NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Giants co-owner John Mara hopes to once against hoist the Lombardi Trophy, this time at MetLife Stadium, home of Super Bowl XLVIII. (Reuters; AP)
You Can see MetLife Stadium when you step out of the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, all you need to do is look to your left. It has been this way since 2009, when the Giants erected their headquarters, at a time when the place they would share with the Jets was called New Meadowlands Stadium.
In a little over six months, a Super Bowl will be played in the Giants’ stadium for the first time. It would be a shame if the Giants fail to make more history in the historic first New York-New Jersey Super Bowl.
“I want to win every year,” co-owner John Mara said. “Whether the Super Bowl is going to be in our backyard or whether it’s going to be in Phoenix, it doesn’t make any difference. Would it be extra special? Of course it would be. But man, if you need extra motivation to try to get to the Super Bowl, then something’s wrong.
“That’s all we think about around here is trying to get back to the Super Bowl.”
If Super Bowl XLVII can give us Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh, brother vs. brother, perhaps Super Bowl XLVIII can give us Peyton Manning vs. Eli Manning. Whether we have a Super snowstorm or not.
“I think we can be as good as anybody,” Mara said.
We have witnessed these Manning Bowls twice before, and another is scheduled for Week 2 at MetLife Stadium, but never have these two quarterback brothers, or any quarterback brothers, reached simultaneously for the Lombardi Trophy.
The Road to East Rutherford begins today for Eli and the Giants, begins in East Rutherford a long way from Super Bowl XLVIII. In fact, the Road to East Rutherford appears to be paved with fewer potholes for Peyton and the Broncos out in Denver.
The Broncos have loaded up for this run, and in the AFC don’t have to get through the 49ers, Seahawks, Falcons and Packers. The Giants do, and have to survive the Redskins, Cowboys and Eagles first.
It won’t be easy, it never is. Just because coach Tom Coughlin doesn’t have to build a bridge to get to MetLife Stadium doesn’t mean he should expect to walk there from here to February.
But he and Eli know how to get to a Super Bowl, and win once they get there, and what better place to become the first head coach-quarterback tandem in Giants history to win three Super Bowls together than MetLife Stadium, such a short drive from the Canyon of Heroes?
“We’ve got a head coach and a quarterback that have won two Super Bowls,” Mara said. “We’ve got some good players around them that have won before, and we brought in some free agents that I think can help us, and I think we had a good draft.
“So if all those pieces come together, why not?
“Why not us?”
You seize the moment when your 32-year-old franchise quarterback in his prime, and when your soon-to-be 67-year-old coach still has as much energy as Justin Bieber, and elite general manager Jerry Reese has addressed a toughness issue that irked ownership down the stretch last season and bulked up the trenches on both sides of the ball. Mara believes the kinder, gentler 2012 Giants are gone, and the 2013 Giants, filled with hungry players on one-year deals, will closer resemble the 2011 champions.
“I look at us on paper, I think we’re every bit as good as that team,” Mara said, “but there’s a long way to go between the paper and proving it on the field. We have enough talent to compete with anybody.”
The Giants have areas of concern, not the least of which is the health of Jason Pierre-Paul following back surgery, and a linebacking corps that won’t inspire a nickname such as Big Blue Wrecking Crew.
Until JPP resurrects the pass rush, until and unless Justin Tuck and Corey Webster can fashion comeback seasons, it will be Manning’s mandate to carry the team.
“As long as he’s behind center, yeah we have a chance to win and compete,” Mara said. “He’s got to have some help, and I think we have enough players to give him that help. … We have a lot of players with a lot of pride in that locker room. I think they’re ready to get going and put last year behind them and play like Giants.”
Mara, asked if he had gotten over the failed 2012 season, said simply: “No.” Let the quest begin.