The Giants are fools if they look at what they have unearthed, remember what they dug up last season and think to themselves, “We got this.’’
When Justin Tuck, after a wasteful 17-16 loss to the Redskins, makes statements like, “That’s what we’ve done all year, we lose a game, we lose two, we bounce back,’’ it leads to an assumption that is sure to cost the Giants dearly.
Losing to the rampaging Redskins in a game the Giants never should have lost does not mean first place in the NFC East, the division title and a playoff berth are now as un-catchable as Robert Griffin III proved himself to be, over and over again. But the Giants have to get something straight in their heads before they face the Saints on Sunday, before these final four games turn into a pathway to an early offseason:
“They’’ was last year’s team, and there is a reason why what they accomplished was so special and rare. “Them’’ is this year’s team, which has been an inconsistent, mood-swing outfit. Here is all the evidence anyone needs to see the difference: In losses to the Steelers and Redskins, the Giants blew fourth-quarter leads, which has nothing to do with “Finish’’ or the bridge Tom Coughlin wants built from last year to this one.
There are two disparate mentalities the Giants should have, best represented in sentiments shared by Tuck and Antrel Rolle. Both are team leaders, in their own ways.
Tuck wants to lean on the résumé his team has put together, the track record of success.
“We still feel confident where we are — we have a one-game lead,’’ he said. “That’s not to say everything’s going to work in our favor like it did last year, but we got confidence in the fact we’ve done it before and we don’t see any reason we won’t be able to bounce back from this.’’
Rolle doesn’t want to lean on anything. He wants to get nasty and stop kissing butts.
“I think we just need to get back to being a little nasty, having a nasty attitude,” Rolle said yesterday on his weekly WFAN spot. “Don’t do anything that’s out of the line of football, but have a little nasty attitude, get a little bit more dog in us and go out there and play the game. We’ll give hugs and kisses after the game. But while that game is going on, we respect no one.”
Did Rolle make sure to sound the alarm at this precise time? After all, it was almost exactly a year ago, after a Week 15 loss to the Redskins dropped the Giants to 7-7, when Rolle stood in front of his locker and challenged his teammates to ignore their aches and pains and get on the practice field, to indeed be “All in.’’ Rolle’s words became rallying cry.
Rolle now is all but pleading for the Giants to get back to a “dog mentality,’’ to stop giving so much credit to the other team and start pounding away on the opponent. Do not expect many “Man, is he great’’ quotes from Rolle this week about Drew Brees.
“I don’t see enough manhandling out there on the field,” Rolle said, “and I don’t see us putting opponents away when we know we could.’’
Can they? Last year’s team could, but turning “they’’ into “them’’ is no sure thing.