How the Giants’ ever-resilient Darius Slayton found calm (and great performance) in a stunning win at the Seahawks

SEATTLE- There is one place Darius Slayton turns to when misfortune befalls him.

He can still see it in his mind – back home in Georgia, almost 20 years ago, when he was a skinny kid who wanted to play in the NFL one day. For Slayton, this place feels so pure and calming. And he finds it in difficult moments, big and small – in the pay cut he took two years ago, in his exit from the Seahawks’ game early Sunday.

He admits it’s a form of self-therapy – a way to recalibrate his brain and avoid letting negativity eat away at him.

“When I was 9 years old and dreamed of going to the NFL, I didn’t think about how much salary or pay cuts I would get,” he told NJ Advance Media in the Giants’ locker room on Sunday night. “I just wanted to play ball. That’s what I think about in these moments.”

He is now a grown man, 27 years old, with a thick skin from more than five seasons of ups and downs in the NFL. When disaster struck again on Sunday, he found this peaceful place – and reacted.

Slayton’s eight catches and 122 yards – including the go-ahead 30-yard touchdown – helped the Giants surprise the Seahawks 29-20. In Slayton’s 82 career games, he only had two with more yards. The Giants desperately needed him on Sunday with Malik Nabers and Devin Singletary out.

Slayton delivered – after recovering from a crash at his first finish on Sunday. It was his fourth drop of the season in Week 5 and his third in the last two games. He now has 30 drops in his career. But after being so uninvolved in the first four games despite Nabers’ electric start, Slayton put that behind him in Seattle.

He didn’t elaborate on this early drop. He didn’t think about the fact that he only had 15 targets and 10 catches in the first four weeks despite playing 81% of the snaps.

He moved on – just like he always did in the NFL.

It happened two years ago in London after new general manager Joe Schoen forced him to take a pay cut and new coach Brian Daboll barely let him play at the start of the season. Then, in Week 5 in London, he rushed for 79 yards rushing against the Packers, helping the Giants improve to 4-1.

In fact, it happened again on Sunday in Seattle – another gem of Slayton’s Week 5.

He knows that an early exit – like on Sunday – would have annoyed him for longer as a younger player. No longer. Not after all he’s experienced in this NFL career full of ups and downs – a journey that has thickened his skin and helped him mature.

“It’s been a long time,” Slayton said of getting here. “It was tough at times. But at the end of the day, I know how to work and how to prepare. I know I will be ready when my opportunities arise.

“And I know I will use it 99 percent of the time. So I can’t worry about the 1 percent, like at the beginning of the game where I lose one. I know I’ll do it next time, no matter how many I’ve had after that. I know that given the opportunity I will show what I can do and what I am worth.”

Slayton’s chance on Sunday came with his fifth of 11 goals early in the third quarter. He hauled in a 41-yard deep pass from Daniel Jones to tie the game at 10. Slayton was cited for a questionable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after that play. He shrugged and caught his next target – the 30-yard deep ball touchdown.

The Giants led for the rest of the game, while Jones and Slayton — at least for a week — dismissed any concerns about that offense’s lack of deep ball production.

“We’re hitting the shots everyone said we needed to hit,” Slayton said with his usual sly smile.

After that touchdown, he paced the sideline shouting encouragement to his teammates. This is Slayton now – no longer the quiet rookie of 2019, but a seasoned veteran in a receiver room that needs his leadership, even if he doesn’t tend to be much of a screamer.

“Let’s go, man!” Slayton told his teammates. “We’re rolling! We just have to keep going!”

Slayton knew the Giants were coming off a touchdown-less loss to Dallas. He felt all the “negative noise” swirling around his team as they got off to a 1-3 start. He saw how terribly the Giants’ first drive ended Sunday, with that 102-yard fumble return and a 7-0 deficit.

And in that moment, on the sidelines, he hoped to put it all behind him.

“I just wanted to motivate the boys, give them life,” he said.

He wanted them to be resilient.

“That’s exactly what we want to be as a team,” he said.

Slayton knows about resilience. He also knows that avoiding a 1-4 start and instead sitting at 2-3 after five weeks doesn’t mean much for the rest of Daboll’s torrid third season. There is a long road ahead of us.

Nabers could return next week against the Bengals, as the Giants return to MetLife Stadium hoping to match that madness in Seattle — and finally score a touchdown at home.

So yeah, maybe Slayton won’t be targeted much again, just like he was in the first four weeks. But he can’t worry about that, just like he didn’t let it bother him before Sunday. He knows that nothing good can come from letting that happen.

“I wouldn’t have been ready,” he said. “I wouldn’t have prepared the same thing. I don’t have time for that.”

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Darryl Slater can be reached at [email protected].