Leonard Williams has too much experience with teams that seem to throw away their seasons before they really get started. It’s happened to him more often than not in his six-year NFL career.
But there’s something different he feels about this season, about this franchise, and about the program Joe Judge is building. They may be losing more often than not. But it doesn’t feel that way to him.
This Giants team is not throwing away its shot.
“Our record doesn’t show the type of talent and team we do have,” Williams said. “I think Coach Judge has turned this place around. I’ve also been on teams where we’ve had a one-win record by now and you could feel the energy of the team start to drop.
“I feel like that hasn’t happened once here.”
That seemed evident on Sunday when the Giants barely hung on to their second win of the season, beating the Washington Football Team, 23-20. It was ugly and perhaps alarming that they nearly blew a 13-point fourth quarter lead that was actually 17 points at halftime. But the point is that the Giants were 1-7 and could’ve easily had a “here we go again” mentality as they began to collapse.
But Judge has made sure that there’s no quit in this scrappy Giants team, and that nobody is hanging their heads on the sidelines, ever. That’s not nothing for a young team still learning how to win, especially in what remains a wide open, awful, and yes, winnable NFC East.
Now, not everyone will be satisfied with moral victories like tough losses or fighting hard, or even with actual victories considering both the Giants’ wins have come against this bad Washington team. It’s not enough that they’ve almost beaten the Cowboys, Eagles and Buccaneers over the last month. At some point they have to win a few more of these close games.
But until that happens, attitude is important. Morale is important. That’s why Judge has talked so often about building a winning culture first. And if you don’t think that’s important, take it from Williams, who was a part of the 2016 Jets team that went 1-5 on the way to 5-11, that were 1-3 on their way to 4-12 in 2018 and started 1-7 just last year.
These Giants don’t feel as sad, miserable and hopeless to him. He really believes they’re getting close to good things.
“It’s because we’re in these really tight games with playoff teams,” Williams said. “The Steelers are undefeated, the Buccaneers … I think that’s the reason why no one’s hanging their head down and giving up because we’re right there. And I feel like if we keep working hard we’ll get over the hump.”
That’s the attitude the Giants defense had on Sunday when it was starting to fall apart. Judge gathered them on the sideline to implore them to “Finish,” to play strong the way they did in the first half. Considering how many games the Giants have lost late this season, it would’ve been understandable if that rally-the-troops moment had no effect.
But it worked, because Judge has made them believe that it will.
“I believe we’re going to win every game, no matter what the score is until that final whistle blows,” said safety Jabrill Peppers. “He challenged us to get back to playing like a Giants defense, and I think we did a good job of answering the bell.”
Yes they did, with interceptions by Peppers and safety Logan Ryan in the final 2:18, stopping the bleeding and pulling out a must-win game. Little by little, the Giants keep inching closer to respectability, to finishing, to actual winning. And as they struggle to put things together, it’s their attitude and will that’s leading the way.
“We’re just tired. We’re just done coming up short,” Ryan said. “We had eight games to learn how to win. We had eight games to get to know each other. We had eight games with a first-time head coach. It’s just time. I said that winning is a mentality and it starts in your mind.”
He’s right – especially for teams that aren’t overflowing with all-pro talent. They need to believe they can win – really, truly believe it. And that’s hard to do after winning just one of eight games, especially so many where they fought so hard and still came up short. Williams knows. He saw that with too many Jets teams that didn’t have the mental strength to turn a flailing season or franchise around.
And now look: Here they are, within striking distance of the first place Eagles (3-4-1) with seven games to go, heading into a game against Philly on Sunday afternoon. Yes, the whole division race is ridiculous, but this Giants team believes it can still be in it. More often than not they are playing like a winning football team, even when they’re not actually winning.
And their hope is that is just a sign of better things to come.
“Everything right there in front of us still,” Williams said. “Guys are not putting their heads down. You can really feel the energy. It just seems like everyone’s on top of their s--t right now and that’s what I like to see.”
