New York Giants first-round pick Evan Neal can’t remember if he ever lost a season opener in his life. Not in college, not in high school or whatever level he played prior to that.
“I don’t believe I have,” the former Alabama star offensive tackle told reporters on Monday via Zoom.
Neal is up against history this week when the Giants travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans this Sunday.
The Giants have lost every opener except one since 2011, the lone exception being in 2016 when they nipped the Dallas Cowboys, 20-19, at AT&T Stadium in Ben McAdoo’s debut as head coach.
Neal plans on helping reverse that trend come Sunday but knows it’s still only one game.
“I mean the first game is the first game. It’s a long season. Win lose or draw, I just want to go out there, compete, fight hard and use that as an opportunity to get better as well. 0-1, 1-0 — there’s going to be a Week 2,” he said.
Neal isn’t planning on losing, however.
“I’ve never really had to prepare for losing because I’ve never really lost too much in the past. I hate losing, I always have. Losing here is not something I’m going to focus on,” he said. “The goal is to win. Regardless, you’re going to win, you’re going to lose, but I’m not going to focus on losing — I’m going to do everything in my power to help this team win. If we come up short, we’re going to learn from it and move on to the next one.”
Neal is excited for his NFL regular season debut. He is expected to start at right tackle on Sunday and hopefully anchor there for the foreseeable future.
“I feel amazing. I feel awesome, man,” has said. “My mom and my dad are going to be at the game to support me. It’s just a blessing, man, just a testament to the hard work that it took to get here. I’m just excited. I’m excited to go out there and play ball.”
Neal has learned quite a bit since the Giants made him the seventh overall selection in this year’s NFL draft. He feels his game and perspective have improved since his arrival.
“The NFL is definitely a more technical. I had to become more of a technician. I couldn’t just rely so much on just my raw athleticism or talent. I had to become more of a technician as well, working on my pass sets, my set angles,” Neal said. “I feel like I’m more comfortable in my sets. I’m using my hands more, and I feel like I’m more balanced as well, but obviously I have a lot of work that still needs to be done. I feel like my game is trending in the right direction.”
The Giants would love nothing more than to see that happen. They already have another former first-round pick at left tackle in Andrew Thomas and having Neal on the other side gives them hope that they’ve finally fixed their leaky offensive line.
Thomas, who has been put through his paces the past few years, has provided Neal with some valuable advice this summer.
“I love Andrew. Andrew is a great guy, a great mentor for sure. He just told me to focus on what’s inside, what’s going on inside. Don’t really dwell or focus on what’s going on outside,” Neal said. “Just focus on getting better. Regardless of what type of product is put out there on Sunday, the goal is to get better the next week — just flip the page and then focus on getting better the next week, and just continue to make positive growth as a player. That’s pretty much what he’s been telling me.”
