FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Once upon a time, it was Michael Strahan, and it was Osi Umenyiora, and it was Justin Tuck.
Now it is them.
It is Dexter Lawrence, it is B.J. Hill, it is Oshane Ximines, it is RJ McIntosh.
These young Giants were mere tots when Tom Brady won the first of his six Super Bowls. They are grown men now, trying to make their mark in the NFL, never imagining that Brady would still be playing quarterback and still winning games for Bill Belichick in 2019, at age 42.
The Giants respect Brady but they do not fear him, and even with Daniel Jones making just his fourth start of his career on Thursday night against the league’s best defense, even without Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram, they somehow refuse to view themselves as 17-point underdogs.