E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls up until last year. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

WHY ARE JAGS FAVORED?
REMEMBER DOUG PEDERSON FROM HIS LAST JOB?

By Dave Klein
To be honest, no one expected the Giants to beat Green Bay and Baltimore in the last two weeks.

But they did, en route to their 5-1 record (equally surprising), and suddenly the oddsmakers and various others who have magically been welcomed by the NFL after decades of shaming, are predicting all sorts of incredible success for Brian Daboll's collection of over-achievers.

So having played six games and being defeated just once (by Dallas, as luck would have it), the Giants now travel to Jacksonville for Sunday's game, to face a 2-4 Jaguars' team that should absorb another defeat, allowing the Giants to rise into the unfamiliar heights of a 6-1 team.

So why are the Jaguars favored?

The spread, as they call it, makes the Jaguars three-point favorites. That is, as we understand, the exact total of points every home team gets, and the math geniuses work from there.

So does that mean the Giants would be favored by three if the game was in MetLife Stadium? And on a neutral field would the game be a pick 'em?

Unless Daboll is doing it with smoke and mirrors, the previous three head coaches - Pat Shurmur, Ben McAdoo and Joe Judge - must not have known much, if anything, about this game. And that's probably a likely and accurate conclusion.

Well, after yesterday's practice, we learned that six Giants did not participate. They were WRs Kenny Golladay (knee) and Kadarius Toney (hamstring), CB Cor'Dale Flott (calf), safeties Jason Pinnock (ankle) and Xavier McKinney (not injury related) and LB Oshane Ximines (quad).

If the names sound familiar, it's probably because most of them haven't played much all this season, and yet the team has done fairly well without them.

On the other hand, a small group fell under the heading of Limited Participation, which usually translates into "hell, yes, he's going to play."

They include RB Saquon Barkley (shoulder), C Jon Feliciano (groin), LB Azeez Ojulari (calf) and OT Andrew Thomas (elbow). Doing without that quartet would be far more painful, but there is every chance their less-than-100 percent effort was orchestrated for another day of lighter toil.

Barkley took the time to explain his shoulder problem and to minimize its seriousness during a post-practice session yesterday. "It's annoying, but it's not something that's going to stop me from going out there and being able to produce," he said. "Just like anything throughout the season, it's every year - it's football, something is going to happen. Just got to stay with it.

"The trainers have been doing a really good job of setting up a program for me and also getting in the strength room, setting up a great program too. Just stick with it."

Was it a re-injury or less serious?

"No, I just landed on it pretty good [against Baltimore] and woke it up again, I guess you could say," he explained. "It's really nothing serious, thankfully. Like I said, I've just got to keep trusting it and keep working."

Barkley has thrived under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and is eager to share his feelings. "Yeah, it definitely puts a smile on your face," he said - smiling, of course. "It's been like this since OTAs. Since we first got together we were doing creative stuff.

"We knew what they were going to bring to the table throughout the season and they're doing a really good job. But at the end of the day as players, our responsibility is to go out there and execute and make the play work."

EXTRA POINTS - Return with us now the last weekend of the 2020 season, when the Giants, even with an ultimate 6-10 season, would have won the NFC East if Philadelphia had managed to beat Washington.

Remember?

And who was the Eagles' coach? Some guy named Doug Pederson - who just happens to be the Jaguars' coach now. ... He took out star quarterback Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter to play and, of course, the Eagles stumbled badly, and the [then] Redskins won, giving Dan Snyder's guys a 7-9 record and the NFC East title. No playoff for the Giants.

The Giants - fans and players - were furious, and Pederson was asked yesterday if he had second thoughts about that move - no one would say about that obvious tank-job.

"No, I have no regrets,'' Pederson said. "Listen, that was a long time ago. I have a lot of respect for Giant fans and expect a good crowd down here this weekend. But no regrets.''

Think again, Mr. Pederson. That wasn't the right response.

davesklein@aol.com

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