John Mara isn’t hiding his Giants expectations: ‘They know what I want to see’

John Mara isn’t putting a playoffs-or-bust label on the Giants this season.

But he also isn’t naïve to reality after the optimism of a playoff victory in 2022 turned into a 6-11 disappointment last season.

For the first time since 2006, the Giants have a general manager (Joe Schoen) and head coach (Brian Daboll) working together in the often-pivotal Year 3 of a regime.

And while Schoen and Daboll danced around expectations last week by keeping a day-to-day focus, Mara did not.

“I obviously want to show significant improvement over last year,” the co-owner said Thursday afternoon, “but I’m not going to make any specific guarantees or demands or anything like that. They know what I want to see. I have a lot of confidence in this particular team [of Daboll and Schoen]. Their communication is great. I think we’ve added some good pieces. Now it’s time to show everybody.”

Mara joined Giants legends Phil Simms and Justin Tuck at Hackensack University Medical Center to unveil a new 100th season mural on the day that marked the true centennial anniversary of his grandfather founding the Giants for $500.

How close are the Giants to getting back to the glory days that marked the franchise along the way? Are baby steps in 2024 toward long-term improvement acceptable?

“I don’t know how to quantify that,” Mara said. “I want to walk off the field at the end of the season feeling like we are moving in the right direction, [like] we’ve got a great foundation here and there’s every reason to be optimistic moving forward.”