The New York Giants capped off a perfect preseason with a thrilling last-second win against New England last night. Here’s what it means for the 2019 team.
Everyone knows that preseason games don’t count for anything official. What they can do -and this is important- is begin to change the narrative around a football team. That has certainly been the case for the New York Giants as preseason play is now wrapped-up.
This offseason was a rough one for even the biggest Big Blue supporters. We lived through the ‘trade heard around the world’ and the ‘draft pick heard around the world’. We lived through everyone’s (mostly harsh) opinions on how this 2019 New York Giants team was going to be a joke. We lived through just about every media member (including myself) trashing Dave Gettleman to no-end.
But you know what? After numerous strides in the preseason, the plan is now really starting to settle in. The stellar play of Daniel Jones is clearly the overriding outcome that has really put a positive spin on the franchise as a whole. The rookie wrapped up exhibition play with a near-perfect 137.3 quarterback rating on a staggering 12.4 yards per attempt rate. Jones delivered about a dozen jaw-dropping dimes, showing that he has what it takes to make the toughest NFL throws.
Something that was almost even better than seeing Jones light-up opposing defenses, was seeing just how much fun this team was having playing with one-another. The culture mantra that Gettleman has been shoving down our throats since the moment he got here looks as-though it’s really started to pay-off. The 4-0 record means bupkiss in the long-term, but seeing just how much these guys all want to see each-other to succeed means everything.
Watching how excited all 90 members of the expanded Giants roster were to see two guys connect on an exhibition game-winning play spoke volumes about where we are currently at. You could feel the extra emphasis in the celebration that clearly had more to do with who had completed the play than the magnitude of the play itself; two guys fighting to hang on to the 53-man roster.
Wide-out Alonzo Russell was on the receiving end of the 14-yard touchdown strike, and his story just might be the best one out of the entire group. After battling on three different teams’ practice squads over the last three years, the moment seemed big enough to finally secure him a legitimate 53-man roster spot. Russell has never caught a regular season pass in his three-year career. That should change this year.
We witnessed the incredible comeback story of Brittan Golden, the hometown heroics of Jake Carlock, and the resurgence of former double-digit sack artist Markus Golden– just to name a few. This preseason was nothing short of wonderful to watch, as we saw a collection of mostly strangers come together for a greater cause.
Unfortunately we won’t get to see all of these men coming out of the tunnel in Dallas next weekend. This is a tough business, and Dave Gettleman will have his hands full in determining who the best 53-men are by Saturday afternoon.
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Despite that, we can all take solace in the fact that the “plan” is finally beginning to come to fruition. If you don’t think the narrative around a football team at-least slightly effects the overall result of a season- you’re misinformed. While it may not catapult this team into the playoffs, it will help the team focus on the task at hand rather than worrying about unimportant things like wondering when the coach of GM will be fired.
This team seems more-than ready to handle the impending quarterback controversy that is inevitably coming, whether that is this season or next. ESPN can take their 31st overall team- ranking and shove it- this team is ready to play competitive football right here and-now.
This team will surely be the butt of many- “at least they went 4-0 in the preseason!”- jokes if they happen to struggle in 2019. But we can all always look-back and fondly remember what was August of 2019.
It just might be the start of something special.