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The difference between 1-0 and 0-1 is monumental for the Giants.
When the proceedings are over and done with Sunday at MetLife Stadium, they need to be won-and-oh! And they are advised not to be no-and-one.
Not that the season will come crashing down if the Giants embark on their 2024 campaign with a loss.
A Week 1 defeat will not be back-breaking, but it could be damaging in this regard: From the outside, there is so much negativity hovering overhead, so little respect for their roster and talent base, so much contempt for returning quarterback Daniel Jones, and so little belief in what general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll have assembled.
There is rampant speculation that this is one of the NFL’s worst outfits. All this gets exacerbated if the opener is a downer.
With all this animus stored up for what the Giants might become, consider how much more dour the naysayers will grow if the Vikings — with Jets and Panthers castoff Sam Darnold at quarterback — come into the Meadowlands and push around the home team.
There are always reasons for optimism, even if those reasons have to come from within and are based more on hope than evidence.
The Giants have a scintillating rookie wide receiver in Malik Nabers and a proven new edge rusher in Brian Burns.
They have Daboll for the first time as their play-caller on offense, and he is one of the best in the league in handling that responsibility.
There are the makings of some explosion in the passing game and the threat of disruption up front on defense with Burns, Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeau all lathered up and ready to roll.
This is a franchise embarking on its 100th year of existence, with plenty of festivities scheduled early and often for this season, starting with the wild retro uniforms (red is the dominant color and there are stripes galore and — get this — khaki pants) worn by the Giants in the season opener.
The script does not include a big, fat “L” to kick things off.
“We’re certainly aware of it and we’ve talked about it,” Jones said. “I think the important thing is you understand how rich the tradition is in this organization and the history behind playing for the New York Giants and what that means and what this franchise means to the NFL. All of that is special to be a part of, and we have, as players, a lot of respect for that.”
Jones moves into his sixth season with the Giants standing directly over a hot seat that will grow scalding if he performs poorly out of the chute.
The Giants made no secret of their desire to replace him and wanted to trade up in the draft to procure their franchise quarterback.
When that pipe dream did not materialize, they used their first-round pick to give their embattled incumbent starter a prize weapon, then proceeded to unretire a jersey (No. 1, previously worn by Ray Flaherty in 1935) to bestow upon Nabers, which is quite a legacy for a 21-year old to live up to.
The Giants are privy to significant evidence how Game 1 can ignite or detonate a vibe.
In Daboll’s head-coaching debut, the Giants came back to win the 2022 opener at Tennessee, 21-20, as Daboll boldly went for a 2-point conversion and the win at the end.
There was also more than a hint of much-needed good fortune when the Titans missed a field goal as time expired. That catapulted the Giants to six victories in their first seven games.
Last season, the Giants, at home, were devastated 40-0 by the Cowboys and went on to lose eight of their first 10 games.
“Twenty-four years doing this, 24th opening game,” Daboll said. “Every year is different. We’ve played on Thursday nights, played on Sundays at 1. It really doesn’t matter what you did the year before or two years ago, whatever that is. What matters is doing everything you can do for this week to get ready to play a football game. That’s all of us, what we’re all going to do.”
