The reaction from the Giants' faithful has been borderline hysterical following last week's 40-17 loss to Philadelphia. However if the fans are looking for the players to share in their misery, they are in for a shock.
"Normally when you play like (garbage) you feel like (garbage), so I guess we're trying to reverse the tide by coming in, smiling, looking at the positives, and just having a great attitude about coming back in here to work," said Giants defensive end Justin Tuck.
This week, they will step outside of the NFC to host an AFC opponent, the San Diego Chargers, who are on a two-game winning streak. Although San Diego, which back in 2005 embarrassed the Giants 45-23, has had its share of triumphs and disappointments in recent years, Tuck and the Giants aren't expecting any sympathy.
"San Diego isn't going to come in here feeling sorry for us because we were beaten the last few weeks," he said.
What San Diego is probably going to do when they arrive in town is attempt to drive another nail into the collective hearts of the Giants, who hope to avoid having to limp into their bye week one game above .500.
That's why New York is making it a high priority this week to fix the reoccurring issues that contributed to the three-game slide, such as ball security, tackling, and communication.
Quarterback Eli Manning is going to be under the microscope this week in practice. During the losing streak he has played some of his worst ball in terms of decision making and passing accuracy.
Manning continues to insist that his ailing foot has not affected his mechanics, but his play has told a different story. There have clearly been times when he has not stepped into his throws and instead has tried to overcompensate for the foot by putting a bit more zip on his passes.
"That could be," said head coach Tom Coughlin when asked if Manning has been "arm-throwing" at times rather than stepping into his throws. "I've seen that a couple of times on the practice field."
While Manning did admit earlier this week that some of his high passes could be the result of him not stepping into the pass enough, he again dismissed the idea that his foot was to blame, instead offering other reasons such as trying to put the ball into tight positions.
The Giants need Manning and the offense to play better ball and score points instead of giving points away and forcing their defense to defend short fields. If they can successfully take those baby steps, they will cruise into their bye week with a respectable 6-3 record and a huge sigh of relief.
"We have a great opportunity," said Tuck of this weekend's game. "The last thing we want is to go into the bye week 5-4 with another loss hanging over our head and having two weeks to think about it. Our mentality right now is to right the ship and do it now."
SERIES HISTORY
10th regular-season meeting. Giants lead series, 5-4. The last time these two teams met was in 2005 at San Diego, a game won by the Chargers 45-23. New York is currently on a three-game losing streak while San Diego has won their last two games. New York is 1-2 against the Chargers at Giants Stadium, having last hosted San Diego in 1995.
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