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Eli On WFAN: Giants Will Play Hard Right To The End, Pray For Help

NEW YORK (WFAN) -- The playoffs are likely a long shot for the Giants, but Eli Manning says his team will play like it has a chance right up until the moment the math says otherwise.

The Giants trail Philadelphia and Dallas by two games atop the NFC East with four to play -- and none of those four will be easy. Big Blue next travels to San Diego, which has playoff aspirations of its own; hosts maybe the best team in football, Seattle, next week; and then travels to Detroit and hosts Washington to end the season.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning

The Giants have made strides since starting the season 0-6. Manning told WFAN's Mike Francesa on Monday that he's happy with his football team even if it ultimately falls short of its preseason goal.

"I've been proud of this team so far, just the way we have responded to kind of everything that has happened to us," Manning said. "We've stuck together and we've stayed confident in each other and rallied around each other to get to this point, and to win five of our last six and keep this season going and be proud of what we are doing."

New York kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a 24-17 win in Washington on Sunday night. And while the Giants haven't really been facing the league's elite of late -- the combined record of their last six opponents is 29-41-2 -- they more or less beat teams they were supposed to beat.

"We are just going to do what we have to do until the very end, until they say, hey, we don't have a shot to make the playoffs. The only way right now to insure that we don't get in is if we lose," Manning said.

"Obviously winning five of our last six and the Dallas game it went right down to the wire and we felt we had a great chance to win that one. We feel like we're making improvements. We are finding ways to stay in games and win games in the fourth quarter. It's good to see this team get that feeling back," Manning added.

The Giants will have their hands full this weekend with the Chargers, who are just one game out of the final playoff spot in the AFC.

"They are teams that we don't play all that often," Manning said. "San Diego, we have to start watching a lot of film. It's a West Coast trip going out there to play. They've won some close games, scored a lot of points in some games. We know they are very talented and do some good things on defense."

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