The Giants surprised everybody a year ago as the third NFC East team to qualify for the playoffs. They even won a playoff game.
It hasn’t improved their odds of winning the NFC or even the NFC East for 2023.
The Eagles remain the favorites, with the Cowboys ranked as the top contender in the division.
The Giants, though, believe in themselves and love being “underdogs,” edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux said Friday.
“I mean, it’s been good for me. I like to lay low,” Thibodeaux told NFL Network. “I’m happy that people are counting us out, cause that gives us more time to just work. We don’t have to answer those questions. We don’t have to worry about everybody looking at us. We can just keep our head down and grind. And I think you know, we love being the underdogs, cause that always gives us that story, that momentum to really work and really go after what we want.”
Thibodeaux, drafted fifth overall in 2022, missed the first two games of his rookie season with a strained hamstring. It took him a while to find his stride, and he finished his first season with four sacks in 14 games. He had 13 quarterback hits and 40 quarterback pressures in 409 pass-rush snaps.
Thibodeaux and the Giants have bigger goals for this season. They hope to win the team’s first division title since 2011.