In my 29 years of covering and chronicling the Giants, the recently completed 2022 regular season is the 10th time they qualified for the playoffs. That has not made for enough sustained excellence to satisfy team ownership or the fan base. The past decade was a disaster. But there were always a few rays of sunshine, when times were darkest, to keep everyone interested.

In all those 29 years and those previous nine postseason appearances, the Giants never have won their first playoff game and failed to advance to a Super Bowl.

Six times the Giants were one-and-done, losing in the first round. This took place after the 1997, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2016 seasons. Three times, the Giants won their playoff opener — after the 2000, 2007 and 2011 seasons — and kept on winning all the way into the Super Bowl, losing it after the ’00 season and winning it in their other two appearances.

The six losses in playoff openers came in different shapes and sizes. Jim Fassel, like Brian Daboll, completely exceeded expectations in his first year as the head coach in 1997, when the Giants won the NFC East at 10-5-1 (the last season the Giants had a tie until Daboll’s team got one this season). All the positive vibes from that resurgent campaign came crashing down, however, when the Giants, playing in front of their home fans, blew a nine-point lead in the final 90 seconds and lost to the Vikings, 23-22.