Notebook: Giants regroup heading into final stretch

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Life gets no easier for the Giants as they head into the final four games of their 2024 season.

Their last four opponents are Baltimore and Indianapolis at home, and Atlanta and Philadelphia on the road. Those four teams are a combined 31-21, a .596 winning percentage that ties them with San Francisco, Seattle and Detroit for the league’s fifth-most difficult remaining schedule.

The Eagles lead the NFC East with an 11-2 record, though it’s possible they will rest their starters if they are locked into a playoff seed when the teams meet in the season finale the first weekend in January. The Ravens, who visit MetLife Stadium Sunday, are 8-5, second in the AFC North and fifth in the conference seedings and will be well-rested after their bye this weekend. The Falcons and Colts are both 6-7 and in contention for their division titles or wild card berths.

It’s a challenging stretch run for any team. But that’s particularly true for the Giants, who are 2-11, have lost eight straight games, are 0-7 at home, have several key players sidelined by injuries, and need a rebound after their latest disappointing loss, a 14-11 defeat yesterday to the New Orleans Saints. The Giants thought they were about to send the game into overtime, but Bryan Bresee blocked Graham Gano’s 35-yard field goal attempt with eight seconds remaining.

How do the Giants put that behind them and prepare to face a talent-laden Ravens team that is also looking for a bounce back after losing to the Eagles in their most recent game?

“Just being a resilient group,” quarterback Drew Lock said in his postgame news conference. “Shoot, when you’re 2-11, you’ve got to be resilient. You’re going out there with pride, with passion for the game. Love the game and you’re going to come out there and give everything you’ve got and just try to taste that win again. Get one of those, Mondays feel good, the whole week of practice feels good. Got to keep grinding, keep pushing, keep battling. That locker room is tight – it’s one of the closest locker rooms I’ve ever been in. Zero finger pointing. It’s nice to be in that and I think guys have handled this the best they could and we’re going to continue to handle it and try to get a win here in these last couple of games.”

“Stay motivated, stay focused on our goal and the task at hand each week,” linebacker Micah McFadden said today. “Obviously, we got a big one coming up here. But this is our job, and we got to go out and perform on Sunday and play for each other. I think that’s kind of the ultimate message at this point in the year. Play for the guy next to you and do your job as best you can so they can play faster.”

No Giants player who suited up yesterday has played more games in a Giants uniform than wide receiver Darius Slayton, who appeared in his 90^th game, including two in the postseason. Slayton has played on just one winning team, the 2022 squad that went 9-7-1. He has participated in his share of disappointing outcomes, but the loss to New Orleans particularly stung, even when looking at the big picture.

“I’ll speak from my perspective of being here for six years and a lot has transpired in that time frame,” Slayton said. “I made a statement after that game, but I would say that was probably somewhat unique to me and my experience. But obviously, Sunday’s loss was particularly rough seeing how we fought, and I feel like we got ourselves in a position to have a chance to win the game there and we obviously still came up short. It’s a rough way to lose no matter what your record is.”