John Harbaugh got the Giants prepared for the season. The Rams are a harder challenge

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — When New York Giants players prepared for training camp practices run by John Harbaugh , they knew they were in for a grind.

“We would look at the script and be like, ‘Damn, that’s a lot of plays,’” starting right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said.

Then came the season opener against Dallas, and Eluemunor noticed Cowboys defensive linemen rotating, catching their breath and looking like “they were ready to go home.” He did not feel tired, crediting the hardest training camp of his NFL career for that.

“Now you know why you run that many plays in practice, why you hit as much, why you do those practices, why you go through as much as we do, how hard we work,” Eluemunor said after the 28-20 victory, “because you go out there on Sunday and you really beat a team up like that.”

Now the challenge is keeping that going with a visit to the Los Angeles Rams up next Monday night. Harbaugh does not expect any kind of a letdown.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of that,” Harbaugh said Wednesday. “Our guys understand. They’re mature guys. ... Our job is to get better and keep improving because you have to."

The Giants are 1-0 for the first time since 2022, and just three players from that start are on the team this year. Harbaugh's message has been to “stay humble, stay hungry," according to fullback Patrick Ricard, who followed the only head coach he has had in the pros from Baltimore.

Second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart seems to have taken that message to heart, saying they cannot stray from the mentality that got them through camp and the Week 1 win.

“For us as a team to get better and to be where we want to be, we have to keep the exact same mindset that we have had from the moment that this kind of new regime has started up until this point,” said Dart, who threw for three touchdowns against the Cowboys. “We’ve got to stay diligent to that.”

The most recent time New York was 2-0 was a decade and six coaching changes ago in 2016. The Rams are 7 1/2-point favorites to keep that going, even in light of their Week 1 loss to San Francisco in Australia.

But Harbaugh believes his grueling camp set a foundation his group can build on, knowing the challenge in front of them is daunting.

“We also understand that how you play this week is not going to be good enough to win next week,” Harbaugh said. "How we played (Sunday night) will not win the game next Monday night. It won’t be good enough."

Tyrone Tracy did not practice Wednesday, and his absence was certainly conspicuous given that the running back did not get another carry against Dallas after losing a fumble. He also fumbled and missed a blocking assignment that led to Dart getting sacked during the preseason.

But Harbaugh said Tracy was sick with the flu.

“Expect him to be back (Thursday) if it clears up a little bit,” Harbaugh said. “You worry about this. You don’t want to get everybody sick.”

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