The season did not end the way the New York Giants wanted it to, but when they look back on it, they will realize it was a success.
New York’s season ended in Philadelphia on Saturday night as they fell to the Eagles 38-7 in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
The Giants, who lost three times to Philadelphia this season, allowed the Eagles to score four touchdowns on their first five drives and trailed 28-0 at halftime. New York was dominated from start to finish.
“Well, crash landing here,” Daboll said after the loss. “Give Philly credit. They did everything better than we did today—tough game. We really got beat in all facets, so it wasn’t one thing in particular. It was a team game, and we just didn’t get it done. Congratulations to Philly. They get to move on, and unfortunately, we don’t.”
After five straight 10-loss seasons, New York was 9-7-1 this year, made the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and got their playoff win since 2011.
Despite the blowout loss, Daboll wanted his team to keep their heads up.
“I told them to keep their heads up,” he said. “They competed hard. It’s a crash landing in the playoffs. Anytime you lose, it hurts because of the amount of effort and energy you put into it each week. And when you lose this time of year, it hurts even more. You work extremely hard to get to this point. You’re blessed to get to this point. It’s hard to do.”
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who can be an unrestricted free agent, showed much improvement this season. He became a better player, and he hopes to continue to grow moving forward.
“I don’t know what I proved,” he said. “I think I improved every week. I thought I was consistent throughout the year. There are certainly things I like to have back, especially tonight. I think there are some things I’ll go back and look to clean up and improve and grow as a player going forward. I thought, overall, I did do that. I grew and improved throughout the year, and I will continue to try and do that.”
Saquon Barkley, who also can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, said the 2022 Giants is a team he won’t forget.
“It sucks, this was a fun team,” he said. “The guys here, coaches, everything that we were able to build this year. The way we played for each other this year, it was special. Obviously, it didn’t end the way we would have wanted it to end. Not just because of the record or because we made it to playoffs, this is probably one of my favorite teams of all time. That’s a sad thing about the NFL; no matter what, the locker room is not going to be the exact same next year. So just happy to be able to go out there with these guys and lay it all out on the line and compete with them.”
The Giants’ season was a success the moment they beat the Colts and clinched a playoff spot; they should hold their heads high. The future seems bright in New York.
