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Why New York Giants Think Playoffs is Realistic Goal for This Year

In reality, the New York Giants might be in a transition period, but that doesn't mean they aren't aiming for the playoffs.

Patricia Traina

Why New York Giants Think Playoffs is Realistic Goal for This Year
Why New York Giants Think Playoffs is Realistic Goal for This Year /
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If the movie Any Given Sunday has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected in the NFL.

Yes, that would include a potential playoff berth by the New York Giants, a team that in six of the last seven seasons has logged double-digit losses on its annual record. Yet that is the belief inside the Giants locker room these days.

“It’s a realistic goal,” said defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II. “You can’t sit on what happened years prior. You’ve got to go for what you’re shooting for now. Everybody’s goal is to make it to the postseason. If everybody has the same goal, we’re all going to have the same work ethic to try to get there.”

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That’s a rather ambitious goal for a Giants roster with a brand new coaching staff who has diligently been trying to install its systems on offense and defense. It's also a bit of pressure for a first-time general manager in Joe Schoen, who was so significantly hamstrung by the cap in the off-season that he couldn’t quite build the roster in the way he probably wanted to.

But the one thing the Giants seem to have in their favor as they dream of NFL life existing well into the middle of January 2023 is their belief in each other fueled by a renewed energy brought about by Brian Daboll. 

So far, this first-time head coach has done all the right things to get full buy-in from the locker room, including offering every player on last year's team a clean slate.

“Each year in this league is such a new year. I think you just work to get better each day,” Daboll said, adding, “I don’t think you can focus on what happened in the past. You live in the moment with the people you’re working with.”

While the playoffs might be the goal of this Giants team, no one is looking that far ahead, not with the rest of training camp still on tap and a challenging first half of the season to follow.

But this Giants team knows that if it takes care of business today, there is no reason to think that when the dust settles, it can’t be in the thick of the playoff seeding, given how unpredictable the league can be.

“Being in the league for 20 plus years, there are teams that people thought were going to go all the way and didn’t make the playoffs. And there are teams people thought they weren’t going to,” Daboll said on the first day of training camp.

“What we try to focus on is getting better each day--focus on the things that we can do and control, which is going out there, having good meetings, having a good practice, and try to string good days together."

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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