The vibes are unusually high for the Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — The smiles inside the Quest Diagnostics Training Center seem to be a little wider this week.

The jokes a little warmer.

Energy, through the roof.

That’s the result of two wins out of three games since rookie Jaxson Dart became the New York Giants’ starting quarterback. The first win came against a quality Los Angeles Chargers team and the second came against the division rival and defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles last Thursday night.

Asking what the vibes are like at this point inside the building at 1925 Giants Drive shows a renewed optimism surrounding the team.

“High,” tight end Daniel Bellinger said of the team’s atmosphere.

The feelings are palpable following a massive victory and with a promising young quarterback.

“The energy is there,” Bellinger added.

Winning cures all the NFL’s woes. It’s the ultimate deodorant. The Giants (2-4) had lost 18 of their last 22 games last Thursday night against the Eagles. They had lost eight in a row in the division. This left fans anticipating the next collapse, with very little on the horizon to keep them excited.

There was a feeling of impending doom.

Wins against the Chargers and Eagles seemingly changed everything. They gave hope to a franchise lost over the previous two and a half years. Fans have been invigorated by the results and the way Dart and compatriot Cam Skattebo are playing – neither is willing to concede a yard and both are playing with a youthful exuberance that captivated the national audience on Thursday night.

This created an optimistic atmosphere around the team that hadn’t been there for years.

“Sure,” said standout defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II, who is among the longest-tenured Giants. “You have characters. That helps.”

Skattebo is the kind of guy who runs into telephone poles and headbutts new friends. Dart is a quarterback who dives headfirst into defenders.

In a way, it illustrates who they are as people – and players. This rubs off on others.

“I definitely think they bring some juice just with the style they play,” receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said.

It just comes naturally to beginners. Everything else, including the refreshing ambiance, seems to follow.

“I think the vibe is just we’re trying to set a standard in the locker room, we’re trying to play hard, we’re trying to win at all costs,” Dart said. “Guys come to work with the right mindset.”

The young quarterback knows that all the energy can be taken out of a team. If they sag, the results will be visible, he said this week. Dart and the Giants have a tough matchup Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS) on the road against a fierce Denver Broncos defense that leads the league in sacks. New York started the week as an underdog by more than a touchdown.

The Giants then have a rematch with the Eagles the following week in Philadelphia. New York will likely be a significant underdog in this game as well.

Despite this, Dart knows what is needed to keep this going.

“Winning helps. It definitely puts more smiles on people’s faces,” he said. “But at the same time, as players, this is what we come to work for every day. So we can’t treat this as something surprising or out of the ordinary.

“We’re working hard to be able to win games. If we get left behind in this league, you’re going to get beat. So we’re just trying to prepare the right way and keep the main thing the main thing.”

Coach Brian Daboll isn’t trying to get overly enthusiastic. He keeps this enthusiasm aside. Predictably, he refused to take part in this week’s excitement.

“It’s business as usual,” he said. “We have a very difficult team to face.”

Right now, the Giants are saying all the right things. They do all the right things. Now it’s about showing they can do it consistently on the pitch.

The energy that Dart and Skattebo, in particular, brought to this group helps with that.

“Yeah, any time you show leadership, and the quarterback in particular because he touches the ball every play, when you have that kind of spark, you have that kind of energy that you bring not only to the huddle, on the field, but when you’re like that in your meetings and you’re like that in the hallway, in the locker room, and you talk with the coaches and with the staff and with the people around the building, absolutely, “It brings, it raises the level of everyone,” said the assistant head coach and “said offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.

Lawrence told ESPN that there has always been a genuine care for each other in the Giants locker room – even despite the prolonged losing in recent seasons.

But the locker room has a different vibe, especially right now.

“I would say, yeah. They’re different people. Different brand,” said veteran wide receiver Darius Slayton, who is tied with Lawrence as the longest-tenured Giant. “Obviously you have [Skattebo] I play well, I play like crazy. [Dart] is its own personality. Wan’Dale plays well. [Wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey] played well the last match. So I think it’s a really different feeling because we’ve been productive on offense the last few weeks. We haven’t been able to gather many in the past. »

And as a result, the vibrations are unusually high.