“You are what your record says you are.”
Those famous Bill Parcells words stand true for both the 5-1 New York Giants and the 2-4 Jacksonville Jaguars, but reality is the Giants may be playing above their heads and the Jaguars below it.
Head coach Brian Daboll doesn’t want his players caught up in records — their own or Jacksonville’s. And he’s warned his team against looking beyond the Jags.
“I think they’re well coached. I think coach (Doug) Pederson has done a great job of going down there,” Daboll told reporters on Wednesday. “They’re playing really hard. They got good players. Each week, there’s a different way to play a game. That’s where our focus is: Trying to put together a good plan.”
The Jaguars have an extremely talented roster but they’re still figuring out how to win. That plays into the Giants’ hand. After all, it seems like their expertise it to find ways to win.
But every game is different and the Giants can’t sustain double-digit fourth quarter comeback victories all season. That means they’ll have to start faster and find a way to contain quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who Daboll knows quite well.
“I know Trevor; I recruited him, too. It was the same year Justin (Fields) came out. From Cartersville, Georgia — tremendous high school football player. You go down there and watch a practice. He can play on Sundays when he’s down there in high school. He was really, really talented. He’s really talented now,” Daboll said.
“I think he’s doing a great job in Coach Pederson’s offense. He’s big. He can throw it accurately. He can move. They run him on some quarterback, not just keepers, but also quarterback designed runs, too. So, athletic, smart. He’s a really good person, too. He’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time.”
The Giants should have some added confidence after taking down Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson in back-to-back weeks, but as much as Daboll doesn’t want the Giants to look ahead, he doesn’t really want them to look back, either.
“We try do what we need to do each week, put the time, effort and energy into our preparation, into our process and then go out there and leave it on the field on Sunday — empty the tank, so to speak. And then we come in and do it again the next week,” he said. “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Don’t really concentrate on things that have happened in the past. Turn the next page and focus on that page.”
If the Giants can avoid a Week 7 letdown, they’ll be 6-1 for the first time since 2008 and people will start talking playoffs. Except for Daboll and his team, of course. They’ll just be focused on the Seattle Seahawks.
