New York Post - USA (2020-12-03)

New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020

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By Paul Schwartz

Imagine if what takes place

Sunday in Seattle is a precur-

sor to another Giants-Sea-

hawks meeting later on in

the playoffs, only this time,

the game takes place at Met-

Life Stadium.

Imagine the Seahawks,

currently 8-3, finishing 10-6

and in second place in the

NFC West and having to

travel across the country to

face the Giants, champs of

the NFC East, sporting a

record of 6-10.

Can you imagine the up-

roar coming out of Seattle?

Or not.

“No, I think the guidelines

are the guidelines,’’ Sea-

hawks coach Pete Carroll

said. “I don’t think it should

be based on how many

games you win. If you win

your division, you win your

division. That’s the way it

was then, that’s the way it is

now and I don’t have any

problem with it.’’

The way it was “then’’ was

back in 2010. The Seahawks

finished 7-9, won the NFC

West and became the first

team in a full season to make

the playoffs with a sub-.500

record.

Carroll will not apologize

for anything having to do

with that season. His Sea-

hawks lost five of their final

seven games, endured a

three-game losing streak in

December and needed to

beat the Rams in Week 17 to

claim the division title by

virtue of a tie-breaker edge

on then-St. Louis, which also

ended up 7-9.

After hearing how they did

not belong, the Seahawks in

their first playoff game elimi-

nated the defending Super

Bowl champion Saints, who

were 11-5, 41-36, in what be-

came known as the “Beast

Quake’’ game after Marshawn

Lynch broke nine tackles on a

67-yard touchdown run.

“It was an unusual experi-

ence and we took a lot of dis-

paraging comments and stuff,

like we didn’t belong and all

that kind of stuff,’’ Carroll

said. “Which just added to the

fun of beating the world

champs in the opening game.’’

Whoever comes out of the

NFC East is almost assured

of owning a losing record.

That team will not be over-

looked by Carroll.

“All I would say is whoever

comes out of that division

and is a division champ, who-

ever plays ’em better look

out,’’ Carroll said. “There’s a

lot going on that side of it and

what you want to prove and

Carroll: Division winner gets spot —

GIANTS NOTES

By Paul Schwartz

The question always goes

like this for players dealing

with a physical ailment: If

there was a game today,

could you play?

Well, Daniel Jones, could

you?

“I’m not sure,’’ Jones said

Wednesday. “Luckily there’s

not a game today. We all use

the week to prepare our

bodies to play on Sundays.’’

Jones is most likely going

to need longer than a week.

He was forced out in the

third quarter of the 19-17 vic-

tory over the Bengals in Cin-

cinnati with what was diag-

nosed as a strained right

hamstring. He is not ex-

pected to play Sunday in Se-

attle, with backup Colt

McCoy next in line.

“I certainly want to play

and want to be out there and

doing everything I can to get

out there,’’ Jones said.

“Where that puts me or how

I recover depends on what I

do day-to-day and that’s

where my focus is.’’

Jones arrived at the Giants

facility “deep in the play-

book and ready to work,’’ ac-

cording to head coach Joe

Judge. The mind was wiling

but the body is not yet able.

He worked in the trainers’

room as his teammates were

out on the field, listed as

“did not practice.’’

“We’ll kind of see what

he’s able to do [Wednesday]

and that will really help us

plan out more [Thursday]

and Friday,’’ Judge said.

Jones hurt his leg at the

end of a 7-yard run and

stayed in the game for two

more plays before collapsing

on the field after making a

flat-footed throw.

“I probably have to do a bet-

ter job of that, but I didn’t no-

tice it until he handed off the

next play and he really limped,’’

quarterbacks coach Jerry

Schuplinski said. “I thought

‘Oh boy.’ Right away I said

‘This guy is in trouble right

now. He’s clearly got an issue.’ ’’

Jones was back on the next

series, but lasted only two

plays before exiting for good.

He does not believe he exac-

erbated the injury with this

brief return.

“I wanted to be back in the

game and I thought I could

and wanted to give it a shot,’’

Jones said. “I don’t think I

made it any worse.’’

That mindset will be moni-

tored closely this week.

“I think like a lot of our

guys Daniel’s a guy that’s

very competitive, he’s got a

tremendous work ethic and

he’s a very tough guy,’’ Judge

said. “You’ve got to pull a lot

of these guys back because

they’re coming in wired

with the mindset

they’re getting ready

for a game. As

coaches it’s our

responsibil-

ity some-

times to

protect

players

from

them-

selves.’’

Jones said his

right leg “is feel-

ing better.’’ Rest,

though, is a critical

component to getting a

hamstring to heal. He re-

ceived treatment and did

“certain exercises to try to

help it heal. Exactly what

we did, not sure we’re going

to talk about that. It was

good, it was feeling better.

“Rest and recovery through

the week is a big part of get-

ting healthy for everyone in

the NFL. Yeah, rest is a piece

of it but there’s also a number

of other things that go

into the healing pro-

cess.’’

Injured QB using lost week

to focus on healing hammy