By Kyle Feldscher, CNN
(CNN) — The start of the new NFL season always brings a few things that take getting used to. Perhaps one of the most head-turning sights will be walking the sidelines of MetLife Stadium during the final game on Sunday.
John Harbaugh will be making his regular-season debut with the New York Giants that night in New Jersey in a divisional matchup vs. the Dallas Cowboys that could set the tone for both teams’ seasons. It’s bound to be a disarming sight: For the first time in 18 years, Harbaugh won’t be in the black-and-purple of the Baltimore Ravens.
It’ll be a new home stadium, new colors, a bunch of new players and new assistants around Harbaugh after nearly two decades in Charm City. But some things will be the same.
From what his players have said ahead of the season, expect the Giants to be physical and – even after a last-place 4-13 record last year and a string of disappointing campaigns – winning remains the standard.
“How do you go out there and compete at this level if you don’t expect to win? If you don’t expect to win, you certainly aren’t going to,” Harbaugh said earlier this month.
“I’ve said this before: we expect and we plan to and we’ll be playing to win every single one of our games this year. That’s our expectation, that’s our plan, that’s what we’ll be striving for. We think we can, we believe we can wholeheartedly.”
That will be music to the ears of Giants fans who have had to endure a depressing decade, with just one winning season since 2016. A string of six coaches in that time span, including interims, has turned the Meadowlands into a football no-man’s land following a period of success that included two Super Bowl championships and frequent trips to the playoffs.
Consistency and winning are Harbaugh’s bread and butter. His run in Baltimore included 12 trips to the playoffs, one Super Bowl championship and a 180-113 record in 18 seasons. He had fewer losing seasons in those 18 years (three) than the Giants have had this decade (five).
Those Ravens teams were shaped in the tried-and-true image of the Harbaugh family: Tough defense, strong running games and superstar quarterbacks under center. It’s a recipe that Giants fans are familiar with and one they might be able to run back this season under new leadership.
“The principles of the vision you’re talking about, that’s that word, are written in stone, and they’re football principles,” Harbaugh said at his opening press conference earlier this year. “They’re self-evident truths. They aren’t ever going to change. Those are things you carry with you through 18 years or 42 years or whatever it is. You carry those principles with you. You learn what they are, and they’re just non-compromised. They can’t be. They have to happen.”
One of those ingredients appears to already be present in northern New Jersey in second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Drafted out of Ole Miss to be the future star under center for the Giants, Dart looked promising in his rookie year even after missing two games with a concussion. The expectations for him were high even before Harbaugh became his new head coach after a relatively quick search following Harbaugh and the Ravens’ split in January – a search that even included the President of the United States pressing the Giants to hire Harbaugh.
So far, Dart’s connection with Harbaugh seems strong, with the quarterback describing his leader as intense and in love with the game of football.
Oh, and Dart loves that Harbaugh has something to prove after the Ravens let him go.
“He’s got a chip on his shoulder. I’m interested to see how his demeanor continues to grow as we go forward,” he said.
So far, that chip has manifested in ramping up the intensity for the Giants.
In training camp, that meant frequent practices in pads and a style seen more often in the college game than in the pros. Isaiah Likely, a tight end who followed Harbaugh to the Giants from Baltimore, said it all felt normal to him, though it was clearly different for some of his teammates.
“I feel like that’s normal to me. Like, I’m just – if I wake up, I’m putting on cleats. That’s just the mantra I have,” he told reporters last week. “So, hearing how Giants training camp was in the past, that was kind of mind-boggling to me, but I feel like the guys embraced it. We had a good time in Greenbrier (the West Virginia resort where training camp opened) and then when we got here, I feel like now everybody’s on the same mantra: If we’re in the building, it’s all ball.”
“I see why his teams are always physical,” added cornerback Greg Newsome II. “His teams are always smart. They’re not penalized much, and everyone’s pretty disciplined. I think that’s a credit to what he does as a coach and just being a part of it this little time I’ve been here so far, I can tell why in late December and January, they’re playing meaningful games every single year.”
Harbaugh’s influence on the organization has already stretched beyond the field and into the front office.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen, who is entering his fifth season as general manager of the Giants and was feeling the heat last season as his team floundered, has been seeking his head coach’s counsel on personnel matters frequently in the offseason.
“He’s immersed in the personnel, and he’s helpful, makes us think outside the box, challenges us. And that’s what has ultimately led to a lot of good conversations, communications, ultimately making the best decision for the New York Giants,” Schoen said.
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