Sterling Shepard will be on the Giants sideline Sunday in the role of cheerleader, and not just for his teammates.
As somebody who played for the last Giants team to reach the playoffs — and who remembers the late-season energy at MetLife Stadium — the injured wide receiver is imploring the home crowd to again be heard.
“In 2016 it was rocking, so that is what we need from the fans,” Shepard said Friday. “There isn’t any sitting down. I get tired of seeing people sitting down on third downs. The defense needs you guys to be loud. I expect it to be that way. It should be that way. Stand up on third downs, we need those people to get loud. This ain’t no social event.”
With a victory over the Colts, the Giants will reach the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. The Giants haven’t clinched a playoff berth on their home turf since the 2011 season, when they beat the Cowboys in the regular-season finale.
Shepard, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in September and underwent season-ending surgery, said it has been bittersweet watching the Giants reach this point.
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“I do want to be out there,” he said. “This is the game that I love and the type of football that you want to be playing in [January]. It’s been a while since I have played meaningful football, since 2016, so this is always what I wanted to do.
“It’s tough, but you just have to kind of reframe your way of thinking and I want to help these guys in any way that I can. Anything I can do to help them on Sundays, that is the reason I am here every day, just for them to bounce ideas off of me, whether it’s questions they have about what they should do on the field, you never know.”
But Shepard, the longest-tenured Giants player, said he doesn’t have to say anything inspirational to his teammates.
“I really don’t have to say much — just hyping the guys up and keeping everybody’s energy up,” Shepard said. “I think that’s all I can really do on the side, but as far as letting them know that it’s meaningful football, everybody knows that now.”
