New York Giants

New York Giants: Win Proves That 2016 Will be Different

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The New York Giants were able to hold off the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 to start the season on a positive note. The win also proved that they are a different team than last season.

Despite having a poor record in 2015, the New York Giants could have easily won 10 games in 2015 if they were able to close out games. In Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys, it looked like it could have been déjà vu to last season.

The Cowboys had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win it, but the Giants were able to stand tall. If it was 2015, the Giants would have likely lost the game.

“It was, ‘Now we’re going to go and prove to everyone that we’re going to finish,'” left guard Justin Pugh, one of the team’s leaders, said after the Giants held on for a season-opening 20-19 to James Kratch of NJ.com.

Giants players know what happened last season, and they seem ready to prove that this is a different team.

“This is not the same team as last year, and I think we showed that today. We were able to go run the ball. Everyone wanted to know if we could go run the ball, and we ran the ball. And then our defense came out and stopped them. You could tell we learned from last year.”

With new head coach Ben McAdoo calling the shots, the Giants did not disappoint their rookie head coach. Tom Coughlin preached to the Giants to finish last season, and that is what they did on Sunday.

“I think I said ‘finish’ last year probably a thousand times. To come out and finish a game is huge for us,” Pugh said to Kratch. “I’m just proud of the guys, proud of the way we fought and competed.”

McAdoo was able to earn his first career win as a head coach in the NFL. After the game, Eli Manning gave his coach the game ball for the first win of the season. McAdoo has preached to his players not to think about what happened last season, and to focus on the task at hand.

“We look through the windshield, we’re not looking through the rear-view mirror,” McAdoo said. “We’re focused on everything that’s out in front of us. We’ve learned from the past, and moved on.”

Furthermore, it may not have been a pretty win against Dak Prescott and the Cowboys. Finally, the Giants got a win on Sunday that they would not have in 2015. That is a good sign for the team moving forward.