John Harbaugh is wasting no time putting his stamp on the Giants.
Even before training camp officially got rolling at The Greenbrier Resort, Harbaugh was already out walking the grounds, taking in the mountain backdrop in West Virginia and sizing up the practice fields. It was an early glimpse of a coach who clearly intends to leave nothing to chance as his Giants era begins.
That attention to detail comes with a bigger-picture message, too. Harbaugh has been making it clear that Jaxson Dart’s first steps as the team’s quarterback matter, but only within the larger framework of a roster built to function as one unit.
“To me it’s both, but everybody understands it. He is one of 53.
He’s part of the team. He’s a teammate.
He’s a player. The guys like Jaxson, Joe [Flacco], Lamar [Jackson], they all understand that so well.
That’s why the players love them so much. But the other side of the coin is he’s the quarterback.
He’s got to know the most. He’s got to do the most.
He has the most impact probably on the game of anybody. So, that part of it is just kind of understood.
But those guys, man, they’ve been doing it their whole life. They embrace it.”
Dart, for his part, is stepping into Week 1 with plenty of confidence of his own. He said, “I want to do something special.
And all the guys in the locker room are, too. We’re starving for this,” Dart said.
There’s also plenty of buzz around the Giants’ pass-catching group, and Isaiah Likely is a big reason why. The tight end signed a three-year, $40 million deal, and while the New York spotlight has been pulled toward the Odell Beckham Jr. reunion and Malik Nabers’ recovery from a torn ACL, Likely has been building chemistry with Dart behind the scenes.
According to Dan Duggan, Likely was Dart’s favorite target this summer, finishing with 44 catches in 11-on-11 team periods during camp. Whether Nabers is ready for Week 1 or not, Likely looks set to play a major role.
Brian Burns is approaching the season with a different kind of urgency. Asked how badly he wants to win, he made it plain that he’s beyond the stage of trying to impress anybody.
“Oh, I’ve been at that point…I don’t really give a f--- about surprising nobody,” he said. “I’m just focused on our team, our opponents and get a dub as many times as we can throughout the season - and getting to the big dance.
Surprising people and putting the world on notice? I don’t give a f--- about none of that.
Not anymore.
“I used to want to prove people wrong and prove this and prove that. But I got to a point where it’s like now, bro, people are going to say something regardless of whether you’re good or whether you’re bad.
So it really doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the work that’s in front of you.
I’m not doing this to prove to nobody else. I do it more so to prove to my guys and myself that we can win.”
On the other side of the ball, the Giants are also leaning on Dennard Wilson to set a tone in his debut as coordinator Sunday. He isn’t interested in the usual Cowboys-Giants history lesson. He wants an identity.
“We’re going to be unapologetic on how we play,” he said. “We’re going to be decisive in what we do.
We’re going to play with an edge. We’re going to play with toughness.
We’re going to bring violence. That’s our M.O.
That’s how the guys have been going out - doing their work every day, their daily business. And that’s how we’re going to play.”
That opener also carries a different kind of spotlight for the Giants, since it will be the first game of the John Harbaugh era and Dart’s first NFL opening-game start. ESPN’s Week 1 preview said the Giants believe they have their coach and signal-caller, and that it will lead to wins right away.
There’s even a bold prediction attached to the matchup: rookie wide receiver Malachi Fields will lead the Giants in receiving yards. The reasoning points to uncertainty around Malik Nabers’ knee and Fields’ strong camp, along with the idea that the Cowboys’ cornerbacks DaRon Bland and Cobie Durant can be beaten.
And while the Giants’ present is all about Harbaugh, Dart, Burns, Wilson and the new offensive pieces, the franchise’s past still keeps showing up in the conversation. Kurt Warner was revisited in a separate look back at being benched for Eli, while an NFL all-time list featured several Giants names, including Lawrence Taylor at No.
4, Michael Strahan at No. 81, Mel Hein at No.
90, Roosevelt Brown at No. 98, Sam Huff at No. 136 and Emlen Tunnell at No.
- Hein remains the only offensive lineman in NFL history to win MVP.
That mix of new expectations and old standards is the backdrop as the Giants head into a season that already feels like a fresh start.
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For Giants followers, the bigger intrigue may be how quickly a small on-air hiccup turned into a full round of speculation about the dynamic between Collinsworth and Mike Tirico. No official explanation has come from either broadcaster, and theres nothing to suggest anything beyond a professional working relationship, which makes the clip more odd than ominous. Still, in a game full of familiar stakes, it was the booth moment that had a lot of people talking after the broadcast ended. [Read more 🡒]
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The bigger talking point, though, came on a hit away from the usual flow of the offense, when Skattebo was punched in the kidney by a Cowboys player and no penalty was called. It was the kind of moment that can linger after the final whistle, especially in a rivalry game where every collision gets magnified. For the Giants, the encouraging part is obvious: Skattebo looked like a player they can build around again. The frustration is just as clear, and it is not going away quietly. [Read more 🡒]
Paulson Adebos Push For A Giants Starting Role Hit Trouble Fast
Paulson Adebos bid to carve out a starting role for the Giants has run into an early snag. He saw only a brief stint against the Cowboys, and on a third-and-12 he gave up a 15-yard completion, another reminder that the cornerback competition around him has tightened since training camp.
Adebo came into camp with a chance to push for first-team work, but the job has gone to Greg Newsome II and Deonte Banks for now. He sits third on the depth chart, which leaves him in a tricky spot: he still has time to climb back into the conversation, but only if his play sharpens or the guys ahead of him slip. [Read more 🡒]