It took the Giants 42 days to end their brutal four-game losing streak. They hope it only takes four days to begin a winning streak.
Just one game out of first in the NFC East, the Giants travel to Denver for a Thursday night game.
“We made the turn-around about an hour after the [Falcons] game,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “We treated [yesterday] like our Wednesday practice and [today] will be our Thursday, third-down routine.”
Luckily, they have an inside man helping them out for their Mile High tilt.
“Man, I’m telling everything I know. I’m snitching this week,” said corner D.J. Johnson, who the Giants recently picked up from the Broncos. “I was doing classroom drills during our bye week, our off week. Who writes my checks now? So why wouldn’t I want to tell [the Giants] everything.”
Johnson informed his new squad of the intricacies of the Broncos’ defense, which had given up just one touchdown in their first four games. They enter Thursday, though, on a four-game skid.
“It’s a dangerous time because they also have nothing to lose,” Johnson said.
The Thanksgiving game is a new situation for both Johnson and Coughlin, who has never coached on Turkey Day.
“I’ve not had a short week before,” Coughlin said, noting most of the players haven’t either. “They’ll work there way through some of the soreness … the demands are great with two games in four days. The players can do it. You set your mind to it and they can do it. [The mindset for a short week] started taking place last week.”
Coughlin said the training staff will be as influential as any gameplan.
“[Head trainer] Ronnie Barnes worked out a procedure with the players, hydration, lots of rest, no alcohol,” Coughlin said of this week’s preparation to enter the thin-aired Mile High City. “We’ll have stuff on the sidelines like oxygen. I’ve coached teams at that place before and we’ve never really had a real issue before.”
