PHILADELPHIA — There was plenty of beautiful noise from the Giants this season, but the end came with a dull thud.
“You lose this time of year, it sucks,’’ coach Brian Daboll said.
That sums up what went down Saturday night for the Giants. They were ushered out of the playoffs — rudely and decisively — to pull the curtain down on a season of rebirth and revitalization. The time will come soon enough to look back and assess the progress the franchise made in Daboll’s first year as a coach, but for now, the sting of getting blown out by the rival Eagles 38-7 at raucous Lincoln Financial Field is the immediate irritation after a game that was never close.
“It sucks,’’ Saquon Barkley said in a hushed visitors’ locker room. “It was a fun team. The guys here, the coaches, the thing we were able to build this year, the way we played for each other this year, it was special. Obviously it didn’t end the way we wanted it to end.’’
No, it did not. At all.
“Yeah, everyone in here thought we’d be playing either the Niners or the Cowboys next week,’’ center Jon Feliciano said. “It sucks.’’
The Giants are done playing for the season. The end of the road and elimination from the playoffs is never pleasant for any team and the Giants certainly believed they had what it takes to advance deeper and keep their season alive for at least one more week. That belief did not translate into action. In time, though, what the franchise gained will resonate as an overwhelming success, given the expectations (meager) and the likelihood that they would put together a winning season and actually make it into the postseason for the first time since 2016.
“I’m proud of where we came from, to see the growth we’ve made as a team, it’s been great to be a part of,’’ safety Xavier McKinney said. “We’re not there yet and we know that.’’
Daboll used a personable and level-headed approach to keep the Giants humming and their 9-7-1 record was a quantum leap higher than even the most optimistic prognostications. The ascension of Daniel Jones into a franchise-type quarterback was stamped as near-official with his performance in a 31-24 first-round playoff victory over the Vikings.
Jones and Barkley do not have contracts for 2023 and what comes next with them will shape the franchise. Barkley has made no secret of where his heart and mind want to be and he reiterated this after he ran nine times for 61 yards and was not much of a factor in the blowout loss.
“I’ve been vocal about how I feel and where I want to be,’’ Barkley said. “That’s outside my control. I wanted to show the Giants that the guy they drafted is still here, I hope I did that. Everyone knows I would love to be a Giant for life.’’
Barkley then paused and said, “I can’t envision that being my last time in a Giants uniform.’’
Jones endured a rough final act, passing for only 135 yards and firing an interception late in the first quarter when his former teammate, cornerback James Bradberry, undercut Darius Slayton’s route.
Jones has steadfastly refused to discuss his future with the Giants and after this game he was given two opportunities to state he wants to return. He declined to make his wishes known.
“Yeah, I think we’ll get into that down the road,’’ Jones said. “I think at this point this is still very fresh, this season, this loss. We’ll take some time to regroup and think through that going forward.’’
Asked if his offseason goal is to remain with the Giants, Jones added, “Yeah, I mean I think, like I said, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. I fully enjoyed playing here. I appreciate all those guys in the locker room, it’s a special group of guys, and I really enjoyed being a part of it, so we’ll figure out where that goes.’’
No one around the Giants was in the mood for much reflection after this terrible showing. The Eagles were 14-3 and the No. 1 seed in the NFC and beat the Giants three times this season, twice extremely decisively.
This was a mismatch. The Eagles led 14-0 after one quarter and 28-0 at halftime. The Giants were outgained 258-64 in the first half. The Eagles had 18 first downs, the Giants three. Jalen Hurts, showing no ill effects of the sprained shoulder that kept him out of two games late in the season, passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third before halftime.
Down 7-0, the Giants managed to pick up two first downs but came up empty when Daboll — as he is wont to do — rolled the dice. Jones was sacked by Haason Reddick on third down, setting up fourth-and-8 from the Eagles’ 40-yard line and pushing the Giants out of field-goal position. Daboll did not call for the punt team. Jones was sacked once again by Reddick to set the Eagles up on their 48-yard line.
They did not waste the golden field position. Hurts tossed a screen to DeVonta Smith, who eluded Nick McCloud for a 9-yard scoring hookup to make it 14-0.
It never got any better for the Giants.
“I’m disappointed,’’ Daboll said. “I wish we could have done a better job. I wish I could have done a better job. I feel like crap. That’s as honest as you can be.’’
