The Giants took an unfamiliar 0-6 record into Sunday’s off day, but the team’s newest member insisted their season is far from over.
Jon Beason — who had a strong Giants debut at middle linebacker in Thursday’s 27-21 loss at Chicago — insisted Big Blue cannot only still turn around their season, but steer it all the way into the postseason.
“You can ask the 7-9 Seahawks, who beat the 11-5 Saints as couple years ago. … Win your division, and you’re in the dance: That’s it,’’ Beason said. “This team is notorious for getting in the show as a wild card and winning the whole thing, so you know what? Get in the dance.
“Everybody is 0-0 [in the playoffs]; you throw the records out. You’ll have a home game in the wild card if you win, nine times out and 10 and we know that. That’s the beauty of this season is that it’s not lost yet.’’
Beason said the Giants can draw not only from their own 2007 wild-card run to the title, but also from the Seahawks’ postseason three years later. Seattle not only became the first losing team to make the playoffs, but also knocked off the defending champion Saints. And Beason insisted Big Blue can make a similar run.
“Yeah, no question. Even before I got here, from afar [I saw talent]. The injuries kept piling up, but we still know we’re leaving plays out there and we can compete with anybody,’’ Beason said. “It’s a crazy year. This never happens to the Giants, 0-6. But at the end of the day, we’re still in the playoff hunt, so you can’t ask for anything better at this point.’’
For the modest price of a conditional late-round pick, the Giants think in Beason they have landed a low-risk, high-reward flier who can help them get there. He’s a 28-year-old, three-time Pro Bowler with a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove.
Two days after Beason was acquired from the Panthers, he saw special-teams action in the loss to the Eagles. Four days after that, he started at middle linebacker against the Bears.
Yes, Beason missed a few tackles, but he roamed sideline to sideline and got in the right spots. Yes, he might have stepped lightly on Spencer Paysinger’s toes when he started making checks at the line and calls in the huddle, but they were largely the right calls.
Beason played 63-of-68 snaps and had a team-high 12 tackles. His seven stops in the running game, according to Pro Football Focus, were his highest total since 2009.
“He played hard, he played physical. He’s going to help us,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “He’s a good football player, obviously, very good against the run. He had a lot of tackles, was very much a force in the game in that respect.
“There’s a lot to learn. Just in the subtleties in the way one team does certain things and the responsibilities involved, so Jon’s going to get better and better at that.”
He got better than he had been in Carolina. After not missing a snap in 3 ½ years, Beason suffered through a torn Achilles in the 2011 opener, had microfracture surgery on his right knee and a torn labrum last October and was benched for former Giant Chase Blackburn before Week 3 this season.
Beason — who, in a delicious coincidence, took Blackburn’s old job — said reports of his struggles were greatly exaggerated.
“Sometimes perception is not necessarily reality,” he said. “You guys need something to write about. They made it a story down there. But I’m very confident in who I am. I know what I can do, I know what I’ve done and you can always bank on that.’’
The Giants are banking on that too.