Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham hasn’t shied away from talking about his goal of an 8-0 second half of the season over the last couple of weeks, but head coach Pat Shurmur consistently talked about focusing on the next game rather than the big picture.
After beating the Buccaneers 38-35 on Sunday, Shurmur was willing to entertain some of the thoughts his star wideout has been sharing. Shurmur cautioned his 3-7 team has “a long way to go” and a lot of areas they can improve, but did gaze way down the road for a moment or two.
“Crazy, isn’t it?” Shurmur said, via Newsday. “That’s why I said through the first eight weeks, ‘You just have to keep playing. You never know.’ If we let the [outside] noise get to us and get us all dark and stormy and weird about things, then you’re not set up to do anything at the end of the season. ... If we can keep battling and fighting, who knows? Who knows? That’ll be a fun thing for everybody to write.”
The Giants have shown over the last two weeks that their 1-7 start hasn’t dampened their fight and that’s put them in position to even entertain notions of something other than another losing season. They’ll get an Eagles team coming off a thumping next week as they bid to keep hope alive at least a little bit longer.