Not recognizing the facts does not make them cease to exist.
Starting inside linebacker Bobby Okereke is 1-3 against the Eagles in his relatively brief stint with the Giants. Is he tired of losing to them?
“Obviously, I’m excited about having the opportunity on Thursday night to get a win in front of our fans,” Okereke told the Post, clearly not answering the question.
Another try: is a rivalry worth it? If it’s so one-sided, is it really a rivalry?
“I feel like we are focusing on this short week on Thursday, we are extremely excited for the game,” Okereke said smiling as he knew he was dodging the question.
Go down a few lockers, to Dexter Lawrence. The massive nose tackle is closer to being an expert at it than any other Giants defensive player. He is 3-10 against the Eagles. He was asked if it was mentally taxing to lose so often to a divisional opponent.
“I don’t know,” Lawrence said.
How could he not know? He could write a book called “This Series is for the Birds.”
You don’t know?
“I don’t fuel that,” Lawrence said. “These plays can’t win you the next game of this game.”
It’s true. What was so strong in the past doesn’t have to continue in the future, and that future arrives Thursday night, when the Eagles arrive at MetLife Stadium after their first loss of the season, looking to take out all that frustration on the injured and faltering home team.
With all the talk about what they haven’t done this season, you’d think the defending Super Bowl champions are 1-4 instead of 4-1 and alone in first place in the NFC East. It’s the Giants sitting at 1-4, alone in last place, canceling out any good vibes by beating the previously undefeated Chargers in Week 4 with a ridiculous five-turnover collapse while losing in Week 5 to the previously winless Saints.
Here we are at another crossroads of success and failure, with the Eagles on one path and the Giants on the other. Since 2014, that series has been Eagles 19, Giants 4. Over the last eight meetings, the Giants are 1-7 and the only win came in the 2023 season finale, when the Giants took a 24-point lead and the playoff-bound Eagles played the second half with their starters on the bench.
In the middle of it all is Jaxson Dart. In a rookie season full of firsts, here’s another. Actually two. This is his first meeting with an NFC East opponent, and the fervor in these affairs is often heightened. This is also Dart’s first nationally televised prime-time game with the Giants.
“Obviously the divisional games carry a little more weight,” Dart said. “Obviously understanding the history of this match and the intensity of it carries weight as well.”
Even though Dart has embraced the Giants as a franchise, he has no way of truly understanding the history of this game.
“I don’t know much about it,” Dart admitted. “I’m a little naive, being from the West Coast and such. Obviously you understand growing up what the rivalries are within the National Football League. At the same time, you hear people from New York, New Jersey and what they think about people from Philadelphia and vice versa. I’ve definitely gotten used to it since I’ve been here.
He’ll find out soon enough, because there appears to be a lot of Eagles green mixed with the Giants blue filling the seats. The last time he played at home, Dart delighted and energized the paying customers with his passes and runs in a 21-18 win over the Chargers. It was victory number one for him. A week later, it was the first defeat.
“To be realistic, it won’t be my last,” Dart said. “Obviously you don’t want those things to happen, but that’s just part of the game. So, I’m just trying to come back, identify the things I need to work on, while still being able to say the things I did well, and then try to carry them over to next week.
