Antrel Rolle says Giants 'absolutely' will make playoffs

On the day after a brutal loss to the Saints, Antrel Rolle said the Giants will make the playoffs.

“Absolutely,’’ Rolle said Tuesday afternoon on his weekly WFAN radio spot. “Let me tell you something. We’re gonna fight, I don’t care how we fight, I don’t care what corner we’re gonna back ourselves up to, everyone might be off the Giants bandwagon, which is fine. We only had us from the beginning anyways. We only need us in order to get to where we need to. If the fans want to be there then be there, we would love you, we will love to have you there, we definitely appreciate you but if you’re not there, if you jump off the bandwagon, that’s fine, too. We’re gonna play ball regardless. We are professional football players. We are the New York Football Giants. We are not going to go out without a fight. ‘’

Those are strong words after the Giants put up an extremely weak performance in Monday night’s 49-24 loss in New Orleans. The Giants have lost three straight games and at 6-5 are one game behind the first-place Cowboys in the NFC East and appear for the second straight season to be headed for a collapse.

“I can only speak for myself, I’m a fighter and I fought to the end last night and I’m going to fight until the end of the season, no matter which road it takes," Rolle said. "We have to figure out what’s our purpose and what are we here for. Are we trying to be a playoff contending team or are we just going out there and just going through the motion? I play football for one reason and one reason only, that’s to go to the playoffs. Each and every year. I’m sure my teammates feel the same way but we’re not showing that right now. We’re not showing that as a team. I think everyone within the Giants organization needs to get together, coaches and players, and figure out what is going on and how do we stop this bleeding. Clearly there’s something wrong.’’

Rolle expressed similar sentiments after last week’s 17-10 loss to the Eagles that featured inept offense from the Giants. Monday was a case of no-show defense inside the Superdome, with the Saints gaining 577 total yards, the second-highest total against the Giants and the most yards given up in a game by them since 1943.

“Not taking anything away from the Saints, they are a great offensive team but I think we definitely made them look a whole lot better than they actually are,’’ Rolle said.

If numerous corrections are not made by this weekend, the Packers could make the Giants defense look as silly, or sillier than Drew Brees and the Saints did.

“The Packers are an outstanding team and they are led by Aaron Rodgers, his playmaking definitely speaks for itself,’’ Rolle said. “At the same time when we want to play ball as a Giants team and when everyone’s on the same p[age we play ball. That’s what we need to get back to. We need to find a way to get back to that. I don’t know what it’s going to take and I don’t know what has to happen but we need to find a way to get back to that.’’

Rolle last week questioned the way his team responded to several incidents and physical punishment by the Eagles. Rolle was not at all unhappy to see safety Kenny Phillips early in the fourth quarter deck Saints tight end Jimmy Graham with a shot that got Phillips flagged for unnecessary roughness.

“Kenny Phillips and myself kept talking throughout the game, we’re not gonna quit, we’re going to keep fighting,’’ Rolle said. “I don’t care what the score is, we’re going to fly around and we’re going to make sure we come to play. That’s what he was doing, he was playing football, the guy was trying to hang on and bobble the ball and Kenny Phillips laid him out,. He’s playing fast, trying to decapitate the receiver from the ball, not trying to hurt the guy intentionally, if the guy was leaning down and he was falling and Kenny was trying to run through him. I’m sorry, we have to play ball.’’


(nypost.com)