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Leonard Williams' Long Wait for Playoff Berth Finally Arrives

In his eighth NFL season, Leonard Williams is gearing up for the first playoff game of his career.

Andrew Parsaud

Leonard Williams' Long Wait for Playoff Berth Finally Arrives
Leonard Williams' Long Wait for Playoff Berth Finally Arrives /
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Injury or no injury, New York Giants defensive lineman Leonard Williams isn't going to miss a chance to take part in the first postseason game of his career.  

Williams, drafted in the first round back in 2015 by the Jets, has longed to put his skills on display as the stakes get higher. During his rookie season, the Jets finished 10-6 but narrowly missed the playoffs. And since being traded to the Giants midway through the 2019 season, Williams hasn't come close to sniffing the playoffs since.

Until now, that is. And Williams, while more than ready for the moment, has tried to keep his emotions in check so that he's not too jacked up yet has enough juice to impact the game positively for the Giants.  

“(Head) Coach (Brian) Dabs (Daboll) has been doing a good job of letting guys know that whatever has got you to this point, keep doing that," Williams said this week. "This isn’t the time to try new things and get too emotional, get too high, or get too low. 

"I think this is a time to sacrifice a little bit more, meaning like spend maybe an hour more on film when you get home than you usually do, get to work earlier, stay here a little bit longer. Do whatever it takes that way, but I don’t think you should be getting too high or low right now.”

Sunday will be a test for Williams, not just because it will be his first playoff game. He’s been dealing with a nagging neck injury the past few weeks, one that cut short his playing time in the Giants' playoff-clinching win over the Colts in Week 17 and resulted in his being inactive in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the Eagles. 

Williams, who also dealt with a knee injury earlier in the season that led to him missing the first games of his career, has been limited in practice all week, but there is no way he's missing out on the Giants' playoff party.

“I didn’t play last week, so my body got to rest a little bit. Overall, I’m excited that we’re in the playoffs this season, and I’m super ecstatic to be here," he said. "That’s been like the light through the season for me because individually, I had an elbow injury in camp and had to miss all of the preseason, and then I had a knee injury and had to miss three or four games early in the season. 

"I’ve had this neck injury that I’ve been dealing with for the rest of the season. I’ve had to go through many ups and downs and adversity. Going to the playoffs is all worth it for me. I would do it all over again if I had to.”

Williams admitted that playing through the neck injury is challenging. He revealed that he tried different collars to help manage the injury but found that they limited his vision. 

Williams’s presence on Sunday can only help the Giants defense. While they haven’t been great in the run game, they’ve still put up respectable numbers in key areas. The Giants have allowed a touchdown 49.2 percent of the time, fifth best in the league. They also accumulated 106 quarterback hits and 41 sacks this season.

With some injuries affecting the team's defensive depth at certain spots this year, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale managed to work around that to assemble what he considers is a playoff-caliber defense."

Williams agrees that the Giants defense is something special this season.

“What I take from it is that he has a lot of confidence and belief in our defense, and he’s reminding us because we should, too," he said. "He always talks about how this is a great group and one of his best that he’s coached. This is one of the best groups I’ve played with. This is a selfless group. 

"There’s a lot of times in certain packages or pressures where you just know the play is not designed for you, but at the same time, you know that you have to do your job for it to work for someone else. Everyone is willing to do that job to make the defense work, and I think that’s what makes it, so fun playing with these guys.”

The last time the Giants advanced in the postseason without going to the Super Bowl was in 1993, against the Vikings, whom they beat in the Wild Card only to get blown out by the 49ers in the divisional round. 

Williams believes that the Giants, who have always been a tight-knit group, are starting to jell at the right time and that he's doing his part to make sure that continues for as long as the Giants are in the postseason.  

“I’ve been embracing work even on a different level than I normally do. Like coming in on a Wednesday, Thursday, during this week when everyone else is going home already feels special to me," he said. 

"So, I know going out there on gameday, knowing that I’m playing and so many other teams are at home, it’s going to feel special to me. I’m going to embrace it while it’s there, while I’m having that feeling, but after the National Anthem, I’m going to treat it like another game.”

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Andrew Parsaud
ANDREW PARSAUD

Andrew Parsaud is currently attending Penn State, where he is studying digital journalism and media. He is an avid follower of the major New York sports teams. 

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