Two members of the close-knit Giants offensive line were not seeing eye-to-eye as they considered embarking on something they’d never encountered in their NFL careers.
“This will be new for me,” guard Chris Snee said. “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I’m not really going to get to participate. I’m really sad about that.”
There will be no feast at home with his family, and Snee’s football will not be viewed on the tube from the comfort of the sofa but live and on field a mile above sea level.
Snee, for the first time, and the Giants, for the first time since 1992, will play on Thanksgiving Day.
Fresh off their season-saving 34-31 overtime victory over the Falcons, the Giants yesterday were back at it, pushing their sore bodies out for an afternoon practice.
SO-SO FOES GIVE GIANTS SHOT AT PLAYOFFS
Tomorrow, they will board their cross-country charter flight to Denver for Thursday night’s game against a Broncos team that has lost four straight after a 6-0 start.
“I’ve always wanted to play on Thanksgiving,” left tackle David Diehl said. “You grew up, you watch it. I remember John Madden with the big turkey leg and all that stuff. It’s exciting.”
It’s also entirely different. During the bye week, the Giants coaching staff prepared the game plan for the Broncos. Yesterday was not a typical Monday, as there was no official review of the Falcons game. Instead, the Giants went through a normal practice, but at a jog-though pace.
“The demands are great,” said coach Tom Coughlin, who has never before gotten a team ready to play in four days. “The players can do it. You set your mind to it and they can do it.”
The normal routine is broken. The Falcons offense ran 78 plays, and linebacker Chase Blackburn — filling in for injured Antonio Pierce — was on the field for all but a couple of them.
Immediately after the defense sagged to the finish but was bailed out by Eli Manning, Blackburn, instead of making a quick getaway from Giants Stadium, spent 20 minutes in the cold tub, something he’s never done before.
“With the short week, they set it up and we had quite a few guys in it,” said Blackburn, who after yesterday’s practice took another dunk. “Got to get your body back.”
It might be a huge help that the Giants are traveling to face a team that’s a mess. The Broncos are 6-4 after four straight losses. The lowlight in their 32-29 loss to the Chargers came when rookie running back Knowshon Moreno, from the San Diego 4, lost the ball on a fumble when his own left guard, Russ Hochstein, accidentally kicked the ball loose with his left knee.
It was recovered in the end zone by Chargers safety Steve Gregory, prompting an ugly altercation on the sideline. Volatile receiver Brandon Marshall got into Moreno’s face and jawed at him, and in retaliation Moreno shoved Marshall away.
The Giants are coming off a badly needed but unbalanced victory, with Manning and his receivers playing pitch-and-catch to near-perfection but the defense allowing 24 second-half points to nearly blow another game.
“It was a bitter taste,” cornerback Terrell Thomas said. “It was a great win for our team, we needed it, but we definitely didn’t like the way we finished.”
All of this means the Giants will be on the road for the big holiday. That doesn’t sit well with Snee, but he’s planning on making up for it with some serious leftover eating over the weekend.
“The good thing,” Snee said, “is I’ll have an extra couple of days to lose it before the weigh-in on Friday.”