Giants aren’t buying into narrative they’re playing with ‘house money’ in postseason

Don’t ask the Giants if they think they’re playing with house money now that they’re in the playoffs. If you do, you’re sure to get a not-so-friendly look.

“That’s an outside-of-the-building type of phrase or topic,” Julian Love said when asked about it. “I feel like early on we had so much confidence in who we were. (Head coach Brian Daboll) said it from day one – we’re going to be humble about it and we’re going to go about our work while everybody sleeps on us. We take it one week at a time. We know it’s never going to be perfect. We’re going to continue to be who we are.”

While the Giants are heading into their first playoff game since 2016, there are many outside the organization that look at the season as a success even if they get knocked out in the wild card round. Inside the Giants’ locker room, the excitement level and focus have remained steadfast.

The players are listening to the outside narratives and noise.

“Obviously when you get in the playoffs it’s a new season. Anything can happen when you get in, and we’re in, so we don’t look at it as that,” Xavier McKinney said. “We see it as another game that we have to go in there and be 1-0. You’ve got to be 1-0 to get to the next round and if you don’t then you’re eliminated. We don’t care about house money, I don’t even know what that really is, but we’re just going out there and playing and trying to get a win.”

Certainly, the Giants have played beyond the expectations that had been placed upon them at the start of the year. However, it’s quite clear that New York isn’t hanging its hat on just making the playoffs.

That had been the message that Daboll had given off even after the Giants clinched their spot in the postseason after defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17.

“I think we’re definitely not satisfied just to have made the playoffs,” Daniel Jones said. “That’s not how we see it as a group. We were confident in our team dating back to training camp and knew what we were able to accomplish. We’re by no means satisfied just to be in the playoffs. We expect to play well and to win. And that’s our expectation every week; that doesn’t change this week.”

The Giants are set to face the Vikings on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.