For as long as standings have been used in sports, players have pretended not to pay attention to them, claiming to be unaware how other teams are doing, regardless of how implausible it may seem.
On Friday, there was no point in pretending.
The previous night, many Giants players watched the NFC East-leading Cowboys squeak out a 17-15 road win after Minnesota failed to convert a two-point conversion in the final minute, disappointing a sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium and legions of temporary Vikings fans in the New York area.
“Obviously you want the crown, so you were hoping that Minnesota won. Then you got a shot [to catch the Cowboys] next week,” Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz said. “It is what it is. We gotta control what we can control and that’s all we can do.”
Since the Giants often play on the same day as the Cowboys — having not seen them up close since the first week of the season — tight end Will Tye felt like it was beneficial to get a jump start on film for next week’s opponent.
“It’s good to see them and watch a little bit,” Tye said. “You definitely scout. … We want the division. Getting that goal will obviously help us get another goal.”
Even tight-lipped coach Ben McAdoo admitted to watching a few plays.
Riding a six-game winning streak into Sunday’s game at the Steelers, the Giants have been doing everything possible to prevent the Cowboys from running away with the division, but Dallas has done even more to stay in first place since early October, winning 11 straight games since their season-opening loss to the Giants.
For the second straight week, the Giants (8-3) enter their game already knowing they can’t make up any ground on the Cowboys (11-1). But with a loss at Pittsburgh — which would put the Giants three games back with four games to play — next week’s long-circled matchup won’t mean quite so much.
“They won and are still on a hot streak, so that’s pretty impressive,” linebacker Keenan Robinson said. “It hasn’t changed our goals at what we can still accomplish. We have to handle our duties in the game against the Steelers and worry about them next week.
“They haven’t won the NFC East yet, so there is still an opportunity available for us.”
The Giants and Cowboys share two common opponents in the final three games of the regular season (Lions, Eagles) and both play another team with a winning record. The Giants end the season at Washington, while the Cowboys host the Buccaneers on Dec. 18. With wins over the Steelers and Cowboys, the Giants would sit just one game out of first place and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Dallas.
Even in that scenario, Dallas still would need to stumble once in its final three games, but the Giants believe both teams’ trajectories could change if the Cowboys’ lengthy win streak is snapped at MetLife Stadium.
Multiple players incorrectly said the Giants “control [their] own destiny,” but the statements accurately reflect the growing confidence in the locker room during their own winning streak.
Everything remains possible.
“We need to continue doing the things that we’ve been doing that have gotten us W’s over the past few weeks,” wide receiver Sterling Shepard said. “We’re not too focused on what they’re doing, to be honest. We’re trying to focus on what we’ve got going on over here. We’ve got something special, too.
“It’s gonna be crazy to see how it’s all gonna play out.”
— Additional reporting by George Willis