He could have played if it was absolutely imperative for him to do so.
Cam Skattebo was able to run and it came down to the wire, about 90 minutes before kickoff for last Sunday’s game in Philadelphia, before the second-year running back and head coach John Harbaugh decided not to push it with his slightly strained hamstring.
“If you take all the emotion out of it, it was a game I needed to miss to make sure I was healthy for the next nine, 10 games,” Skattebo said.
“If that was a make-or-break for the season, I was there. If that was a playoff game, I was there. If it was the Super Bowl, I was there. It was safe to say, that game was important, but there’s more important games down the road and they wanted me to be healthy for those.”
It has been a while since a Giants player could say that in mid-November: There’s more important games down the road. It is a road less traveled for this franchise for most of the past 15 years since the last Super Bowl triumph.
In that span, there were only two playoff seasons. It sure looks as if Harbaugh in his first year at the helm is positioning the Giants for the NFC East title, which would guarantee the second MetLife Stadium playoff game, ever.
The Giants kick off Week 10 in the NFL with Thursday night’s game against the Commanders. The Giants will be in their Vintage White uniforms, and it is designated as a White Out evening, with all fans asked to wear white. By the time this weekend is complete, the Giants might have forced the rest of their division to raise a white flag.
The Giants are 5-2-1. Last week, they buried the Eagles (2-7), sending them into sell-off mode. After playing to a 27-27 tie with the Commanders (2-5-1) a month ago, the Giants can bury them as well with a victory in the rematch. That would make the Cowboys (4-5) the only remaining threat in the division but they face the 7-1 49ers on Sunday. A Giants win coupled with a Cowboys loss and the Giants should stay atop the NFC East the rest of the way, barring a total collapse.
“As long as we handle business, it’s our division,” right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said. “We’re earning the right every single week to think like that and carry ourselves like that.”
The Giants did not make a move at the trade deadline, but they are alive and well because of a transaction they made Sept. 28, when they sent a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Vikings for quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who was deep down on the depth chart behind Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz. That seems almost unfathomable, considering how well McCarthy has acclimated to his new team, taking control of the starting job, and the way Murray and Wentz flopped so appallingly, prompting the desperate Vikings to ship a third-round pick to the Raiders for Kirk Cousins.
It feels as if McCarthy has already undergone so much since arriving to the Giants, but this will be his first home start for his new team.
“I haven’t thought about it until now,” McCarthy said Tuesday, “but I’m just so blessed to be a part of this team. I say it over and over again, and I just can’t thank the Giants organization and the fanbase for welcoming me. At the end of the day, it’s running out there to do my job at a high level and go get a win on Thursday night.”
Skattebo should help enliven a rushing attack that sagged without him in the 19-11 victory over the Eagles. The Giants defense, now led by 21-year-old rookie linebacker Arvell Reese, is coming off a season-best seven sacks of Joe Milton III. Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is much more difficult to catch and drop.
“Like we’ve said, we want to go 1-0 but this game is more than 1-0,” wide receiver Malik Nabers said. “It’s 2-0, just because the last game ended in a tie that we should have won. So, both of us are fighting to get this game.”
If they do, the division is that much closer to being secured.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
