The tedium of training camp and vagaries of preseason personnel evaluation are over. The hated Cowboys and Tony Romo await the Giants eight days from now in Arlington, Texas.
So as the players hurried about the locker room yesterday, packing up for a weekend off before practice for the Cowboys begins in earnest on Monday, Giants safety Antrel Rolle took the time to set the bar rather high for the 2013 season, beginning with that anticipated showdown a week from tomorrow night.
“Absolutely we can be dominant,” Rolle said. “We have all the pieces in place to be dominant. If we’re not dominant, it’ll be an extreme failure on our part. We have the players, we have the coaches, we have the scheme. We just have to go out there and make it come to life.’’
When it was suggested to Rolle ‘‘dominant’’ is a strong word, he did not back off.
“I know exactly what it is,” he said. “Extremely confident? Yeah. We are extremely confident, and I will not take that word back. That’s what we are as a defense and I stand strong behind my words.’’
While questions mounted about the consistency of the Giants’ offense this summer, the defense has had a pretty good preseason run, forcing 10 turnovers in four games (six interceptions and four fumbles). Opposing running backs averaged just 2.9 yards per carry.
Even Tom Coughlin, the ultimate pessimist when he wants to be, offered glowing words about his defense yesterday.
“We have had turnovers and we have done some good things from a defensive standpoint,’’ he said. “I would say our expectations are always very high. Sometimes they’re met, sometimes they’re not. Sometimes it takes a lot of season before it comes to fruition. I feel good about it.”
With Dallas looming, the question for the Giants will be: Can they carry over what they did during the preseason and disrupt Romo, who had a hot summer with a 123.3 quarterback rating, 72.2 completion percentage, two touchdowns and no interceptions?
“Preseason sets the tone for the regular season, so hopefully it will carry over,” defensive tackle Shaun Rogers said.
“We played that way in preseason, why not go out there and do it for the regular season?” Rolle said. “Obviously, we know the speed of the game picks up and teams will be throwing their playbook at us. But we’re ready for whatever comes our way.
“We are a very confident defense, we’re a veteran defense and we’re going to go out there and make things happen.”
The catch here is the Giants didn’t make enough happen on defense in 2012, as much a reason as any for why they missed the playoffs at 9-7 one year after winning the Super Bowl. The Giants ranked 31st in the league in yards allowed, which simply cannot happen in 2013 for them to succeed. Their pass rush, a staple of two Super Bowl-winning teams, was too often invisible.
“We don’t worry about last year,’’ Rolle said. “We finished 9-7 and didn’t make the playoffs and we understand what we left on the field last year. This year, that’s only going to allow us to get better, because we’re going to have that extra motivation and drive to get better and make sure we don’t have those letdowns.”
Linebacker Keith Rivers said, “A lot of the pieces are still together here from those championship teams, so we can be as good as we want to be.’’
One of the holdovers from the 2011 champions is defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, the team’s best pass rusher. He is rehabbing from offseason back surgery, and it is uncertain when he will play his first game.
Based on Pierre-Paul’s unknown status and last year’s inconsistencies, not a lot of prognosticators are picking the Giants to dominate much of anything this year, especially on defense.
“I can’t care less what anyone picks or how they perceive us,” Rolle said. “They don’t dictate what takes place out there on Sundays. How should people view this team? Tune into TV and watch. Tune in [next] Sunday night against Dallas and they can start making their observations at that point.”