Giants Country

Giants Urge Fans to Bring the Noise to Sunday's Home Opener

The Giants are looking to give their home town fans something to cheer loudly about.

Patricia Traina

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Planning on attending Sunday's New York Giants home opener? The players and coaches have a request: bring the noise.

The Giants, looking for their first 2-0 start to a season since 2016, want their home crowd to get into the game as soon as possible.

"I’ve only lived here for a short period of time, but I know New Yorkers are loud," said defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. "We need to be loud in that stadium. (The Panthers) have to go on silent count.

"If you want to be part of changing this culture here with the Giants, be loud and have that place rocking where people don’t want to come to our stadium. We’ll take care of the rest, and we’ll give you something to be loud about."

Head coach Brian Daboll agreed.

"I’m looking forward to having a packed house and them being as loud as they can be on third down or when Carolina’s on offense," said Daboll. "They’re pretty smart fans up here, so the more we can get in there, the better it’ll be. They’re part of our team on home games, and I firmly believe that."

Martindale and Daboll could very well get their wish Sunday, as the Giants' 21-20 upset win over the Tennessee Titans has rejuvenated a fan base that was already showing signs of perking up after witnessing the start of the franchise's transformation under general manager Joe Schoen and Daboll.

As history has shown around the league, a loud crowd can help the Giants in their quest to slow down the opposing offense.

"I need it to be loud, and we need all the fans to show some love and support," said defensive lineman Jihad Ward. "Have some faith and believe. I just can’t wait to go out there and see what the home atmosphere here feels like. I don’t know what happened in the past, I don’t know the fan base what happened last year, but I’m excited."

Ward, who was with Martindale in Baltimore from 2019-2020, went to the playoffs in both of those seasons, so he knows full well the advantages of a loud crowd can have for the home team's defense, which is to force the visiting offense to rely on silent counts and hand signals to ensure they're all on the same page.

If the operation isn't well rehearsed or the players aren't paying attention, that can lead to errors that the defense can cash in.

But most importantly, a loud home crowd means the Giants are giving their fan base something to cheer about, which is the ultimate goal."

Martindale has promised to do his part to give the crowd something to cheer about.

"I know this place loves defense, so we’ll do our part. You guys do yours," he said. "That’s the way I look at it, and it’ll be fun. It should be when you come to the stadium."

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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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