Harbaugh's Giants Are Staying Humble Despite Week 1 Buzz

A lot has changed within the New York Giants organization since head coach John Harbaugh took over the reins, and almost everyone inside and outside the building is acknowledging it.

It didn't start with the Giants kicking off their 2026 regular season with a bold win against their NFC East rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, in which all sides of the team played convincingly well and snapped a brutal losing streak to the Cowboys.

The real catalyst came on Harbaugh's first day in office, when he laid down the groundwork for the type of locker room he wanted to lead. He sought players who were tough, dependable, and had an insatiable love for the game of football, along with an understanding of the pride that comes with being a Giant.

That is why the former Ravens coach brought over a handful of players from Baltimore to help him set a new standard and lift the franchise out of the basement it has been in for far too long.

Patrick Ricard, one of those familiar faces to Harbaugh, has noticed how quickly his coach's presence has already shifted the team's overall demeanor.

"I just see how hungry and how humble everybody is here," Ricard said during a media availability session on Tuesday.

"There are so many guys here that want to prove themselves. They want to win, and you see it in how they work, how they prepare, and how much they love each other.

“I remember when I first got here for OTAs, seeing how much the guys cheered each other on in our running workouts, supported one another, and hung out in the locker room two hours after we were done for the day.

“And I'm thinking, ‘Wow, New York City is right across the river, right there, and guys would rather be in the locker room hanging out two hours after.’ So, I feel like that was something I noticed right away, and I think it's so important for a team to want to win and want to be crazed, loving one another and working hard."

Harbaugh further established that sense of camaraderie and commitment during the Giants' first training camp away from 1925 Giants Drive in more than a decade.

Numerous players have spoken about the long, grinding days of training camp and how the new environment brought the group closer together with a different level of focus and attention to detail that can sometimes become a challenge amid the noisy outskirts of the Big Apple.

Those long weeks of building toward a goal of competing and winning a football game on Sunday proved worth it in the Giants' first victory of the season over the Cowboys.

They came out with determined energy and outmatched Dallas with an efficient offense and relentless defensive pressure that made it harder for their foe to replicate their success in prior meetings.

With the 1-0 start under their belts, the method to Harbaugh's madness is more appreciated than ever in the locker room, and the players are hungry for more.

“Whenever you step on the football field, you're trying to win the game,” Ricard said.

"I think it validates just working hard and doing everything that we did in training camp, which is going to equate to wins, and I feel like that was a good first step.

“You know, if we went out there and we just looked terrible and we got our butts kicked, I think you'd be like, ‘Oh,’ maybe you start questioning things.

“But the fact that we went out there and we executed, we played at a high level, and we got the win, I feel like that just kind of validates that working hard and trusting the process that Harbaugh's brought here is key to success, and we're going to keep going."

Giants Can't Let the Early Success Get to Their Heads

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott s — Sep 13, 2026; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) speaks with New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) after the game at MetLife Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Winning a season-opening home game against a hated divisional opponent under the primetime lights was certainly a big deal for Harbaugh's Giants and what they hope to prove in the remainder of the season.

However, no one in the locker room believes the story about the 2026 Giants has been fully written after one game.

Instead, the intensity will turn up a notch as the team travels out west to face the Los Angeles Rams.

For Ricard and company, the mindset is simple. The thrilling Week 1 upset is behind them, the slate has been wiped clean, and it's time to return to the same process that produced positive results and aim to do it again on the gridiron on Monday night.

They understand the noise will keep getting louder with their early success, but the Giants are poised not to let it get to their heads and derail their growth.

"Everyone's probably saying, ‘Oh, the Giants are this, and that, they're so good, they're so great,’ because we won. If we lost this game, what would you guys say?” Ricard said.

“It's a week-to-week thing where we won, that's great, we're moving on already, and now we're focusing on this next week, and this opponent, and the Rams are thinking the same thing.”

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