NY Giants Not Concerned About Historic Slow Starts to Season

The past is the past, and the future is now.

That’s the message the New York Giants players and coaches are operating on as they get ready for their Week 1 regular-season opener Sunday against the Washington Commanders.

When it comes to fast starts to the season, the Giants haven’t exactly shown proficiency in those. Since 2017, New York has started 0-2 six times (2017-21, 2024).

But when they have started a season 2-0 (2016 and 2022) in that same time frame, they’ve gone on to the postseason.

“You're talking about years past. You're talking about eight years ago. That has nothing to do with what we have going on right now,” running back Tyrone Tracy, Jr, said on Monday. 

“The people we have on our team weren’t here eight years ago. Do you understand what I'm saying? So, it really doesn't matter what happened last year or what happened two years ago.”

Tracy might have been dismissive of the history that, for some, still stings a loyal fan base that, over that time, had hoped for a turnaround, only to be left disappointed. Still, he did acknowledge that the Giants “right now” need to ensure a strong start to a pivotal 2025 campaign for head coach Brian Daboll.  

“I understand we’ve got to get off to a fast start, but it has nothing to do with what we have going on right now,” he said. 

“We're trying to go out there and play our best ball for the first game of the 2025 season. Obviously, if you win that first game, it's kind of a ripple effect into the next game.”

The Giants are wisely looking at one game at a time, and their matchup against a Washington team that not only swept them in the season series last year but also came within one win of a Super Bowl berth is a good challenge.  

“No question, it's a good football team,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “They're well coached. They improved their scoring offense by nine points, a little over nine points a game from the previous season, which is the biggest increase since 2020 for offensive teams. Six come-from-behind wins. Excellent special teams unit …And then a very opportunistic defense. Our focus is on this year and doing the things we need to do to be as good as we can be.”

There’s definitely something to be said for a Week 1 win for the underdog Giants and how such a coup can go a long way to continuing to build up the overall confidence of a team that, although it bears several new faces this year, still has enough players left from last year’s franchise-worst 3-14 mark. 

Daboll, perhaps being cognizant of that fact, played his starters a bit more in the preseason to ensure they got the fundamentals down, especially with a new starting quarterback (Russell Wilson) under center and with several new faces added to the defense.

Daboll, predictably, didn’t want to rehash the summer or the decision made or not made, but it’s clear that a fast start is more important than ever for the head coach, who if the team doesn’t show improvement in the weeks ahead, might not get another mulligan.

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