Giants, back in playoffs, are ready to party. But next goal is clear: ‘Continue to shock people’
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Jihad Ward strutted out of the shower area in the Giants’ locker room, ready to deliver a message he wanted everyone to hear.
“Get your ass to the club!” he shouted.
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The Giants had, at long last, returned to the playoffs, thanks to Sunday’s 38-10 home win over the Colts. And now, they were ready to party.
But before the celebration came the sudden emotional weight of it all.
Brian Daboll — the Giants’ rookie head coach, who has led this remarkable season — roared with delight after Ward and Julian Love doused him with purple Gatorade on the sideline. A couple minutes later, as a misty-eyed Daboll walked off the field, he blew kisses to the crowd. In the locker room, addressing his players, he said little, as he appeared to hold back tears.
His team, which was expected to struggle all season, had shocked the NFL and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
So amid the gravity of the moment, Daboll let himself dance — because that’s how he celebrates every win with his players. They fired up the anthem of their season — the Notorious B.I.G. classic “Juicy.” And the opening lines filled the locker room.
“It was all a dream …”
These expectation-defying Giants are ready to keep dreaming, ready to make a playoff run as the NFC’s sixth seed. Because why not? They’re not willing to accept the narrative that they’ll be a one-and-done team, like the 2016 Giants, even if everyone else envisions that fate.
“I would say to them: ‘Y’all were the same ones that said we wouldn’t be in the playoffs this year,’” running back Matt Breida told NJ Advance Media. “No one expected us to be here.”
Breida, who reached the divisional round last season with Daboll and the Bills, thinks the Giants can make noise in the playoffs because they’re “starting to peak at the right time” — and because of how they’ve won this year, with four fourth-quarter comebacks, en route to 9-6-1.
Plus, Breida still remembers the standard Daboll set on Day 1, with the first thing he said to his new team: “We’re not fixing to lose around here.”
That’s really all the Giants did the previous five seasons, when their 22-59 record tied the Jets for the NFL’s worst. Wide receiver Darius Slayton, drafted in 2019, was around for a lot of that misery. So emerging from it in grand fashion Sunday, with a dominant win to clinch a playoff berth, felt “surreal” and “like a movie.” For years, this almost seemed unattainable.
“It’s so hard to know that [the playoffs are possible], because when all you know is what we did prior to this year, it’s hard to know how close you are to this,” he said. “When you’re not getting the wins, you’re always looking for: ‘Why? Why? Why?’ But I always believed in the talent — and here we are.”
Here they are indeed, wanting more, as try to replicate the Super Bowl titles this franchise won in 2007 (as a No. 5 seed) and 2011 (as a No. 4 seed).
“The history of the Giants, you give them a shot, they’re taking everything they can get,” Love said. “We have a chance here. Anything can happen in the playoffs.”
Across the locker room, rookie outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux made it clear how he now views this playoff-bound season: “An opportunity to go win it all,” he said.
With Daboll in Buffalo, center Jon Feliciano not only reached the divisional round last year, but also the AFC Championship Game in 2020. So he knows what it takes in January.
“It’s not always the best team that wins,” he said, using air quotes for the words “best team.” “It’s the best team that day. Let’s not make it a one-and-done.”
That was, as you might expect, the consensus in the Giants’ celebratory — but not complacent — locker room Sunday, as the sun set on the first day of 2023.
Xavier McKinney: “We’ve all got one goal in here — and that’s to win a Super Bowl.”
Dexter Lawrence: “I think we may continue to shock people.”
Ward: “All we’ve got to do is keep this s— rolling. Now, we want more.”
The Giants were in a reminiscing and storytelling mood after this game, perhaps trying to bank these memories. Love recalled another promise Daboll made when he arrived: “The culture is going to change.” Ward, chuckling, reveled in having showered Daboll with the Gatorade — at the pinnacle (so far) of this culture-changing season.
“I grabbed the Gatorade — and poured that s— out on that bald-ass head,” Ward said.
But now — with the locker room emptying, with Daboll’s misty eyes drying — it was time to party. And Ward wanted Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen and everybody else in the organization to join the celebration.
“They’re going to the club,” Ward said. “We’ll probably get the coaches a bottle.”
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He laughed, sweat still beading on his forehead as he packed his gear. He was in a rush, had to go, couldn’t miss a chance to make more memories on another unforgettable Sunday.
“It’s time to turn up!” he said, strutting for the door, toward the playoffs.
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Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com.
©2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll blows a kiss to the crowd as he walks off the field after his team beat the Colts, 38-10, to clinch a berth in the playoffs on Sunday, January 1, 2023 in East Rutherford, N.J.
© Andrew Mills/nj.com/TNS