A burning ship.It’s an image I can’t seem to get out of my head

after New York Giants coach Pat Shurmur said Customized New York Giants Jerseys , in discussing the team’s injured players, that “You burn the ships on every game.”With a 1-4 start to the 2018 season, the recent controversy over the remarks by Odell Beckham Jr., Lil Wayne’s blunt response to Eli Manning and those wondering why he was involved in the Beckham-Josina Anderson interview, and the release of a benched former first-round pick this week, you might think the ship that might be the Giants’ 2018 season is fully ablaze.Is it really, though? The Giants have the good fortune at this point of playing in the mediocre NFC East, where the 2-2 Washington Redskins lead the division. 1 - Washington Redskins (2-2)2 - Dallas Cowboys (2-3)3 - Philadelphia Eagles (2-3)4 - New York Giants (1-4)The Giants’ ship might not be completely on fire but it has taken on some water. The Giants, though, don’t appear to be looking for the life boats — yet. They are talking like a team determined to bail the water, patch the holes and try to things right this season.Tight end Evan Engram, who has a chance to play after missing the past two weeks with an MCL sprain, says the Giants are “well aware” of the standings and know that “this Thursday is a huge game for us.”The Giants have 11 games to play, and five of those are against division rivals. The first of those, of course, is Thursday night when the host the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles at MetLife Stadium.If they win that one, the Giants will be right in the middle of what Engram called a “pretty wide open” division.Giants coach Pat Shurmur isn’t focused on those standings.“That really has no effect on us right now. We have to go out and win a game. That is what it is, but it’s just another indication and I’ve been saying it all along, you just keep playing. You never know. I think the last two times that the Giants made the (playoffs), I think they were 9-7 www.authenticsnewyorkgiants.com , so we’ve just got to keep playing,” he said on Tuesday.Players, though, are aware of the standingsVeteran EDGE rusher Connor Barwin admitted the division’s mediocrity makes it easier to stay positive.“You’re still playing games that are meaningful, are very meaningful, with the way the division is playing out right now,” he said.Rookie running back Saquon Barkley said the Giants’ goals are still within reach:“I think everyone’s goal is to win a Super Bowl and that’s still in play and in my opinion, if you ask me, like you said I think we’re a game behind in the division and I know I haven’t been in the NFL for a long time, but I think if you win your division, you automatically go into the playoffs, so everything like I said before, that coach Shurmur said a couple weeks ago, everything that we want in our season is still there,” Barkley said.As his locker on Tuesday, Beckham put it this way:“I think you could take away everything that’s happened this season, I think the urgency is what it is right now. We know we need to win right now, regardless of our situation,” he said. “The mentality is to win each and every game and now there is a big opportunity ahead of us to be able to take control of our season and build from this even after the bad that we’ve had already. We can overcome it all starting with this game – not just one game, but starting with this game New York Giants T-Shirt , and going from there on.”The Giants feel like they are getting betterThat was Engram on Tuesday. And yes, it sounds a bit like pie-in-the-sky player speak, like what the Giants have to say with more that two-thirds of the season remaining. You get the sense, though, that they do believe they are on the upswing.“I don’t know if you watched us last weekend’s game, but 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. We fought,” Engram said. “Our confidence is up, our energy is up. We’re working our butts off, nobody has their head down or anything.”Beckham, after questioning the team’s heart and energy in his interview on ESPN, seemed optimistic on Tuesday.“Nobody in here likes to lose, we’re all tired of losing, we want to change that culture, atmosphere, whatever it is, because this is a place that has a lot of pride and we want to be able to be proud of what we display and do all those things,” Beckham said. “It was a big week for us. We took a big step. Unfortunately, we lost on a 63-yard field goal. If I had to lose on a 63-yard field goal, so be it. That’s impressive by that kicker to be able to do that with the game on the line and hit it. We’re taking steps in the right direction.” “This team is getting better every week,” Barwin said. “I think there’s still a lot of belief in this locker room right now. We’re all focused on getting better and finding a way to finish this Thursday night.”If they can New York Giants Hats , maybe, just maybe they can play some meaningful games the rest of the season. If not, it might be time to