New York Giants Receiver Sterling Shepard Talks Team Mood Ahead of 2021 Season Opener

In an exclusive interview with Giants Country to promote the new Pepsi "Made for Giants Football Watching" campaign, receiver Sterling Shepard explained why optimism is running high in the Giants locker room ahead of the 2021 season.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Sep 9, 2021 9:21 AM EDT

All eyes will be on Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who this off-season was gifted with upgrades to his play-making arsenal to take that quantum leap forward and prove once and for all he's capable of being the Giants' franchise quarterback for the next decade or so.

But according to receiver Sterling Shepard, it's not all on Jones to mature into the quarterback the Giants think he can become.

"I think it comes down to the surrounding cast. It's not just one guy that that makes things go for the offense," Shepard said during a video call with Giants Country to promote the new Pepsi "Made for Giants TV Watching" campaign.

"I think that it, it comes down to the line. The line has to protect them the receivers we have to get open. It's a collective effort and it's not just on one day, so we have to do our part in helping him out."

The Giants offensive line has been a significant question mark all summer long between injuries, retirements, and performance. The projected starting unit at the beginning of training camp--Andrew Thomas, Shane Lemieux, Nick Gates, Will Hernandez, and Matt Peart--didn't exactly shine in its limited snaps during the summer as both Thomas and Peart struggled while Lemieux was trying to fight through a partially torn patella tendon.

The receivers have had their own problems with staying on the field. Top receiver Kenny Golladay tweaked his hamstring and ended up missing most of training camp--and with that, a valuable amount of time to build chemistry with Jones. And first-round draft pick Kadarius Toney struggled with the after-effects of COVID that led to his straining a hamstring.

Despite the bumps in the road, Shepard said there is a lot of optimism that Jones and the rest of the Giants will put it all together this year.

"He does everything the right way," Shepard said of Jones. "I mean, just to watch how it works day in and day out, he's definitely one of those guys that's going to put forth his best foot."

Between the growth Jones has shown and this being Year 2 of the same offensive system, Shepard said there is a lot more comfort with the offense and its direction.

"Everybody was getting feel for it in the first year; it was a new system. So I think the second year everybody's able to relax and kind of knows what to expect within the system and knows how the coaches want things run," he said. "I think naturally it'll look a lot cleaner as long as we do what we're supposed to do."

Shepard, the longest-tenured Giant, is also the lone remaining member of the last Giants team to make it to the playoffs in 2016 when it went 11-5. In looking at this year's roster, he's not only encouraged by the potential, he sees some similarities between the 2016 team and the current squad.

"Every season is different, but when I think about that team, I think about how good our defense was," Shepard said. "I felt like we have the personnel, and everything looks good on paper.

"But as you know, it comes down to putting in the work, and that's what I feel like guys have been doing. I mean, training camp went well for us, and some of the joint practices helped us find our identity as a team. "But yeah, I see some of those same characteristics just really comes down to the work that we put in weekend and week out, and it's huge being able to fix problems that, that happened one week quickly."

As part of the Pepsi campaign, Shepard shared some of his favorite gameday recipes that go with the popular soft drink, credits the strong leadership in the Giants locker room as the reason behind the Giants' ability to withstand the bumps it experienced last year.

"No matter through the ups and the downs, we're going to stay with each other, and we're going to keep grinding," he said. "I think that's what everybody saw from that team. And kind of what (head) coach (Joe) Judge has implemented into this program is that we're going to fight no matter what happens on the field.

"That's what I saw from the guys last year when we went through that rough patch of--I don't know how many games we lost in a row. But towards the end of the season, you saw that nobody quit. And I've been a part of teams where you could see kind of guys kind of laying down a little bit. I didn't sense that at all from the guys last season and it's honestly helped us go into this season."