PHILADELPHIA — You either are or you are not.
Kayvon Thibodeaux says he is.
A history guy, that is.
So then, what does the 23-year-old outside linebacker think about a bit of Giants history that he is a part of. Not a large part, mind you.
But definitely involved.
Ever since Thibodeaux has been suiting up for the Giants, he and his team have lost to the Eagles.
Last year was the first time in franchise annals that the Giants lost three games in one season to the same team. Two of those losses came at Lincoln Financial Field and are on Thibodeaux’s résumé.
The losing at the Linc reaches back, back, back — to 2013.
It is 10 consecutive losses for the Giants in their least-favorite road venue.
“I wouldn’t say it’s irrelevant,” Thibodeaux said of the litany of losing. “I would just say we got to try to win. The history is the history, but we write our own.’’
Do they? Can they?
It is once more unto the breach dear friends, once more as the Giants, on Christmas Day, of all days, venture into the Linc to finally get their first look at the Eagles, so late — Week 16 — that you might have wondered if the NFL schedule-makers simply forgot to include this one-sided NFC East rivalry on the 2023 docket.
No such luck for the Giants.
Gone is the three-game winning streak with undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito starting at quarterback and, with last week’s humdrum 24-6 loss in New Orleans, gone are the ever-so-slight chances the Giants had to make a run to plow into contention for the playoffs.
It is now about finishing up the final three regular-season games and, wouldn’t you know it, two of them come against the Eagles.
Figure this will be a crazed holiday cauldron for DeVito and the Giants to navigate.
If DeVito can deal with all the hostility and lead his team to an upset victory, he might as well add “For the Birds’’ to go along with the “Tommy Cutlets’’ and “Passing Paisano’’ trademarks he has already applied for.
The trend is overwhelmingly depressing for the Giants, losers of four straight and 25 of the last 31 games in this series.
“We hate saying that we hate answering the questions, ‘How would it feel to win in Philly or to beat Philly,’ ” Saquon Barkley (1-8 against the Eagles) said. “We’re sick and tired of it. The only way we are going to change that is by going out there and winning a game. For some reason, that’s been a team, and Dallas, those have been the two teams that we struggle to beat over the last couple of years, the last decade to be honest and if we want to get to where we want to be, those are teams we got to start beating and that’s just the facts.’’
Do the recent struggles of the Eagles tilt this game in any way toward the Giants?
Last year’s NFC Super Bowl representative rolled to 10-1 before hitting the skids in losses to the 49ers, Cowboys and last week’s stunning last-second loss in Seattle.
Despite their still-gaudy record of 10-4, the Eagles have scored only 18 more points than their opponents.
So, this could be a vulnerable team waiting for the Giants. Or, this could be the get-well remedy the Eagles need to get back on track, going against the outfit they usually have no trouble beating.
The last time these teams tangled, it was a 38-7 rout for the Eagles in last year’s NFC divisional playoff game.
“It’s not tiring, it’s just you want to beat them that much more,” tight end Daniel Bellinger said. “They keep beating us and I want to figure out why, so they stop, so we can take the upper hand and finally just say ‘Alright, we got them.’ ’’
Will the Giants be able to say that, ever again?
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