EAST RUTHERFORD Jon Halapio Color Rush Jersey , N.J. (AP) — It’s hard to say or there is something to their optimism these days.The reality is the Giants have a 1-4 record heading into Thursday night’s game against the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (2-3) and they are facing long odds in a bid to make the playoffs in coach Pat Shurmur’s first season.The struggling Eagles have beaten New York in their last three meetings and seven of the last eight. The Giants are coming off an excruciating last-second 33-31 loss to Carolina on a 63-yard field goal by Graham Gano, and now they have to rebound with three days of preparation.But the Giants believe there is reason for hope. Their offense scored 30 points for the first time since the end of the 2015 season. The team rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to take a lead with just over a minute to play, only to be denied by a near-record kick. And they did all this despite dealing with some ill-chosen words by star receiver Odell Beckham Jr., about Eli Manning and the team’s heart in the days leading up to the game.“Very optimistic,” Beckham said Tuesday when asked about the team. “I’ve always said, it’s a long season, and we have an opportunity to come in here in a big, big division game and be able to reshape our season. We know what we have in front of us, short week, just coming off of a tough loss, so we’re all just trying to get our minds wrapped around what the game plan is, how we can come out and best beat Philly.”The Eagles tend to bring out some of the best in the Giants. Despite winning only three games last season, they lost two games to Philadelphia by eight points, with the first coming on a last-second 61-yard field goal by Jake Elliott. The second was 34-29 in a game New York trailed by two points entering the final quarter.The Giants also could be getting some key players back. Linebacker and leading pass rusher Olivier Vernon, who has yet to play because of a high ankle sprain, is very close to ready. Tight end Evan Engram, who missed the last two games with a sprained knee, was going to test his knee in practice on Tuesday. Both were limited.Engram watched the telecast of the game in Charlotte this past weekend and was encouraged.“There was a point in that game where maybe last year or the old DNA of this team would’ve given up or would’ve tapped out,” Engram said.Rookie halfback Saquon Barkley said the Giants scored 30 and left points on the field.“We got to continue to keep growing, continue to keep working and to be able to put up 30 points Kerry Wynn Color Rush Jersey ,” Barkley said. “I think that game showed it was the toughness, the grit, the passion that we played with as a team, and obviously the outcome wasn’t the way we wanted to be, but you could learn a lot of things from that game and take that game a long way.”NOTES: PK Aldrick Rosas, perfect on field goals and PATs this season, did not practice again because of a sore quad. The Giants have signed Marshall Koehn to their practice squad. He was in training camp. He was working for Randy’s Flooring in Coralville, Iowa when the Giants called Monday. “I looked at my phone because I was making a delivery and there were two calls from my dad, two from my mom and two more my agent. Everyone was freaking out.” Needless to say, he found his way to New Jersey. The Giants can wait until 4 p.m. on game day to active Koehn if needed. … LB Connor Barwin (knee) and WR Russell Shepard (neck) also did not practice. Barwin has been dealing with a knee issue all season.__ The New York Giants put together their first win streak of the season with a 38-35 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Big Blue improves to 3-7 on the season. Let’s take a look at what Giants players were saying following their third win of the season. Eli Manning on the momentum this team has ...“Yes, I think there is some excitement going around. It is good,” Manning said. “It is a good feeling to have in the locker room and you see some growth. You see the improvement. You see guys getting familiar with their spots and what they are doing. We never had a lot of screw ups, but it is just guys executing. The execution has been better and we are putting ourselves in better positions most of the time. We are not having the negative plays on first and second down. Still had some sacks on first and second down that hurt us a bit and pushed us back, but overall just executed better and put ourselves in better positions.” Odell Beckham Jr. on whether he has seen a change in Manning’s play ...“He’s always going to be Eli Manning, in my opinion,” Beckham said. “The offensive line is doing a good job at giving him some time, he’s striking them up. I don’t even know if he had an incompletion today or whatever the case is, but we’re just playing better as a team.” Landon Collins on maintaining the positive vibes ...“Honestly, we look at it as if we’re in every game,” Collins said. “Besides the Eagles game Will Hernandez Color Rush Jersey , we were in every game. We were one play away a lot of the time. One interception, one dropped pass, we look at it as that. We just gotta keep playing and we’ll turn it around eventually, and it looks like it is.” Spencer Pulley on the success of the run game the past two weeks ...“It’s something we looked at during the bye week as a group with the running backs, tight ends and everyone, and it’s something we really worked on,” Pulley said. “We’ve got a great quarterback, no doubt, but we don’t want to pass the ball 60 times in a game and drop back, it’s just us working together with Saquon (Barkley) and other backs, and just getting it done.”Alec Ogletree on his interception returned for a touchdown ...“I forgot what coverage we were in, but I saw Janoris kind of undercut the route,” Ogletree said. “I told him he should’ve caught it the first time. It would’ve been his pick, but he kind of bobbled it, and I was running to the ball and was able to get my hands on it and kind of scoop it, and get up. It was a good play, and it scored a touchdown for us.”