Overrated. 

That is Brian Daboll’s take on what comes next for the Giants, as far as analyzing which players on his team have ever been to the playoffs, which have not and what it all means for Sunday’s rematch with the Vikings in the first postseason action for the franchise in six years. 

For those most responsible for getting this far — the smart money was on the Giants at this juncture delving into the early stages of offseason mode — this is brand new. The next pass Daniel Jones throws in the playoffs will be his first. The next off-tackle run by Saquon Barkley in the playoffs will be his first. Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams pushing the pocket? We’ve seen it over and over but never, ever after the regular season shuts down. 

When it comes to lines on the résumé revealing playoff participation, the Giants produce a healthy amount of blank pages. 

“I think really what you make out of it is the experience is probably overrated, to be honest with you,” Daboll said Monday. “It’s how you prepare, how you practice and ultimately how you play the game and coach the game on whatever day it is.” 

The Giants hope their first-year head coach is on the mark with this. This is Daboll’s initial trip to the playoffs as the man in charge of an entire team. This is far from his first journey into the great beyond of postseason football. As befitting anyone who worked for Bill Belichick the past two decades, Daboll’s fingers can be adorned with jewelry whenever he opts to take his Super Bowl rings out for a showing. He has five of them. He also has a national championship ring from his one year (2017) as the offensive coordinator at Alabama on Nick Saban’s staff. 

All three of Daboll’s coordinators know what it takes to win a Super Bowl. Wink Martindale (defense) won one with the Ravens, Mike Kafka (offense) won one with the Chiefs and Thomas McGaughey (special teams) won one in 2007 with the Giants. 

“We have multiple coaches that coached in a Super Bowl, that have been part of a Super Bowl, been part of runs,” Barkley said. “We’re definitely going to need their experience and their coaching ability to help us go where we want to go.” 

The players under their guidance? Not so much. 

The Giants hope all the verbiage about quarterbacks needing to indoctrinate themselves into playoff mode before they can find success is more noise than necessity. Jones, four years into his NFL career, has finally made it to the postseason. The same for Barkley, in season No. 5, and Andrew Thomas, the franchise left tackle, in year No. 3. The top long-ball threat, Darius Slayton, has never been here before. Rookie starters, tight end Daniel Bellinger and right tackle Evan Neal, are obviously first-timers. 

On defense, Lawrence has big-game chops from his time at Clemson but not with the Giants. Williams completed his eighth NFL season and this will be playoff game No. 1 for him. The starting safeties, Julian Love and Xavier McKinney, have been around for four and three years, respectively, without any postseason action. The edge rushers, second-year Azeez Ojulari and rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux, will make their playoff debuts this weekend. 

“I’ve been in so many different situations,” Daboll said. “The first year that I was part of a Super Bowl, the quarterback didn’t have any playoff experience there at New England. Some of the guys did. Some didn’t. We had some experience at Buffalo; we lost.” 

The quarterback Daboll referred to was none other than Tom Brady, who took over for injured Drew Bledsoe early in the 2001 season and led the Patriots to the first of their six Super Bowl triumphs. The Bills made it to the AFC Championship game after the 2020 season and the next year lost in the divisional round. 

The Giants are not completely clueless when it comes to the playoffs. Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson was part of a nice run with the Titans. Center Jon Feliciano and receiver Isaiah Hodgins were with Daboll with the Bills. Richie James got in with the 49ers. Landon Collins was a key defender for the Giants in 2016, the last time they made it. Defensive end Jihad Ward (Ravens), safety Tony Jefferson (Cardinals and Ravens), Jaylon Smith (Cowboys), Fabian Moreau (Commanders) and Nick McCloud (Bills) were all on teams that played in the playoffs. 

“I’ve been around a lot of different teams that have had varying levels of experience — some a lot, some a little, some not much,” Daboll said. “I think really, what matters is taking advantage of your opportunities when they come and playing a good football game and coaching a good football game. But I really think it’s an overrated thing.”