After the NFL trade deadline came and went Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, the Giants' move -- or lack thereof -- showed that the team has not given up on the 2019 campaign.

As the Giants (2-6) enter the second half of the regular season's slate -- starting Monday at 8:15 p.m. ET from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, against the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys (4-3) -- they do so with their roster seemingly rejuvenated.

The Giants traded Tuesday for Jets fifth-year defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who hit the ground running with the team Wednesday, looking to bolster the trenches and patch up an area of needed improvement on a struggling defense.

"It adds more talent to our group and hopefully it adds more production to us winning games," said veteran outside linebacker Alec Ogletree. "The main reason people make moves is to win games and we want to win games. They obviously felt he was a much-needed piece to help us win games."

Second-year head coach Pat Shurmur echoed Ogletree's sentiments.

"No, I don't. I think a lot of this whole trade deadline is talked about outside our building," Shurmur said. "We start living in the real world and guys just go about their business, come to work and there's times when you've just got to wait to hear what happens. Year after year after year, people are talking about Jackrabbit and he's still here. Again, we try to live in the real world when it comes to that stuff and our players do a good job of that."

After the Jets started the year at 1-6 in the AFC East with the undefeated New England Patriots (8-0) and the resurgent Buffalo Bills (5-2), the Giants still only trail the Cowboys by 2.5 games -- with an opportunity to make up immediate ground in Week 9.

"I'm just looking at it as an opportunity ... it's a fresh start, new locker room, new teammates, new coaches, everything like that," said Williams, who becomes a free agent in 2020 but is open to an extension with the Giants. "It's a chance to show everybody over here what I've got and just prove to my new teammates what I have."

The Giants made the move for Williams and held on to tradeable assets such as cornerback Janoris Jenkins and left tackle Nate Solder -- will the decisions prove to be the right ones?

"I think we're a better team than when we first played them in the opener," Shurmur said. "We made some improvements in a lot of areas. That first game, we gave up a lot of big plays. We can't do that and expect to win any games. So that's where you start first and then take it from there."

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