New York Giants back from bye, can they make playoff run?

The New York Giants get back to work Monday, a critical NFC East game against the Philadelphia Eagles next on the agenda as the team’s bye week concludes.

The 4-3 Giants find themselves in second place in the NFC East after Sunday’s events, which saw the 6-1 Dallas Cowboys outlast the 4-3 Eagles, 29-23, in overtime and the 4-3-1 Washington Redskins tie the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-27. [Read more: In depth breakdown of NFC East standings]

This is a familiar spot for the Giants. They were 4-3 a year ago before staggering to a 2-7 record over their final nine games and finishing 6-10. In 2014, they started the season 3-2 before losing seven straight and also finishing 6-10.

Will this season be different?

“I feel like the division is like this every year, wide receiver Victor Cruz said last week. “I feel like it always comes down to those final two months of the season, almost the final month, almost the final game of the year to decide who's going to win this division. We just got to understand that we need to keep pushing the envelope. Continue to be 1-0 each week and that's what we strive and then we'll take it from there.”

Quarterback Eli Manning said last week that the Giants need to maintain their focus on the task at hand.

“It’s just a matter of how we play. You can’t start dreaming about playoff time right now,” Manning said. “We have to have our focus on Philadelphia. We have three home games coming in after the bye. Philadelphia is the next one. That’s who are focus is on. Keep finding ways to get wins and it’ll all work itself out.”

In our most recent fan confidence poll, 46 percent (875) of the 1,914 voters felt the Giants would make the playoffs this season. Incidentally, if the playoffs started this week the Giants would be in as the sixth seed.

The Giants’ remaining schedule is as follows:

vs. Eagles; vs. Bengals; vs. Chicago Bears; at Cleveland Browns; at Pittsburgh Steelers; vs. Cowboys; vs. Detroit Lions; at Eagles; at Redskins.

We spent much of the last week examining the Giants’ first seven games, raising questions and offering potential answers. How many of those factors play out will likely help determine the success or failure of the Giants over the second half of the season.

Let’s look at some of them.

• Position-by-position review: Problems and possible solutions
• Will Ben McAdoo show growth, flexibility as head coach over final nine games?
• Can the Giants made some adjustments to their under-performing offense?
• Five Giants who need more snaps
• Four wide receiver set a possible solution?

We also reviewed the performance of the team’s free-agent signees and the 2016 rookie class.

The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. Here is some of the speculation involving the Giants.

The Giants will hold a quick, one-hour practice on Monday. General manager Jerry Reese is expected to hold his annual midseason State of the Giants press conference at some point during the day. We will have coverage of that, as well as reports on McAdoo’s press conference and remarks from players as they return to work.

So, keep it here.

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