Giants defense takes Rolle’s meeting message to heart

Sometimes, the seeds to victory are sown in the days leading to kickoff.

In the case of the Giants’ resounding 30-17 win over the Texans Sunday at MetLife Stadium, those seeds can be traced directly to the players-only meeting Giants safety Antrel Rolle called on Wednesday and to the challenge the coaches presented to the defense to create turnovers.

The theme that came from Rolle’s players-only meeting, as reported exclusively by The Post, was about the Giants letting it hang out, playing relaxed and with abandon — without fear of making mistakes.

And the theme that came first from coach Tom Coughlin in his Wednesday team meeting and was reemphasized by defensive coordinator Perry Fewell in his Saturday night defensive meeting was a challenge to create turnovers — something the Giants had not done once in the first two games (not coincidentally both losses).

The Giants responded by forcing three Houston turnovers on three interceptions that led to 10 points and were critical in the victory.

It was fitting that Rolle would make one of the game-changing plays, picking off Texans’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick with 1:48 remaining in the first half and returning it 25 yards to the Houston 2-yard line. Three plays later, the Giants took a 14-0 lead on a Rashad Jennings touchdown run and the Giants never looked back.

“I saw a different team [Sunday],’’ Rolle said. “It started in practice this week. I think we grew closer as a team this week. Coach Coughlin did an excellent job of keeping us together, doing the little things that put us over the top. What went into my thoughts [calling the players meeting] was I felt like we weren’t playing relaxed. I felt like we were trying to do too much as a team. We were trying to be perfect. This week was just about relaxing. We know how to do this.

“That was my message to the team. I challenged everyone. I challenge the defense, our offense, our special teams and the coaching staff. We did this together. We were all in. It was all inclusive.’’

They sure were.

Cornerback Prince Amukamara got it started by picking off Fitzpatrick in the first quarter — the first turnover created by the Giants’ defense this season. The Giants got no points out of that because tight end Larry Donnell fumbled the ball away inside the Houston 5 on the ensuing drive.

Cornerback Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie picked off Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter to seal the game, leading to the Giants final field goal.

Defensive end Robert Ayers Jr., in his first year with the Giants, was one of the listeners in the players-only meeting, and he was motivated by it.

“It definitely lit a spark under a lot guys,’’ Ayers said. “I believe we’re only as good as our leaders, and we’ve got good leaders here. They’ve been through the wars, they’re proven winners. Everyone listened to what those guys said and understood task.’’

Linebacker Jameel McClain said of the turnovers: “We just saw an accumulation of a lot of hard work. You look at the turnover we got. Those are our great players — our big players making big plays.’’

On Wednesday, Coughlin put up a graphic in the meeting showing the Giants as minus-six in turnover ratio and having not created a single turnover on defense. On Saturday night, Fewell did the same thing in the defensive meeting.

“Coach Coughlin and coach Fewell challenged us by putting up on the board that we have zero turnovers as a defense and that needs to change,’’ Amukamara said. “He used the term that we need to be more ‘Zack Bowman-ish,’ because Bowman is known for punching the ball out and getting picks in practice. I think we rose to the challenge [Sunday].’’


(nypost.com)