The easy answer for the Giants is that they’ve been here before.
But they keep ending up here, and they don’t always bounce back.
After yesterday’s dreadful 34-0 loss to the Falcons, several Giants noted their track record with last season’s adversity and Super Bowl run.
“We have had crappy games like this and came right back out and played like Super Bowl champions,” defensive end Justin Tuck said, via Newsday’s Tom Rock. “No, my confidence is not shaken.”
On the other hand, the third straight year of ridiculous Week 15 losses is a trend that lasts beyond the more recent resilience, which some are getting tired of hearing about.
“That don’t mean nothing,” defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said. “That was last year. All that talk that we been here before, forget all that. I’m tired of hearing it. We just have to go out and play. There’s no ‘we been here before.’ ”
If the Giants want to make the playoffs again, they need to win out to be sure of a spot. They can still win the division with some help. So it’s not as if the season’s over now.
“There is a lot of fire and a lot of character in that locker room,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “We have to come back from a devastating loss and shake it off somehow, some way. We have to come back as competitors and prepare ourselves for a very difficult game next Sunday and then one to follow.”
The one thing the Giants can’t assume is that there’s a magical switch in their locker room, that they can throw and return to normal, normal being good.