The Giants are off to their worst start in more than 25 years, they’ve been blown out three straight games and, at 0-4, they’re right next to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL cellar.
But somehow, to Antrel Rolle, the future remains bright. So on Monday afternoon, one day after the Giants’ latest embarrassing loss, Rolle made his most stunning boast yet, daring to suggest that this winless squad just might — wait for it — go undefeated for the rest of 2013.
“I believe we can go 12-0 from this point on,” Rolle said, with complete confidence. “And I truly believe that and I’m not (just) saying that. And people may look at me like I’m crazy, but you know, I couldn’t really give a damn at this point.”
No, Rolle wasn’t kidding.
“This is what I believe,” he said. “I know the talent of this team. I know the mind-set of this team. We just have to go out there and put it together.”
The Giants’ season is on life support, and nothing about Rolle’s statement seemed remotely close to being based in reality.
But on Monday, Rolle did his best to rally his struggling squad, delivering an uplifting speech even before he uttered his wild boasts to the media.
Rolle approached Tom Coughlin early on Monday, asking if he could speak to the team.
And after Coughlin delivered his usual address — and broke down the surprisingly weak NFC East — Rolle addressed his mates “for a couple minutes,” Coughlin said, and “did do a great job.
“He’s had a couple messages today,” Coughlin said.
“One was he feels tighter and more connected to these players right now than he ever has, that he knows our back is against the wall. He’s not afraid of that circumstance.”
Coughlin said Rolle told the team to “know full well that when you take the field as a unit and you know that you represent one another and you have each other’s back, you truly have to believe that you have the ability to succeed.”
And the Giants, as wild as it may sound, remain in position to succeed, even if they are one of the NFL’s four winless teams.
The NFC East-leading Cowboys (2-2) also lost Sunday, and, as Eli Manning pointed out, Dallas heads to Denver in Week 5.
“So we feel we’ve got to get a win here and hopefully we’ll get a win and we can be one game back,” Manning said.
Not that the Giants have much margin for error. They’ve limped through the opening quarter of this season, but Rolle insisted that this week’s showdown with the Eagles is “for new beginnings” and added that “this is a 12-game season for us at this point” and “nothing that has taken place matters.”
It’s time for the Giants to show their true character, he said, even if they have spent the first month of the season putting only “bad football” on tape.
“We can either go in a hole and hang our heads, or we can come out fighting,” Rolle said.
“And I believe we’re gonna come out fighting. Ya’ll ain’t seen the end of us yet.”
Nobody’s seen signs of a 12-0 finish, either.