He kept a straight face when he said it and Jon Beason didn’t mean to be funny when he described, with the Giants officially eliminated from playoff contention, how he might have an advantage over many of his teammates who have been with the team far longer than he.
“The one thing I have in my favor is I’ve been here, I’ve been in the dumps before,’’ Beason said.
Oh yes, the Giants are down in the dumps, coming off a 37-14 loss to the Chargers and knowing they are in the dreaded Playing for Pride portion of their schedule the last three games. This is unfamiliar terrain to navigate, as it’s the first time since 2004 — Tom Coughlin’s first year and Eli Manning’s rookie season — the Giants didn’t make it to their final regular-season game with at least a mathematical chance to squeeze into the postseason.
It’s all new for so many Giants, but it’s old hat to Beason. He joined the Panthers in 2007 and in six seasons made it to the playoffs only one time, in 2008. This time of year, Beason was usually out of contention.
What awaits the Giants is a situation Beason is all too familiar with. The Giants on Sunday know waiting for them at MetLife Stadium will be the 11-2 Seahawks, looking to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC and gain what this year figures to be more coveted than usual home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, based on their invulnerability in Seattle.
“Great team coming in, number one team, one seed in the NFC, you need to be ready for that challenge,’’ Beason said. “Hopefully you can go out there and play well and have an opportunity to win that game. You win that game, it’s something to kind of hang your hat on at the end of the season. I’m happy we’re playing a great team like Seattle.’’
Victor Cruz did not sound very convincing on Monday when he replied, “Yeah, I guess so,’’ when asked if he believed the Giants would embrace the role of spoiler. The Seahawks are coming off a 19-17 loss to the 49ers in San Francisco and will be in no mood to lose back-to-back games for the first time this season.
“I don’t know if we necessarily want to call ourselves a spoiler team or spoiler role,” Cruz said. “We just want to go out there and put our best foot forward and win the football game.’’
As strange as it may sound, beating the Seahawks, Cruz theorized, might bring about conflicting emotions.
“It would kind of make it more disappointing because we didn’t take advantage of playing like this all year long, from an entire team perspective,’’ Cruz said. “Obviously it would just put a smile on our face and have us know that when we play at our best, we can beat any team in the league.’’
There has not been a single victory for the Giants to feel especially remorseful about, not a single performance that prompts them to sigh and wonder, “What might have been.’’ The only team they’ve beaten that is in the playoff chase is the Eagles, and that victory came with a hobbled Michael Vick and overmatched rookie Matt Barkley at quarterback.
A powerhouse team coming in, Mathias Kiwanuka believes, helps in more than one way.
“I think it helps us from an individual standpoint because you get to see what you can do against what is touted as one of the best teams in the league right now,’’ Kiwanuka said. “It helps us as a team because we get an opportunity as a team to go out there and play against the best and to kind of redeem ourselves a little bit from last week.’’
Whatever motivational strings Tom Coughlin tried to pull for the trip to San Diego unraveled like an old, worn shoelace as the Giants fell behind 24-0 in an abysmal first half. Next up, a team that will embarrass the Giants if they are not ready to compete.
“I don’t think there’s any question about the fact that we’ll be motivated because of the nature of the team that’s coming in here,’’ Coughlin said, calling this game “no doubt a tremendous gauge for our team or for any team playing against a team that has the record and has accomplished what the Seahawks have.”