Give the Captain an assist for the Giants’ epic Week 1 win?
The lead nugget from NFL reporter Peter King’s NBC Sports column, a few hours after Big Blue’s thrilling 21-20 upset of the Titans:
A few days ago, in a Giants’ full team meeting, coach Brian Daboll showed the team a clip from ESPN’s documentary “The Captain” on Derek Jeter. In the doc, there’s a play with a 1998 outfield miscue that prompted Yankees pitcher David Wells to throw up his hands in disgust. Jeter, just 24 then, went to the mound and said to Wells: “Hey, we don’t do that s— around here.”
Daboll knew the kind of team he had. To be kind, his first edition of the Giants is not exactly a Super Bowl winner. He knew there could be some tough days ahead, and maybe lots of them. So he followed the clip by telling the team: “We don’t do that s— around here either.”
But that s— was certainly happening as the Titans raced out to a 13-0 halftime lead. And after quarterback Daniel Jones threw that horrific interception in the end zone — a turnover that, at the time, felt like the death knell.
Yet the Giants persevered. They got the ball back, they drove down and scored and then Daboll let it all hang out and went for two, getting the conversion score from Saquon Barkley to seal the stunning win (Randy Bullock’s missed field goal a few moments later made it official).
“I think you owe it to your team to teach them how to deal with adversity,” Daboll told King. “In camp, we put the offense in some terrible, terrible situations — I knew it’d be a miserable day for the offense. That’s okay. I want to see how Daniel and Saquon and the coaches, even, respond.
“I think I owe that to the team. So they all get through that, and they’re better for it. Will we always win on a two-point play? No. But like I told them last week, I have confidence in you guys. I want you guys to be aggressive out there. I want to be like I tell the quarterbacks to be — aggressive, not reckless.”
More on ESNY:
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• Aaron Judge’s ‘realm of reality’ may be rude awakening for Randy Levine, Yankees
• It’s hard to watch Yankees games. Will that create more Mets fans?
• Willie Mays-Mets retired number rant was vintage ‘Mike and the Mad Dog’
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch.
