According to Antonio Pierce, the Giants are an awful lot like Rodney Dangerfield — they’re getting no respect.
The former Giants linebacker thinks that despite being the reigning Super Bowl Champions, Big Blue is getting overlooked heading into tonight’s season opener against the Cowboys.
“I think they are not getting respect that you see for example that the Green Bay Packers got when they won last year, and [other teams] in years past,” Pierce said. “I think just the way the season ended, being 7-7, struggling down the stretch, an ugly game at home against the Redskins, beating the Cowboys, people just felt that they got lucky.”
The Giants rattled off big win after big win en route to winning Super Bowl XLVI, not unlike the team’s run in 2007, when they knocked off the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. A key defensive cog four years ago, Pierce sees more similarities than just opening the season as the champions.
“The Giants, when I played there and the way the team played last year, they like being considered underdogs again,” Pierce said at an NFL Kickoff event on Retail Row on 34th Street. “Everybody is picking the Eagles, the Packers, they’re fine with that. They play much better with a chip on their shoulder.”
The Giants’ road to a repeat begins tonight against Tony Romo and the Cowboys. The Giants clinched the NFC East with a 31-14 win over Dallas in Week 17 to start their improbable run and Pierce expects the same outcome when both teams take the field for the season opener.
“I think we’re going to see a [Giants] team that’s going to come out on fire,” Pierce said. “They’re going to be extremely excited to see the banner drop, fired up because it’s the first home game of the season, everyone’s watching because it’s the NFL Kickoff this season.”
The Giants defense in particular should be chomping at the bit to get a chance against Romo, including the fearsome defensive front of Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora.
“If that defensive line can get loose, that’s what the Giants are all about,” Pierce said. “You have three defensive ends that are probably top 10 in the National Football League. With those three guys, they should win any matchup they get into because you only have two tackles, the guards should not be able to block these guys.
“If they can really start to tee off, that makes it a shorter field for Eli Manning to throw to his receivers, Cruz and Nicks.”
A divisional win to start the season could go a long way for the Giants, who have the NFL’s toughest schedule this season and count the Eagles and Redskins, along with the Cowboys as their NFC East competition.
“You just have to win the division, if you can win the NFC East, go out and have one of the best records in that division and handle business in house, your chances in the playoffs are better,” Pierce said. “Everyone in that division legit has a chance to get to the Super Bowl.”
Dallas’ chances at winning their first Super Bowl since 1995 hinge on Romo, who at 32 is entering his eighth season in the league.
“[Tony Romo’s] getting older. Your window is closing because guys around you are starting to leave,” Pierce said. “It’s not just on Romo, it’s on guys like DeMarcus Ware, as a unit you get older and older every year and you have limited opportunities.”
Both the Giants and Dallas’ Super Bowl runs start tonight, but regardless of the game’s outcome, Pierce knows it takes more than just one win to repeat as Super Bowl Champions and a single misstep could mean the season for either team.
“You always need a little bit of luck and you need health,” Pierce said. “I remember back in ’08 when we had that run, one thing can happen that can mess up a season, or distract a season, you need everything to fall in place.”
The Giants were 10-1 in 2008 before Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg at a New York City nightclub. Following Burress’ incident, the Giants finished the regular season 2-3 before falling 23-11 loss to the Eagles in the Divisional round of the playoffs.
“It affected us,” Pierce said. “I’m not going to blame him or say it was all his fault, other guys should have stepped up and as a team we should have stepped up but we did not.”
One thing the Giants won’t be distracted by is the media circus surrounding the Jets and the quarterback tandem of Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow.
“It’s the same thing that happened as in ’08, when Brett Favre came over,” Pierce said. “The Giants didn’t mind it. This team, Tom Coughlin likes to rally around this underdog, nobody’s giving us credit kind of role.
“Headlines are nothing, championships are what it’s about.”