Notebook: Giants look to finish season ‘the right way’

The Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. Barkley has rushed for 2,005 yards and needs 101 yards to break Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105, set in 1984. Barkley was removed from the Eagles’ 41-7 victory against Dallas as soon as he reached 2,000 yards.

Does Daboll expect Barkley and other Philadelphia starters to play Sunday?

“I’d say we’re going to get ready to play the Eagles and go through the tape like we normally go through the tape,” Daboll said. “Any questions about that, you’d have to ask Nick (Sirianni, the Eagles’ head coach).”

Any thoughts on Barkley running for 2,000 yards?

“Yeah, we’re just getting started here on the Eagles,” Daboll said. “I’ve said this numerous times, got a lot of respect for Saquon and he’s a heck of a player.”

All of which means Daboll will treat the 17^th game of the season as he did the first 16. He is preparing and playing to win. The players made clear in the postgame locker room yesterday that Daboll has their full support. They have taken their cue from the coach, who has remained resolute throughout what has been a difficult and disappointing season. Daboll hasn’t taken his foot off the gas and neither have the players.

“I see the way the guys are every day of practice and the way we come in, you would never think that we’re a team that’s not going to the playoffs,” wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said. “We still go out there and practice and act like we want it and go out there and do the right things.”

Cornerback Dru Phillips sealed the victory when he intercepted a Joe Flacco pass for his first career pick with 2:46 remaining. As a rookie who should be a big part of the team’s future, Phillips would benefit from the team having a high draft choice. But like Daboll, his feet are planted in the here and now.

“We don’t care,” Phillips said of the team’s first-round dip. “We’re trying to win a football game. At the end of the day, you don’t go out there to lose. You’re trying to win. We went out trying to win and got the outcome we wanted.”

Like his teammates, wide receiver Darius Slayton, the longest-tenured Giants player in uniform Sunday, resented the argument the team shouldn’t play its best now to improve its chances for a brighter future.

“It’s like anything, we have a job to do,” Slayton said. “This isn’t basketball, it’s not golf, it’s not tennis. Football, you get hit. I’m not going to go out there and just let people tee off on me just to tank. We always were trying to win and this showed that fight.”

The Giants registered their highest point total in nine years and the highest in MetLife Stadium in 12. Quarterback Drew Lock had the finest game of his career, throwing four touchdown passes and running for another. Rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, arguably the Giants’ most valuable player asset, caught seven passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. He increased his season totals to 104 receptions, 1,140 yards, and six touchdowns. And he missed two games with a concussion. None of the players in the Giants’ ninth different starting offensive line combination were in their positions when the season began, but they allowed zero sacks. The Giants also had no turnovers.

“We played a good football game,” Daboll said. “We executed well. Give the players a lot of credit. We were efficient. We made plays on third down (7-for-13), scored in the red zone (two touchdowns and a field goal in three trips), made explosive plays and didn’t turn the football over. … Again, when you don’t turn the football over, you win the explosive plays, you convert on third down and do a good job in the red zone and get off to a fast start, those are elements to scoring points and winning football games. That’s what you try to do every week. It’s the first time we won the turnover ratio and that’s hard to do. Between turnover ratio, explosives, those type of things, you need to win those elements of the game. You win those splash plays, whether it’s on the defensive side or the offensive side or in the kicking game, which obviously we had a splash play there too with Ihmir (Smith-Marsette, who scored on a 100-yard kickoff return). So, give the players a lot of credit.”

It was one long-awaited victory. But coupled with a victory against the Eagles, it can be part of a strong season ending that will help the Giants build a winning culture.

Not that Daboll is thinking that big.

“Our focus is really on the task at hand,” he said. “We have a lot of guys that are committed to trying to do things the right way and competing at a high level. When you play the way those guys played yesterday, again, all the credit goes to those guys, then you get the results that we all covet. So, our focus is going to be on this week and doing everything we can do to prepare for this game.”