After 18 years in Baltimore, John Harbaugh faces his biggest challenge yet: Turning around the New York Giants

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The start of the new NFL season always brings a few things that take getting used to. Perhaps one of the most head-turning sights will be walking the sidelines of MetLife Stadium during the final game on Sunday.

John Harbaugh will be making his regular-season debut with the New York Giants that night in New Jersey in a divisional matchup vs. the Dallas Cowboys that could set the tone for both teams’ seasons. It’s bound to be a disarming sight: For the first time in 18 years, Harbaugh won’t be in the black-and-purple of the Baltimore Ravens.

It’ll be a new home stadium, new colors, a bunch of new players and new assistants around Harbaugh after nearly two decades in Charm City. But some things will be the same.

From what his players have said ahead of the season, expect the Giants to be physical and – even after a last-place 4-13 record last year and a string of disappointing campaigns – winning remains the standard.

“How do you go out there and compete at this level if you don’t expect to win? If you don’t expect to win, you certainly aren’t going to,” Harbaugh said earlier this month.

“I’ve said this before: we expect and we plan to and we’ll be playing to win every single one of our games this year. That’s our expectation, that’s our plan, that’s what we’ll be striving for. We think we can, we believe we can wholeheartedly.”

That will be music to the ears of Giants fans who have had to endure a depressing decade, with just one winning season since 2016. A string of six coaches in that time span, including interims, has turned the Meadowlands into a football no-man’s land following a period of success that included two Super Bowl championships and frequent trips to the playoffs.

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Consistency and winning are Harbaugh’s bread and butter. His run in Baltimore included 12 trips to the playoffs, one Super Bowl championship and a 180-113 record in 18 seasons. He had fewer losing seasons in those 18 years (three) than the Giants have had this decade (five).

Those Ravens teams were shaped in the tried-and-true image of the Harbaugh family: Tough defense, strong running games and superstar quarterbacks under center. It’s a recipe that Giants fans are familiar with and one they might be able to run back this season under new leadership.

“The principles of the vision you’re talking about, that’s that word, are written in stone, and they’re football principles,” Harbaugh said at his opening press conference earlier this year. “They’re self-evident truths. They aren’t ever going to change. Those are things you carry with you through 18 years or 42 years or whatever it is. You carry those principles with you. You learn what they are, and they’re just non-compromised. They can’t be. They have to happen.”

One of those ingredients appears to already be present in northern New Jersey in second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart.

Drafted out of Ole Miss to be the future star under center for the Giants, Dart looked promising in his rookie year even after missing two games with a concussion. The expectations for him were high even before Harbaugh became his new head coach after a relatively quick search following Harbaugh and the Ravens’ split in January – a search that even included the President of the United States pressing the Giants to hire Harbaugh.

So far, Dart’s connection with Harbaugh seems strong, with the quarterback describing his leader as intense and in love with the game of football.

Oh, and Dart loves that Harbaugh has something to prove after the Ravens let him go.

“He’s got a chip on his shoulder. I’m interested to see how his demeanor continues to grow as we go forward,” he said.

So far, that chip has manifested in ramping up the intensity for the Giants.

In training camp, that meant frequent practices in pads and a style seen more often in the college game than in the pros. Isaiah Likely, a tight end who followed Harbaugh to the Giants from Baltimore, said it all felt normal to him, though it was clearly different for some of his teammates.

“I feel like that’s normal to me. Like, I’m just – if I wake up, I’m putting on cleats. That’s just the mantra I have,” he told reporters last week. “So, hearing how Giants training camp was in the past, that was kind of mind-boggling to me, but I feel like the guys embraced it. We had a good time in Greenbrier (the West Virginia resort where training camp opened) and then when we got here, I feel like now everybody’s on the same mantra: If we’re in the building, it’s all ball.”

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“I see why his teams are always physical,” added cornerback Greg Newsome II. “His teams are always smart. They’re not penalized much, and everyone’s pretty disciplined. I think that’s a credit to what he does as a coach and just being a part of it this little time I’ve been here so far, I can tell why in late December and January, they’re playing meaningful games every single year.”

Harbaugh’s influence on the organization has already stretched beyond the field and into the front office.

Giants general manager Joe Schoen, who is entering his fifth season as general manager of the Giants and was feeling the heat last season as his team floundered, has been seeking his head coach’s counsel on personnel matters frequently in the offseason.

“He’s immersed in the personnel, and he’s helpful, makes us think outside the box, challenges us. And that’s what has ultimately led to a lot of good conversations, communications, ultimately making the best decision for the New York Giants,” Schoen said.

