As Darren Waller jabbed the heavy bag and threw upper cuts at the wrecking ball Tuesday with a boxing trainer, he wasn’t getting out leftover frustrations from the Giants’ lopsided season-opening loss to the Cowboys.
Waller added boxing to his cardio routine during 2020 offseason training because he recognized that skills that sport teaches, such as striking with intensity, hand-eye coordination and quick mental processing carried over to benefit a tight end on the football field.
The Post was invited to watch Waller hit the bags and shadow box in the ring at WTF Boxing Gym in Manhattan, as part of his partnership with Icy Hot PRO.
“I’m naturally a mellow guy. I wouldn’t squash a grape if I wasn’t playing football,” Waller quipped. “But I like the craft.
“I know I would never step into the ring and take on a heavyweight champion, but I have an awe and respect for that. I’ll probably still be boxing when I’m not playing ball anymore.”
Waller’s movements with gym founder Alberto Ortiz looked explosive and fluid, which is notable considering that his appearance on the Week 1 injury report with hamstring tightness was a reminder he missed eight games last season with hamstring injuries.
He played 38 snaps on Sunday and led the Giants with three catches for 36 yards in the humbling 40-0 loss to the Cowboys.
“Especially to be able to play the length of time that I did and nothing really upset it on the field, I feel like I’m going to be all right,” Waller said. “It’s a little bit different now. Before, it was the hamstring muscle itself. The team and my personal physical therapist said I just have to work on my pelvis mobility and different things like that to ease the pressure off of that area.”
There is plenty of pressure on the Giants as they prepare for Week 2 at the Cardinals after a season with high expectations started with a dud.
“It leaves you with a little bit of a sick feeling in your stomach,” Waller said. “If we get beat and they pull away at the end and do a couple things better than us, OK.
“But having a game like that, no one can be OK with because it’s not reflective of who we are and the standard we hold ourselves to.
We know we have to take advantage of this next opportunity, but one day — whether good or bad — I don’t think can define a team or an individual.”
Even his father, a lifelong Giants fan from Queens, took the loss hard.
“That’s been his team longer than mine,” Waller said. “I love New York and how wrapped up they are in the team and our success.”
Waller has more experience than he’d like in bounce-back situations.
In recent years with the Raiders, he suffered losses of 43-6 and 34-3 (to the Jets).
“Coming out of a game like that, the perspective can only serve you going forward if you look at it the right way,” Waller said. “It’s all about how you respond.”
As a recovering drug addict, Waller discovered Icy Hot’s products organically because he needed alternate ways to ease muscles and joints.
He was suspended twice early in his career for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, but became a Pro Bowler after getting sober.
“I was addicted to painkillers, and the pain of the day-to-day in the NFL is not going anywhere,” Waller said. “It was like, ‘What’s a different way to go about this?’ There’s different modalities like massage, but for the little stuff — like a helmet to the thigh or something is just aching — I use it myself. For my life and where I want to be, I can’t afford to do [painkillers].”
The Giants, like most NFL teams, were off Tuesday. But Waller worked up a sweat over the 20-minute boxing session.
“It whups my butt in the offseason and gets me in shape,” Waller said before explaining why he fit it in with the season underway. “If people are going to capture me, then I want them to see me in an element that’s authentic.”
