What Antrel Rolle preached in players-only meeting

You might see a Giants team you don’t recognize from the first two weeks of this season when they play the 2-0 Texans Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

You might see a more aggressive, angry Giants team playing with less tentativeness and more abandon than you saw in their lackluster losses to the Lions and Cardinals that so far have marred this season.

And if you do see that team — if you see the defense slow down Houston’s star running back Arian Foster and receiver Andre Johnson, see the offense play with more purpose which should lead to more points, see them beat the Texans — the talk in the winning locker room will be centered around a special Rolle call that took place on Wednesday.

The Post learned exclusively Thursday that safety Antrel Rolle, the Giants’ resident vocal leader and a big part of the team’s soul, called a players-only meeting and was the first of several players to speak.

The message?

“Just go out there and play fast,’’ Rolle told The Post. “First and foremost, know your assignment and that’s going to allow you to play fast and confident. Go out there expecting to win, expecting to make that play — as opposed to playing cautious and not really knowing what the outcome is going to be.

“You’ve got to go out there expecting to dominate. The mind is a powerful thing. Mind controls all.’’

Giants safety Stevie Brown told The Post: “Antrel called the meeting and he started it off, with everyone else chipping in their own point of view. That definitely was the message: We need to quit waiting and take the game to the opponent.’’

If you’ve watched the Giants closely in these first two games, you have yet to see them really get after it. The Lions jumped them as soon as they got off the team buses in Detroit. The Giants played better last Sunday in their home opener, but they let the Cardinals hang around long enough to steal the game in the fourth quarter.

Some tentativeness was to be expected from the offense, dealing with offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo’s system for the first time. But defensively, the Giants have not been totally right, either, and it has cost them.

“We’ve got to go into this game knowing that we’re going to win. We can’t go into this game tiptoeing and trying to feeling our way into it, we’ve got to be the type of team that throws the first punch,’’ linebacker Spencer Paysinger said.

“People have been a little tight and afraid to make mistakes,’’ Brown said. “We have to get to the point where we can’t walk on egg shells, we can’t be afraid to make mistakes. We know what we’re doing. We need to play how we know we can play and go out there and take it to [the Texans].’’

Defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, who like Rolle is one of the team leaders, but a much more understated, E.F. Hutton type, also has a message for his teammates.

“Turn it loose,’’ he told The Post. “It’s time. Were all prepared. We’re all professionals. We’re better than them, so let’s go get it.’’

Kiwanuka acknowledged there has been “a hesitation’’ and “a bit of unsureness’’ to the entire team in the first two games.

“You can see it on film,’’ he said. “But we’re getting it corrected as we speak. [Thursday] was a great day practice-wise with energy and confidence. When it finally turns for us, there’s no doubt in my mind we’re a championship-caliber team. It’s a matter of going out there and getting the first ‘W’ this week and the next thing you know we’re trying to get into the playoffs.’’

Brown said the words of Rolle and the other leaders in the meeting resonate with more power “because you’re hearing it from your peers.’’

“It’s not the same as hearing it from a coach,’’ Brown said. “It might be the same message, but it’s definitely different hearing it from the guys who are going through the same thing as you, who have been with you through OTAs, in the weight room and have experienced everything you’ve experienced.

“The thing about Antrel is he’s been All-Pro, he’s been a Pro Bowler, he’s been to a Super Bowl. Everything he talks about he’s done. He talks it, he walks it, so it’s easy to follow him.’’


(nypost.com)