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NFL新赛季的开始总会带来一些需要适应的事情。其中最引人注目的景象之一，或许就是在周日最后一场比赛期间，沿着大都会人寿体育场的边线漫步。

当晚，约翰·哈博将率领纽约巨人队在新泽西州迎来常规赛首秀，对手是达拉斯牛仔队，这场分区赛的胜负或许将决定两队本赛季的走向。届时，哈博将首次卸任巴尔的摩乌鸦队的主教练，身披乌鸦队的黑紫色战袍，这无疑将是一个令人意想不到的景象。

在查尔姆郡执教近二十年后，哈博将迎来新的主场、新的队服颜色、一批新的球员和新的助理教练。但有些东西依然会是原来的哈博。

从球员们在赛季开始前的发言来看，预计巨人队将打出强硬的球风，而且——即使在去年战绩垫底（4胜13负）以及经历了一系列令人失望的赛季之后——胜利仍然是他们的目标。

“如果你不期待胜利，你怎么能在这个级别的比赛中竞争呢？如果你不期待胜利，你肯定赢不了，”哈博本月早些时候说道。

“我之前说过：我们期望、我们计划、而且我们会全力以赴，争取赢得今年的每一场比赛。这是我们的期望，这是我们的计划，也是我们努力的方向。我们认为我们能做到，我们坚信我们能做到。”

对于经历了令人沮丧的十年（自 2016 年以来只有一个胜率超过 50% 的赛季）的巨人队球迷来说，这无疑是个好消息。在这段时间里，巨人队更换了六位教练（包括临时教练），这使得梅多兰兹球场在经历了包括两次超级碗冠军和多次季后赛之旅在内的辉煌时期后，变成了一片足球荒漠。

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稳定和胜利是哈博的拿手好戏。他在巴尔的摩执教期间，12次率队打入季后赛，赢得一次超级碗冠军，18个赛季的总战绩为180胜113负。他执教的18年中，负战绩的赛季数（3个）比巨人队本世纪以来的负战绩赛季数（5个）还要少。

那些乌鸦队延续了哈博家族屡试不爽的战术风格：强悍的防守、强劲的地面进攻以及明星四分卫坐镇。巨人队的球迷对这套战术并不陌生，而他们或许能在新帅的带领下，在本赛季重现辉煌。

“你所说的愿景原则，就是‘愿景’这个词，是铁律，它们是足球原则，”哈博在今年早些时候的就职新闻发布会上说道。“它们是不言而喻的真理，永远不会改变。无论18年、42年还是更久，这些原则你都要始终铭记于心。你要学习它们的含义，并且要坚持到底，绝不妥协。它们必须贯彻执行。”

其中一种素质似乎已经在新泽西州北部的二年级四分卫杰克逊·达特身上体现出来了。

达特从密西西比大学被选中，被视为巨人队未来的明星四分卫。尽管新秀赛季因脑震荡缺席了两场比赛，但他依然展现出了不俗的潜力。在哈博于一月份离开巴尔的摩乌鸦队后，巨人队迅速找到了他的新任主教练——甚至连美国总统都曾敦促巨人队聘请哈博。在此之前，人们对达特的期望就已经很高了。

到目前为止，达特与哈博的关系似乎很牢固，这位四分卫形容他的领袖热情洋溢，热爱橄榄球这项运动。

哦，达特很喜欢哈博在被乌鸦队解雇后想要证明自己的做法。

“他有点不服输。我很想看看随着我们继续前进，他的态度会如何变化，”他说。

到目前为止，这种激励已经体现在巨人队比赛强度的提升上。

在训练营里，这意味着要频繁地穿戴护具进行训练，而且训练方式更像是大学橄榄球比赛而非职业比赛。伊赛亚·莱克利是一名近端锋，他跟随哈博从巴尔的摩来到巨人队，他说这一切对他来说都很正常，但显然对他的某些队友来说却并非如此。

“我觉得这对我来说很正常。就像，我只要醒来就会穿上球鞋。这就是我的信条，”他上周告诉记者。“所以，听说巨人队过去的训练营是什么样的，我有点难以置信，但我觉得队员们都接受了。我们在格林布赖尔（训练营在西弗吉尼亚州的度假村）玩得很开心，然后我们来到这里之后，我觉得现在每个人都秉持着同样的信念：只要我们在训练馆里，就全力以赴打球。”

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“我明白为什么他的球队总是打得那么强硬了，”角卫格雷格·纽瑟姆二世补充道，“他的球队总是很聪明。他们很少被罚，而且每个人都非常自律。我认为这要归功于他作为教练的执教能力，而且就我目前在这里的这段时间来看，我能理解为什么他们每年都能在12月底和1月打出意义重大的比赛。”

哈博对球队的影响力已经超越了球场，延伸到了管理层。

巨人队总经理乔·舍恩即将迎来他担任巨人队总经理的第五个赛季，上赛季由于球队战绩不佳，他承受着巨大的压力。在休赛期，他经常就人事问题向主教练寻求建议。

“他深入了解球队人员情况，乐于助人，让我们跳出固有思维模式，挑战我们。而这最终促成了许多有益的对话和沟通，最终为纽约巨人队做出了最佳决策，”舍恩说道。