After all the defeats that you and your New York Football Giants have suffered since the infamous boat trip that preceded the Green Bay playoff disaster in January 2017, the reserve bank Eli Manning, Ben McAdoo’s shot, Jerry’s Reese, Pat Shurmur, Manning’s retirement, a 12-36 record in the previous three seasons, the cruel football gods gave in and presented you with a totally unexpected gift at the beginning of a new year:
A chance.
A chance to at least put the Cowboys out of their misery on Sunday at 1 pm at MetLife Stadium.
A chance for you to root for the Eagles hours later on Sunday night to defeat Washington, so that your Giants earn the right to host a playoff game for the first time since January 8, 2012 – when they faced the Falcons en route to the Super Bowl XLVI.
So let the cynics laugh at your team, mock your 5-10 Joe Judge-Daniel Jones Giants for being blessed with a blue Sunday or dying against the Cowboys at StillLife Stadium simply because they toil at NFC Least.
Let the sarcastic grinches call your Joe Judge-Daniel Jones Giants the worst playoff team in history if 6-10 gets you in.
The playoff rules have not changed: 6-10 becomes 0-0 when the tournament starts.
And in a season when the betrayal of the COVID-19 squad on match day looms threateningly in every corner of the NFL universe – see Giants offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo – could never “make any Sunday in January” become more relevant.
Pete Carroll was in his inaugural season with the Seahawks when they defeated the Rams at the end of the 2010 regular season, with reserve defender Charlie Whitehurst replacing Matt Hasselbeck (hip), to finish 7-9 and win a wild card spot.
“We didn’t get here the way we all dreamed of, but we did,” said Carroll later. “At the end of the day, the guys played a great game of football tonight.”
And guess what? The Seahawks shocked current Super Bowl champion Santos, 41-36, at home in a wild card game.
“I know it sounds crazy,” said Carroll after Hasselbeck launched four touchdown passes and Marshawn Lynch broke nine tackles in a 67-yard TD race, “but we were hoping to win, so let’s take this forward and move on to the next one. “
The next one was Bears 35, Seahawks 24 at Soldier Field, but hey …
The 2014 Panthers, you ask? They got their ticket to the ball with a 34-3 defeat by the Falcons on the road to finish 7-8-1 and in a four-game winning streak.
“Which is beautiful: the record doesn’t matter,” said Panthers coach Ron Rivera. “That’s the best part.”
The Panthers then defeated the Ryan Lindley Cardinals 27-16 at home in the wild card game.
“We know who we are – threatening, suffocating and we’re going after you,” said cornerback Josh Norman later. “We know when there is blood in the water and, when there is, our sharks will eat.”
The sharks were eaten in a 31-17 defeat on the road to the Seahawks in the split round, but hey …
The difference is that the giants do not have the destiny in their own hands. A win over the Cowboys would still require Washington and Rivera, in their first season as coach of Daniel Snyder, losing to the Eagles at Linc.
The Giants can win the division and drop from a choice of the top 10 in the draft, to the 19th – if they are eliminated in the playoffs.
Of course, there would be no Giants fans on MetLife’s depictions for any wild card game, but this is not the time for them to root for the highest draft.
Ereck Flowers was the ninth choice. Eli Apple was the tenth choice.
Let’s go now.
Either way, there is no Trevor Lawrence waiting for you at the end of the rainbow.
Playoff spots don’t grow on trees. Ask fans of the Jets. Remember too.
Also … do you really want to lose to the Jerry Jones Cowboys for the eighth time in a row?
Jerry Jones has eaten a portion of humble pie since his Super Bowl XXX championship, but who can forget the words of the late and great Wellington Mara at the end of the 1996 season after a 20-6 win over the Cowboys at Giants Stadium?
“It is always good to see arrogance humiliated,” said Mara.
And besides: do you really want your Giants to lose to the Cowboys on Eli Manning’s 40th birthday? Giants fans: Together, Blue-or-die.