The way this season is shaping up for the Giants, it appears as if they will be able to count on an NFC wild card playoff game on the road, either in Seattle or Tampa, and, while challenging, will certainly not be viewed as an overly daunting task.
The Giants, you see, are at their best away from home.
Their most demanding tests have come on the road and the Giants have passed virtually every one of them. They saved their season by recovering from a 17-7 halftime deficit in Washington. They rebounded from one of those statement-game losses to the Cowboys the next week by outlasting the Lions in Detroit. And this past Sunday, in wet and chilly Chicago, the Giants awakened from an offensive slumber to turn a 16-7 fourth-quarter deficit into an Eli Manning-inspired 21-16 triumph that did wonders to their suddenly-robust playoff aspirations.
Now 5-1 on the road, the Giants fear nothing when they board their charter flight and head to some distant destination.
“We have a good, substantial record on the road,” Tom Coughlin said yesterday. “The players have played well on the road. There is a sense, as you know, of ‘This is it, this is our group, this is our team, we are the only people that are in support of one another, we are on the road and in enemy territory, and we do have a lot of things that have to be done properly in order to succeed.’
“I just think it has to do with that kind of thinking. I don’t know that there is any real answer for it other than the fact that we go on the road into the harshest of situations and conditions and we play hard, we stay focused, we support one another, we pick each other up when we are down, we have a ‘never say die’ attitude, we play through some things, and we put ourselves in a position where we have a chance to win. Other than that, I really don’t have any answer for you.”
The theme of winning on the road continues into this week, when the Giants (8-4) seek to all but wrap up a playoff spot Sunday against the Eagles in Philadelphia. In fact, the Giants can clinch a berth in the postseason if they win and several other variations in the NFC fall their way.
Among the wild card contenders, the Giants are the only team with eight wins and no other team has as many as seven. Three teams are 6-6 and within that group the Giants are two games ahead of the Cardinals, two ahead of the Lions (the Giants won the head-to-head meeting) and two ahead of the Vikings (the Giants lost the head-to-head meeting).
“We’re 8-4 and obviously in a very good position,” guard Chris Snee said.
The stretch run is taking a toll, though, when it comes to keeping players healthy and on the field. Running back Derrick Ward while rushing for a career-high 154 yards through the Bears’ defense broke his left fibula and, though the injury does not appear to need surgery, Coughlin said, “that is the way it appears,” when asked if Ward is finished for the season.
The Giants envisioned a 1-2 punch out of the backfield with Brandon Jacobs and Ward forming a pulverizing duo, but have had them available in the same game only four times this season. Jacobs missed the past two games with a strained hamstring, but he’s scheduled to return this week, not a moment too soon.
“If Jacobs can come back and play and play through the end of the season without further injury, then I think we are in good shape,” Coughlin said.
Coughlin expressed concern with the health of free safety Gibril Wilson, who did not play against the Bears with a knee injury, and linebacker Antonio Pierce, who did play despite a sprained ankle that Coughlin said Pierce “tweaked” in Chicago.
“Most teams in the league right now are on a weekly basis missing one or two guys that have been starters,” Coughlin said. “It is not that unusual for our team, but the credit goes to the guys who went out and played and played well enough for us to win.”