After all the losses you and your New York football giants have suffered since the famous boat trip that preceded the playoff disaster in Green Bay in January 2017, Eli Manning’s bench, Ben McAdoo’s shot, Jerry Reese’s shot, Pat Shurmur’s shot, Manning’s retirement, a 12-36 record over the previous three seasons, the cruel gods of football gave in and gifted you with a totally unexpected gift at the start of a new year:
An opportunity.
The opportunity to at least take the Cowboys out of their misery Sunday at 1 p.m. at MetLife Stadium.
The chance to take root in the Eagles hours later on Sunday night to defeat Washington, so your giants win the right to host a playoff game for the first time since Jan. 8, 2012, when they faced the Falcons en route to the Super Bowl. XLVI.
So let the cynics laugh at your team, make fun of your 5-10 Joe Judge-Daniel Jones Giants for being blessed with a Blue-or-die Sunday against the Cowboys at StillLife Stadium simply because they work at NFC Least .
Let sarcastic smiles call your Joe Judge-Daniel Jones Giants the worst playoff team in history if between 6 and 10 makes you come in.
The rules of the playoffs have not changed: 6-10 becomes 0-0 when the tournament begins.
And in a season where the betrayal of the COVID-19 roster is lurking in every corner of the NFL universe (see Dave DeGuglielmo, Giants offensive line coach), never “any Sunday in January “could be more relevant.
Pete Carroll was in his first season with the Seahawks when they beat the Rams at the end of the 2010 regular season, with safety quarterback Charlie Whitehurst replacing Matt Hasselbeck (hip), to finish 7-9 and win a wildcard place.
“We didn’t get here the way we all dreamed of getting, but we got here,” Carroll said later. “When he came to the conclusion, the boys played a great game of football tonight.”
And guess what? The Seahawks stunned Super Bowl champion Saints, 41-36, at home in a wild card game.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Carroll said after Hasselbeck had thrown four touchdown passes and Marshawn Lynch had broken nine attacks in a 67-yard TD run, “but we were hoping to win and so we’ll take it easy and we will move on to the next one “.
The next one was Bears 35, Seahawks 24 at Soldier Field, but well …
The Panthers of 2014, questions? They won their dance ticket with a 34-3 Falcons on the road to finish 7-8-1 and with a four-game winning streak.
“The nice thing: the record doesn’t matter,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. “That’s the best part.”
The Panthers then beat the Ryan Lindley Cardinals, 27-16, at home in the wildcard game.
“We know who we are: threatening, suffocating and we’re going to chase you,” cornerback Josh Norman later said. “We know when there is blood in the water and when there is, our sharks will eat.”
The Sharks ate at a 31-17 road loss to the Seahawks in the divisional round, but well …
The difference is that the giants do not have fate in their hands. A win over the Cowboys would still require Washington and Rivera, in their first season coaching Daniel Snyder, losing to the Eagles at Linc.
The Giants could win the division and plummet from the draft pick among the top ten to the 19th, if the playoffs are not over.
Of course, there would be no Giants fans at MetLife for any wildcard game, but it’s no occasion to take root in the top draft pick.
Ereck Flowers was a ninth pick. Eli Apple was the tenth choice.
Go now.
Anyway, Trevor Lawrence isn’t waiting for you at the end of the rainbow.
Playoff beds don’t grow on trees. Ask Jets fans. Remember too.
And besides, do you really want to lose to the Jerry Jones Cowboys for the eighth time in a row?
Jerry Jones has been eating a lot of humble cake since his Super Bowl XXX championship, but who can forget the words of Wellington Mara at the end of the 1996 season after winning 20-6 against the Cowboys at Giants Stadium ?
“It’s always nice to see arrogance humiliated,” Mara said.
And besides: do you really want your giants to lose to the Cowboys on Eli Manning’s 40th birthday? Giants fans: together, Blue-or-die.