count them out of the NFC race? Yes, the undefeated Carolina Panthers (11-0) look like the class of the conference. The Giants will get their shot at them at the Meadowlands on Dec. 20. But the Arizona Cardinals (8-2), Minnesota Vikings (7-3) or the Green Bay Packers (7-3)? Are any of them really that much better than the Giants, when the Giants are at their best?
Yes, any kind of run would require some improvement. But the pass rush sure has picked up the last two games since Pierre-Paul’s miraculous return. And the rushing attack has gained a little consistency, too. Then there’s Manning, who in 2011 carried a team with the NFL’s worst rushing attack and seventh-worst defense, into the playoffs, then watched the Giants improve in both areas during their Super Bowl run.
Confidence has a way of doing that, and the “boost” teams get from making the playoffs can provide that confidence, too. The Giants have talent that is capable of doing more, and they have a quarterback capable of playing as well as any other. They know they can be dangerous, if only they could just get in.
So first things first, of course. The Giants are still a few weeks away from even being able to secure a playoff spot, even if they can clear their path to the postseason on Sunday afternoon. What’s driving them, though, are the possibilities of a busy January that could extend even further.
Burying their NFC East competition would be the first step. After that, they’ll feel confident that it won’t be their last.
