Giants must fight to regain respect in NFC East with Eagles in town
The Giants need to stop being the doormats of the NFC East. They have to meet the heavily favored Philadelphia Eagles (11-1) Sunday at MetLife Stadium head-on with everything they have.
If they lose, they can’t get blown out at home. They need to go down fighting. They need to prove they belong on the same field.
“We always talk about how rich the history is in this division, the only division where everyone has a Super Bowl,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “There’s always a chip on your shoulder when you play a divisional opponent. It just feels like the stakes are higher. We have to capitalize when we get an opportunity, because these games mean a lot.”
The Giants (7-4-1) are the only team of the current 14 playoff qualifiers without a win in their own division this season (0-2-1). And around here, while every win and loss counts, results against the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys matter most.
The animosity in those two rivalries is palpable. Everyone from ownership on down enjoys the wins and hates the losses to those franchises that much more.
“I don’t think Eagles fans and Giants fans are going to dinner together,” wide receiver Darius Slayton said, not joking, with a laugh.
The problem is both rivalries have been one-sided for a while now, and it’s possible it is going to get worse for the Giants before it gets better.
Brian Daboll’s team already has lost twice in prime time, nationally-televised blowouts to the Cowboys. They just failed to get a win at home over the Commanders, who they’re fighting for a playoff spot.
And now the Eagles are steamrolling up I-95 as seven-point favorites, with Giants running back Saquon Barkley (neck) questionable to play.
The Giants have a .272 winning percentage in the 33 division games they’ve played from 2017 through last Sunday. They have lost 11 of their last 12 to the Cowboys and 13 of their last 16 to the Eagles. Only Joe Judge’s 4-2 NFC East mark in 2020 provided a recent glimmer of hope.
The Giants have never gone winless in division in a season, per Elias Sports Bureau. Only the 2019 Washington team (0-6) has done it in the NFC East in the last eight years.
But if the Giants lose in blowout fashion to Philly here, they will have only two more opportunities to get an NFC East victory in their final four games: next Sunday night at Washington and Jan. 8 at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.
And falling to 1-4-1 in their last six games in a laugher wouldn’t exactly have spirits high heading into a virtual playoff game at FedEx Field on Dec. 18 against a Commanders team coming off a late bye.
Giants co-owner John Mara always says his barometer for seasons is whether the arrow is pointing up at the end. Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch attended practice together Wednesday.
Daboll directed the Giants to a terrific 6-1 start, but he needs to plant his flag in the division now and stop this recent skid from snowballing. Progress in East Rutherford, N.J., at its core, starts and stops with beating Philly and Dallas.
“The easiest way to make the playoffs is to win your division,” center Jon Feliciano said. “Obviously I don’t think that’s feasible right now. But being able to stack division wins is important. Unfortunately, we haven’t done that yet. We got three more. So we understand the importance of this game, and hopefully on Sunday we get it done.”
The problem is that injuries have caught up to the Giants, and if Barkley remains limited or can’t play at all, the task becomes that much more daunting.
Top corner Adoree Jackson (knee) is still out. Defensive lineman Leonard Williams (neck) is doubtful. The defense has surrendered 160 or more yards rushing in three straight games and 400-plus yards in the last two.
The offense’s running game has stalled out, with Barkley averaging only 3.3 yards per carry in the last five games. And Daboll refused last week to show the kind of faith in Daniel Jones that a quarterback needs to put a team on his back.
Barkley, for his part, refused to admit on Thursday that there was any specific emphasis on reestablishing the Giants in this division. He said it would be a “fun challenge” to play “the best team in the NFL” in Philly on Sunday.
But he and the Giants would do well to harness their hate, so to speak, of these Eagles. And there is definitely hate for these divisional “archenemies,” as Slayton called the NFC East foes.
“That’s the mentality you have to have,” Thomas said of harboring some hate, “because that’s the way they feel. When you step out on that field, you’re not trying to hurt anybody, but when you go on the field it’s our team versus yours and that’s just how it is, you know what I’m sayin’?”
Feliciano likened it to how badly his Buffalo Bills wanted to beat the New England Patriots twice a year in the AFC East during his time in upstate New York.
“Division games always hold a bigger weight just because you know you’ll see them again,” the Giants’ mauler said. “They’re always a little more physical, a little more trash-talky.
“There’s a little more ugh,” Feliciano said with a grunt, as if he were mimicking the sound of finishing a pancake block. “You know what I’m saying? So it’d be nice if in these next three, we could get some.”
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