There was no buzz to be heard in the Giants’ locker room this week.
That doesn’t mean they don’t care or won’t be ready to play on Sunday after their cross-country flight when they face the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. The Giants might enjoy the fresh Southern California air and put on a show, but they sounded very much like a team that is 5-7 preparing to play an unfamiliar opponent that is also 5-7, making this a game that is, well, just a game, with no postseason strings attached.
“I think we kind of know what has to happen, but if we don’t handle our business, we’re not going to have a shot anyways,” Eli Manning said. “All we can do is worry about this next game and going out there and trying to get a win. After that, we’ll see what the scenario looks like next week.”
The scenario doesn’t look good. The Giants entered the weekend two full games behind the Cowboys and Eagles and owning none of the tiebreakers with either team. The Giants have won five of their past six games and are eager to build on that, but let’s face it, their momentum was pulverized with their last-second loss to the Cowboys, and it isn’t coming back.
“I don’t think we have to worry about the Giants relaxing,” Justin Tuck said. “If we were 11-2 or whatever, maybe you could say relaxing, but we’re 5-7. I think we’ll be ready to play. I think they will be too.”
A look inside the game:
Best battle: Chargers LB Manti Te’o vs. Giants RB Andre Brown
There’s nothing imaginary about this matchup, though it’s not a one-on-one confrontation. Te’o of Notre Dame, Heisman Trophy candidacy and bizarre not-real dead girlfriend fame missed the first three games with a foot injury but has quietly started the past nine games and has 65 tackles, second on the team to Donald Butler’s 69. Brown will handle the rushing load again and in just four games already has a career-high 83 rushing attempts this season.
Gates of wrath
Not many teams have a tight end leading the way as far as receptions, but the Chargers lost their top two receivers — Danario Alexander and Malcom Floyd — before Week 3, and Antonio Gates is the main target for Philip Rivers. Gates has 64 receptions for 726 yards, though he is averaging just 11.3 yards per catch and has only three touchdowns. At 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, he’s quite a load and figure safety Will Hill and linebacker Jacquian Williams both will get a crack at stopping Gates.
“Difficult, extremely difficult,’’ Hill said. “Unless you’re a D-lineman that could push him around a little bit, but other than that it’s very difficult to deal with him.”
Reminded that a defensive lineman could not run with Gates, Hill said, “Exactly. So you have to pick your poison.”
The ring’s the thing
The top three quarterbacks from the 2004 NFL Draft were Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger. Manning and Roethlisberger each have two Super Bowl titles on their resume. Rivers has been a top-tier NFL quarterback but has no championship rings, and he won’t be thought of as highly as Eli or Big Ben until he does.
“I think the goal of every quarterback is to help lead your team to win a championship, to get to the top of the mountain,” Rivers said. “I think it gets over-said that, ‘This guy’s got a ring.’ It’s not really about that. I want to experience for our team and for our teammates and the guys that we played with for so long to experience getting to the top with one another and so you look back over the whole journey getting there. That’s really, I think, what’s most motivating is to stand at the top and say we did it.
“Not so you can that got you in this category or this club or this deal.”
Bold out of the blue
The past two weeks the Giants faced familiar opponents in the Eagles and Cowboys, and the week before that they went against the Packers, a team they’ve faced often. Dealing with the Chargers is altogether different. The Giants have played the Chargers twice in the past 10 years and not since 2009. Plus, the Giants have to travel to the West Coast, but they won’t have to deal with unaccustomed heat, as the high temperature is expected to be 58 degrees, with a low of 44.
“You don’t know this team,” said Justin Tuck, named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week after his four-sack game against the Redskins. “You can watch them on film but … Dallas, Philly or Washington, we play twice a year so you know how they like to play you and how they adjust to certain things that you do. This team doesn’t, so obviously we have to do a great job of studying, being in that film room and on those iPads a lot to kind of familiarize ourselves with what they do and how they’re going to try to combat some of the things that we do.”
Right is might
Other than three rushes, the Giants did not exactly run the ball with much consistency in last week’s victory over the Redskins, and they showed a definite favorite side to direct their attack. They averaged 6.1 yards on runs to their right, led by Justin Pugh and David Diehl, and just 1.4 yards when running to their left toward Will Beatty and James Brewer. Pugh has become a force and is the only Giants offensive lineman who Pro Football Focus gives a positive grade for this season.
Numbers to know
26-6: The career record of Philip Rivers in the month of December, the most December wins of any quarterback in the NFL since 2006.
58: Receptions for WR Keenan Allen, more than any other rookie in the league and one away from LaDainian Tomlinson’s single-season franchise rookie record of 59, set in 2001.
107.2: Eli Manning’s passer rating in his two games against the Chargers. He has four TD passes, no interceptions but is 0-2 against the team that drafted him in 2004.
Paul’s pick
Philip Rivers is a top quarterback, and, in case you hadn’t noticed, the Giants haven’t exactly knocked off too many (or any) of them this season. In another year, you could bank on Eli Manning getting things done, throwing to Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks against a shaky San Diego secondary, but this year, who knows? Could be a long flight home.
Chargers 31, Giants 23