Written By Dave Diehl

December 18, 2008

Part of being in the NFL is that when you’re winning, you’re on the highest of highs, and when you lose a couple of games it’s like the lowest of lows. We lost two games in a row, but we still have confidence in ourselves and our team.

Don’t get me wrong, we haven’t played our best football the last two games, but we’re turning the page now and calling this a single-game season. All that matters is what we do on Sunday, and we’ve prepared extremely hard, pushed each other and made sure we learned from our losses. 

People talk about it like we don’t care when we lose, we got complacent, but that is definitely not the case .We work extremely hard and when things don’t go right it hits you hard. The only way you can fix things is to get back up when you get knocked down and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

I know every one of our guys will be there on Sunday, ready to sell out for the team against Carolina. This season is not over for us and we’re focused on the task at hand. We’re playing for high stakes, home field advantage and a first-round bye, which is crucial. It’s a huge advantage for the playoffs. 

Carolina is going to come in with a lot of intensity, because these are the best two teams in the NFC right now and they have the same amount at stake. This is the NFL in December, every game matters so you better make sure you’re playing your best football.

The most important thing, something we didn’t do the last two games, it’s all about starting fast, setting the tempo and controlling the line of scrimmage. Once we do that we have to maintain our intensity on offense, control time of possession and convert third downs, then score TDs when we get in the green zone. Carolina comes in not only with a good D, but a good offense that controls the clock. It will be a huge factor, which team can control the clock.

It’s going to be a complete 60-minute fight, the team that wins the physical battle, plays smart and avoid turnovers is going to win.

For me personally I love the challenge of going up against a guy like Julius Peppers. He’s a Pro Bowl player, an excellent athlete, a real ballplayer. He plays hard and I have to go out there and play to my utmost potential with full confidence. I know it won’t be perfect, but when it’s not I just have to recharge my battery and look ahead, focus on the next play.

In the NFL, the next play is always the most important one.

Jon Beason also is a tremendous player, the leader of that defense, he lines up all the guys, communicates and points stuff out. He leads the team in tackles and is on the top three in the league, plus he’s fast and plays extremely hard.

People have always doubted us, even when we won the Super Bowl. To change people’s perspectives you just have to keep winning. We’re at home with a lot to play for, and I have no doubt that every player on this team is going to play with confidence and sell out to help us win this football game.

As an offensive line we didn’t play our best football the last week. Giving up sacks and not getting the run game successfully going against Dallas is not what our unit is about and we take that very personally. We have a lot of pride in our group and have taken it upon ourselves to make sure that never happens again. From this week forward, we are putting on and strapping up our helmets with determination and a single minded focus to go out there and get the job done. Period!

You can’t make excuses in the NFL. All that matters are the results.

Dave Diehl is the starting left tackle for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. His blog for playerpress.com runs at www.davediehl66.com.