After all the losses you and your New York Football Giants have lost since the infamous boat ride that preceded the play-off disaster in Green Bay in January 2017, the Eli Manning benching, the Ben McAdoo shooting, the Jerry Reese shooting, the Pat Shurmur shooting, the Manning retirement, a record of 12-36 during the previous three seasons, conceded the cruel football gods and gave you a totally unexpected gift at the beginning of a new year:
A chance.
A chance to put the Cowboys out of their misery Sunday at 1pm in MetLife Stadium.
A chance for you to take advantage of the Eagles a few hours later on Sunday night to defeat Washington, so your Giants deserve the right to host a playoff game for the first time since January 8, 2012 – when they face the Falcons on his way to the Super Bowl. XLVI.
So make the cynics laugh for your team, mock you 5-10 Joe Judge-Daniel Jones Giants for being blessed with a Blue-or-the-Sunday against the Cowboys at StillLife Stadium, simply because they’re in the NFC Least worked.
Let the sarcastic grin call you Joe Judge-Daniel Jones Giants the worst playoff team in history when 6-10 enters you.
The play-off rules have not changed: 6-10 becomes 0-0 when the tournament starts.
And in a season in which COVID-19’s betrayal on the game day lurks ominously in every corner of the NFL world – see Giants offense coach Dave DeGuglielmo – ‘any January Sunday’ could never be more relevant.
Pete Carroll was in his first season with the Seahawks when they beat the Rams in the regular season finals in 2010, with rugby quarterback Charlie Whitehurst filling in for Matt Hasselbeck (hip) to finish 7-9 and ‘ to earn a game card berth.
“We did not come here as we all wanted to dream, but we came here,” Carroll said afterwards. “When it came down to it, the guys played a great football game tonight.”
And guess what? The Seahawks shocked defending Super Bowl champion Saints (41-36) at home in a wild card game.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Carroll said after Hasselbeck skipped four times and Marshawn Lynch broke nine tackles on a 67-yard TD run. ‘to the next one. ”
The next one was Bears 35, Seahawks 24 at Soldier Field, but hey …
The 2014 Panthers, you ask? They beat their ticket to the dance with a 34-3 blow from the Hawks on the way to ending 7-8-1 and on a four-game winning streak.
“The beautiful thing: record does not matter,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. “That’s the best part.”
Then the Panthers beat the Ryan Lindley Cardinals, 27-16, at home in the game card game.
“We know who we are – threatening, suffocating and we’re going to come after you,” cornerback Josh Norman said afterwards. “We know when there is blood in the water, and when there is, we are going to eat sharks.”
The Sharks were eaten in a 31-17 road loss to the Seahawks in the division round, but hey …
The difference is that the Giants do not have fate in their own hands. A win over the Cowboys still requires Washington and Rivera to lose in the first season coaching for Daniel Snyder against the Eagles in the Linc.
The Giants can win the division and fall from a top-10 draft to 19th – if they are one-and-done in the playoffs.
Of course, there will be no Giants fans in the MetLife stands for any wild card game, but this is no opportunity for them to choose the higher concept.
Ereck Flowers was a ninth choice. Eli Apple was a tenth choice.
Come on.
There’s no Trevor Lawrence waiting for you anyway.
Playgrounds do not grow on trees. Ask Jets fans. Remind yourself of that too.
And besides … do you really want to lose to the Jerry Jones Cowboys for the eighth time in a row?
Jerry Jones has eaten a huge amount of humble pie since his Super Bowl XXX Championship, but who can forget the late, wonderful words of Wellington Mara late in the 1996 season after a 20-6 victory over the Cowboys in the Giants Stadium?
“It’s always nice to see arrogance humble,” Mara said.
And besides: Do you really want to lose your giants to the cowboys on Eli Manning’s 40th birthday? Giant fans: Together, Blue-or-die.