"We Still Believe"

After three straight victories, the Giants have hung on to the dream of making the playoffs after an 0-6 start, and currently sit just 1.5 games out of first. The Giants recent winning streak may have had some ugly victories, but if the Giants wish to continue winning that's how it's going to have to be.

Going into the 2013 season, fans anticipated the Giants to have a deadly aerial attack with Cruz, Nicks and Manning at the helm. But several injuries and a significant amount of turnovers forced the Giants into a completely different style of play. General manager Jerry Reese brought in running back Peyton Hillis, full back John Connor, and most importantly linebacker Jon Beason. These acquisitions not only assessed needed depth in areas that were limited due to injury, but they motivated the coaching staff to change their strategy as a football coach.

That new found strategy came with a new identity: smash mouth football. Stop the run on defense, run it down their throat on offense. Eli Manning's new main concern is minimizing mistakes. Eli's known as a quarterback that takes chances and that's typically paid off for the Giants in the past, but that's not the case this season. The Giants don't have the depth necessary to overcome turnovers or any kinds of big mistakes. Eli has now become the in game manager more so than ever before. And on top of that he can't be the chance taking gunslinger that New York has come to love. Eli doesn't care though, he'll do whatever it takes to chalk up wins.

For the past few weeks, the Giants defense has been nothing short of superb. Led by captain Antrel Rolle, the Giants secondary has overcome a weak pass rush and played well in the secondary. And not enough can be said about Beason's role as a leader and worker for the Giants defense. A vast majority of separating a bad defense from a good one is alignment prior to the snap. After the Giants lost Boley and Blackburn going into this season, that presence of preparedness took a significant blow. Beason has restored that void and given Giants fans a defense it can be proud of. Hopefully the coaching staff will come to their senses about Damontre Moore and play the kid on the defensive line. Fourteen sacks on the season is not cutting it. Justin Tuck had more of an impact in the pass rush against the Raiders but if he does not live up to standards there is no reason not to give Moore a chance. Tuck's a captain and a true blue Giant, but sometimes you need to pass the torch. If the coaching staff is sold on keeping Tuck on the field, line him up as a pass rushing defensive tackle and put Moore at end. The point is, this Moore kid needs to see the field in some form besides special teams.

The most encouraging sign of a turn around for Giants fans starts and ends with Tom Coughlin. He has handled the media beautifully and made it clear to the team to take it one week at a time. The Giants are in a blessed situation that has them 1.5 games out of first. But that's all for nothing if this team ever loses it's confidence, and after starting 0-6 it seemed that was highly imminent. Regardless Coach Coughlin kept his cool and prepared the Giants week in and week out, and now all of a sudden there is a new aroma of an attitude within the Giants locker room.

This season is far from over. And now with the return of Andre Brown at running back, it's fair to say things are at the very least interesting. The Giants are trying to do the impossible: redeem an 0-6 season to playoff contention. They've chosen the year to do it. The Rodgers-less Packers are coming to town, and after that there's still three severe division games left to play throughout the remainder of the season.

Looking that far down the road is dangerous to the Giants formula, but fans cannot help but notice the intriguing situation big blue is currently in. For a team that has had two recent Super Bowl victories, they came out to an incredibly flat start to the 2013 season. Perhaps as a team that's had winning success, the belief that they could turn it on at any moment got them in a deep hole. In any event, Big Blue has won three straight. And most importantly they have an identity as a football club. Smash mouth football and ugly wins. Do whatever it takes.

That's definitely an attitude Giants fans can be proud of. Time will tell on the results of this perplexing season. Until then, Giants fans stand by their team no matter what.