Good morning, New York Giants fans! Here are some Giants-related notes for you on this Saturday morning.
The Giants, of course, know what they face on Sunday when they host the 11-0 Green Bay Packers. Here is some of what the players were saying on Friday.
"Would we love to knock Green Bay off? Yeah. But we'd love to win this game regardless of whether they're 11-0 or 0-11. We don't really care about the fact we have the opportunity to knock off an undefeated team. We care about getting a win and getting our season back on track."
-- Justin Tuck
"As a competitor, what do you need to get excited about playing against a team that's undefeated, that people are saying is the best team in the NFL. That, in itself, gets you excited and fired up about this. But each and every year there are going to be things that you can sit here and say, ‘Oh well, the injuries or this, or a tough road schedule.' All that stuff, if you use that, you're just making excuses for things, and I don't think any of us around here have ever made excuses for anything. You have to play, you have to move forward, and each and every year injuries do happen, and guys have to step up and make plays. There's nothing we can do to change the past. But we've got a great opportunity standing here right in front of us, playing at home against an undefeated football team, and we have to fly around and play our best game to beat these guys."
-- David Diehl
"I think we have great confidence in our ability. We've won a lot of games. We've moved the ball. We've done a lot of good things. That doesn't leave us. We feel we can go out there and compete with anybody and move the ball and score points. It's just a matter of going out there, doing it, staying patient, trusting each other. We're going to win or lose as a team. We all have to stick together. I thought we had great focus and preparation last week. We have to do that same thing this week."
-- Eli Manning
Giants Vs. Packers: Scouting Green Bay - SB Nation New York
Can the 6-5 New York Giants slay the dragon on Sunday? Meaning, of course, can they hand the 11-0 defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers their first loss of the season?
Fox NFL analyst Troy Aikman says Giants are still in position to make playoffs - NYPOST.com
After back-to-back demoralizing losses to the Eagles and Saints, taking their losing streak to three, it seems the sky in the Giants’ universe might be falling. Yet Troy Aikman, the three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Cowboys, has a dose of perspective for Big Blue faithful.
"I don’t think it’s as bad as it seems," said Aikman, who will call Giants-Packers this Sunday on FOX. "They counted on some games to be wins that they didn’t win. But they’re still in a good position, if somehow they can believe that and go out and play. Confidence comes from having success on the field, and that’s what they need."
Giants offense knows it has to score more against Packers - NYPOST.com
"They are a good team,’’ Eli Manning acknowledged, "but if we play our game to the best of our ability and potential, we feel like we can hang with anybody and figure out a way to get the win.’’
Figuring out a way to get the win no doubt starts with figuring out a way to at least 30 points, and even that might not be enough. The Giants must lean on their offense, which at this point in the season has to carry a defense that is having trouble pressuring the quarterback and covering the receivers, an unhealthy combination against anyone and potentially embarrassing against Rodgers. It sure looks as if Manning has got to loosen up his right arm, let it rip and hope the Giants can find their way through a shootout with one more point.
"We’re going to have to put up points,’’ receiver Hakeem Nicks said. "They got a high-scoring offense and they’re going to put up numbers so we got to make sure we put up numbers to stay with them."
The Annual Pursuit of Quitting on Tom Coughlin - The Triangle Blog
It's that time of year again in New York. Immediately after the Giants were blown out by the Saints on Monday night, the whispers started to circulate. The dominant storyline of their post-Super Bowl era reared its ugly head on yet another Thanksgiving weekend. Just three weeks after the Giants had upset the mighty Patriots in New England, a three-game losing streak and a hopeless thrashing in New Orleans led Giants fans and media members to that one fatalistic conclusion: The Giants have quit on Coughlin.
Of course, the Giants have a long, storied tradition of quitting on Tom Coughlin. It's one of their favorite pastimes. When Coughlin eventually does leave the team, expect Big Blue to somehow find a way to raise "giving up on their head coach" to the rafters in an emotional halftime ceremony. (The Jets will counter by honoring "losing their swagger" during a subsequent home game.) We want to pay tribute to the Giants' consistency in giving up, though, without having to wait for that fateful day. Let's review the Coughlin era's remarkable history of abandonment.
JPP got props he thinks was ‘due’
Jason Pierre-Paul said his hustle Monday night was “nothing special.”
But the second-year defensive end was happy defensive coordinator Perry Fewell praised him for it—and even admitted, perhaps unintentionally, that he thought he deserved it.
“He gave me props when props was due so that’s good to hear,” Pierre-Paul said Friday.