EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Over the next two days, the New York Giants will welcome the reigning NFC North champion Detroit Lions to North Jersey for a pair of joint practices. And as they did last year, the Giants consider this a welcome opportunity to take on a different challenge from what they've been doing so far.
"I think what's helpful is to see them go against different competition," head coach Brian Daboll said. "Obviously, it ramps up when you're practicing against another team, but the matchups, guys have gone against the same guys for OTAs and for the first part of training camp. So it's a good evaluation tool to use to see how they go against some other teams, some different schemes."
A year ago, the Giants traveled up to Detroit for these joint practices, but they didn't yet know that the Lions would go on to win their division and make an appearance in the NFC title game. Now they know exactly how good the Lions are, and that allows for them to see exactly where they stack up.
"I remember last year just being out there and competing, and you definitely measure yourself to a team that's talented like they are," star left tackle Thomas said. "We're just focused on doing what we can, executing, and like I said, the mentality of being physical, because I think that translates to Sundays."
Thomas specifically singled out the way the Lions play and practice as something he wants the team to emulate.
"It starts with your mindset," he said. "If you embrace that type of physicality, that kind of toughness, if you practice like that every day, it translates to the field. That's the mindset we're trying to build."
Safety Jason Pinnock echoed that sentiment. "Specifically with [the Lions] of course, it's a team who is full of grit and that's hard working, who got a little confidence a little something to them now, so ready to test what we got going on," he said.
The Giants are coming off an extremely disappointing season wherein they took a significant step backward from their surprising playoff appearance in 2022. They added some talent this offseason, but have obviously not yet been able to see it in action against another team. They'll have that chance this week against the Lions, and later against the Jets, and that should allow them to see how far they have progressed since last season.