The Giants did not rock the boat after an agonizing wait to get back to the NFL playoffs.
Six years ago, then-rookie Sterling Shepard and fellow receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz and Roger Lewis took advantage of a day off between the end of the regular season and the start of wild-card week to party with Justin Bieber and Trey Songz in Miami. A shirtless photograph of the crew on the deck of a boat went viral, and discussion of whether it was a poor decision dominated the next few days even though they didn’t miss any practices or meetings.
“I regret it in the aspect that I feel like the focus of the game was now put somewhere else,” a reflective Shepard told The Post on Wednesday. “In the building I felt like we were all good, but guys leave the building and turn on the TV and it was on all day around here. It definitely drew away from where the attention should’ve been.”
Beckham, Cruz and Lewis are out of the NFL, while Shepard has blossomed over the years into one of the Giants’ most influential locker-room voices. He remains a big part of the team that will play Sunday at the Vikings even though he has been on injured reserve (torn ACL) since Week 4. He maintains that the trip didn’t have any impact on the result of the 38-13 playoff loss to the Packers.
“That type of stuff happens every week,” Shepard said, “but I feel like from the attention aspect it wasn’t the right thing.”
Shepard and hybrid inside linebacker/safety Landon Collins — who spent three years in Washington — are the only Giants who were part of the team for both playoff seasons. Collins didn’t hold the boat trip against his teammates then. Now? After seeing how difficult it is to get back to this point?
“We still don’t. If we did, I’d be yelling at Shep still,” Collins joked. “It had no impact on the game or the locker room. A boat doesn’t stop you from catching the ball, a boat doesn’t stop you from tackling, a boat doesn’t stop you from throwing the ball. … The media blew it up and made it the focal point.”
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One reason the trip lives in infamy is that Eli Manning’s receivers dropped seven passes in the cold weather, including four in the first quarter. Three were charged to Beckham (including one in the end zone) and the frustrations boiled over into him punching a hole in a wall postgame.
“We didn’t execute the game plan,” Shepard said. “We had some big-time drops throughout the receiver room and didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. It’s stayed with me throughout my whole time here. As a rookie, I didn’t really know how hard it is to get in the playoffs.
“You see guys come in like Brandon Marshall … and Leonard [Williams] who have never been to the playoffs and then you realize that after six years you haven’t been back to the playoffs. The message I’m trying to relay to the guys is just how special it is to be here.”
There were other reasons for the loss, too. Like allowing a 42-yard touchdown on the final play of the first half to turn a 7-6 deficit into 14-6.
“We had an opportunity in our hands and it kind of slipped away,” Collins said. “That [Hail Mary] just kind of took our soul away. That should never have happened. We let them inch their way back in, and they took over.”
Under head coach Brian Daboll, these Giants had treatments and training Monday and a mandatory off day Tuesday (though many players voluntarily reported) before practicing Wednesday.
“Coach Daboll did a good job of saying after the game ‘We need to lock in and take advantage of our opportunity,’ ” Shepard said. “Everyone really honed in on it.”