The New York Giants have been one of the biggest comeback stories in football this season. A team that has missed the postseason in the previous five years will be back when they play Minnesota on Saturday. 2017 was the last time that the Giants played a game of this magnitude. And one trip and picture has lived in infamy in the New York Giants fanbase ever since.
The 2016 Season Takes an Infamous Turn
The Giants made a splash in the 2016 offseason. They had brought in veterans such as Janoris Jenkins, Damon Harrison, and Olivier Vernon for the defense that was among the worst in 2015. Offensively, they turned to then-offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo as their new head coach following Tom Coughlin’s resignation. Eli Manning was still leading the offense and Odell Beckham Jr. was one of the league’s biggest sensations.
The Giants enjoyed their most successful season since their Super Bowl-winning season in 2011. They won 11 games, including sweeping the #1 seed Dallas Cowboys. They won a wild card berth and were set up to meet the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Then things got interesting.
After their regular season finale, four Giants receivers (Beckham, Sterling Shepard, Victor Cruz, and Roger Lewis) took a trip to Miami, Florida. A picture was posted of the four on a yacht alongside R&B singer Trey Songz and others.
The Giants did not have a good Wild Card game, to say the least. They lost 38-13, and it was especially bad for Manning and his receivers. Beckham became the face of the debacle, as he dropped three passes in the game. Shepard also dropped a ball that would have been a potential touchdown. As a result, the boat picture became infamous almost instantly. It may have been low-hanging fruit, but it became symbolic of the Giants’ struggles.
New York Giants…Coming Up Small
Things became rough for the Giants very quickly after the 2016 season. A 2017 season filled with high expectations immediately fell apart. The team only won three games, Beckham and Brandon Marshall were lost early in the season, and Ben McAdoo was fired after going 2-10.
Next was Pat Shurmur, who only won nine games during his two years at the helm in 2018-19. Joe Judge then came in for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but only won 10 games in two campaigns. Leading the G-Men to Brian Daboll, who lead them to the first playoff season since the 2018 season.
During that time, both Victor Cruz and Eli Manning retired. Odell Beckham was traded to the Cleveland Browns. Saquon Barkley became the face of the Giants with Beckham gone. Daniel Jones took over as the starting quarterback in 2019. And significantly, no playoff appearances from 2017-2021. The most wins the franchise had in a single season in that stretch was six in 2020.
The Boat Trip in Hindsight
The New York Giants’ newfound success has brought the boat trip back into the spotlight. Sterling Shepard, a rookie in the 2016 season, is the only player from the trip who is still on the team. Although he is on injured reserve this year, he spoke about the trip to NJ.com’s Bob Brookover, expressing regret.
“Yeah, just from the attention that it received,” Shepard lamented. “Just from all the attention it received. It kind of drew away from the game. It had the guys wondering what was going on when the focus should be on the game, so I do regret it in that aspect. To the outside world, it became all about that.”
Victor Cruz, a member of the 2011 team that won the Super Bowl, shared the same sentiment.
“It was right after a game, and we were about to go to the playoffs,” Cruz recalled. “And although we had the day off, we went to Miami, we had a good time, it was New Year’s Day, we came back the next day, didn’t break any rules. This photo will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
The New York Giants have found success again, but it took a lot of rough moments to get back to this point. In a lot of ways, the picture from the boat trip is symbolic of the missed opportunity that the Giants had that season. Although Beckham won a Super Bowl with the Rams in 2022, others have not gotten another opportunity. As Victor Cruz said, it may haunt him for the rest of his life. And although it may be unfair to the group of Giants receivers, it may still haunt the Giants fanbase for years to come.
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