NY Giants Starting to Forge a Winning Identity

For the better part of the last decade-plus, the New York Giants’ identity morphed into a dark place, thanks to a lot of lackluster football that led to one lost season after another.

But in this, head coach Brian Daboll’s fourth season, the hope within the locker room at 1925 Giants Dive is that the identity of the Giants being a bunch of lost boys is on its way out, replaced by a more competitive team committed to the smashmouth style of the 1980s and early 1990s that so enthralled Giants fans.

“If I'm speaking for, I guess, offense, I would say smash mouth football. They're going to try to be physical, and they're going to try to win the game up front,” said outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux when asked if the Giants have finally identified an identity.

“And I would say similar things to defense. We're going to play physically. We're going to try to win the game up front and affect the quarterback. So I would say from an identity perspective, this is a team that when people come here, they're going to have to win it up front.”

Leading the charge in re-establishing the new identity has been the infusion of youth, specifically quarterback Jaxson Dart and running back Cam Skattebo on offense, and outside linebacker Abdu Carter on defense.  

Not since Malik Nabers tried to do so by his lonesome have the Giants had multiple players whose energy has rejuvenated an entire locker room that, for the most part, has been stuck in the doldrums of losing and bad football.

“I think whenever you turn on the tape and watch us play, you see just straight toughness and real hard work and just going out there and doing our jobs and doing everything that we can to come away with victories on Sundays,” said receiver Wan’Dale Robinson..