get those life rafts. Because, as Shurmur might say the Giants will be “Finito. Done.”Week 5 picks, predictions against the point spread [NOTE: Use this as your open thread to discuss today’s non-Giants action.]Last week’s picks got back over .500 (barely), but the season is still below that line. I found I’m apparently much better at picking the probabilities of winners, per FiveThirtyEight’s forecasting game, where I’m in the 85th percentile among pickers. The gap there doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, either. Two more teams — the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers — are on byes this week.Remember these picks are strictly for fun and entertainment purposes and please for your sake do not take these picks as gambling advice. Lines used here come from the Westgate Las Vegas via OddsShark. Home team in CAPS.NEW ENGLAND (-10.5) over IndianapolisThe Colts will be missing T.Y. Hilton, Marlon Mack, and Jack Doyle among others on Thursday night. The Patriots will be getting back Julian Edelman from a four-game suspension a week after a 38-7 blowout of the Miami Dolphins. Indianapolis’s defense is not remotely close to the pushover it was expected to be — the Colts are currently 10th in defensive DVOA — but it’s going to be hard for the team to keep it close against the Patriots in Foxborough.UPDATE: New England’s 38-24 victory on Thursday night got my week off to a good start.KANSAS CITY (-3) over JacksonvilleEach team’s strengths mirror the other’s in the matchup. The Chiefs have one of the league’s best offense, while the Jaguars have one of the league’s best defenses. Surprisingly Jacksonville is only 23rd in DVOA against opposing No. 1 receivers, but that’s not likely to continue throughout the season. One weakness Kansas City can exploit is Jacksonville’s struggle against tight ends — 17th in DVOA.Atlanta (+3) over PITTSBURGHPittsburgh is giving up 90.7 yards per game to opposing No. 1 receivers. Julio Jones is this week’s opposing No. 1 receiver. The Steelers haven’t been able to do much to stop opposing offenses and the Falcons offense finally looks like it’s clicking, despite the 1-3 record. Atlanta will one one of these shootouts eventually and this could be the week.JETS (-1) over DenverDenver is pretty good in all three phases of the game, while the Jets are among the best at two (defense and special teams) and pretty bad at the other (offense). With the Jets at home and defense so good so far, they should be able to keep this low scoring enough for the offense to take advantage and keep them in the game. Or the defense can take over and score all the points for them. Case Keenum has the second-highest interception rate among quarterbacks this season (highest among current starters — sorry, Sam Bradford). Green Bay (-1) over DETROITGreen Bay will likely be without Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison, but that might not really matter that much. Even if Darius Slay can shut down Davante Adams, the offense can still probably go. The Packers are better than the Lions just about everywhere else on the field. There could be a higher volume of Aaron Jones and Ty Montgomery or Jimmy Graham. The Lions are 22nd or worse covering every skill position.Baltimore (-3) over CLEVELANDBaltimore has arguably the league’s best passing defense — a league-low 4.2 AN/A allowed — and they’ll be getting Jimmy Smith back from a suspension. Baker Mayfield has been fun and the Browns probably should have won in Oakland, but this will be a tough ask for the rookie quarterback and the rest of the Browns offense — mainly the rest of the Browns offense.CAROLINA (-7) over GiantsCarolina is home. Carolina has a good mobile quarterback. The Giants have struggled to stop those. Carolina’s defense hasn’t been what it’s been lately New York Giants Hoodie , but the Giants offense hasn’t shown anything to prove they could take advantage of that. CINCINNATI (-6.5) over MiamiCincinnati might be legitimately good, while Miami could be one of those teams that had a good start then fall back to Earth. One place where the Dolphins offense has struggled is keeping Ryan Tannehill upright even while pressure hasn’t been consistent. Tannehill’s sack rate (7.8 percent) is 26th among quarterbacks and the Bengals have one of the deepest and most dangerous pass rushes in the leagues, even if the sacks haven’t gotten there just yet.CHARGERS (-6.5) over OaklandThe Chargers still have one of the league’s best offenses and that’s been enough to get them through games this season. The Raiders offense has been surprisingly above average over the past few weeks, but the Chargers have been significantly better while both defenses have been around the same. With Mike Williams now breaking through in his role, the Chargers have options that can beat any defense across the field and doing that to Oakland’s won’t be a high bar to clear.Arizona (+4) over SAN FRANCISCOJosh Rosen didn’t have great numbers in his debut, but he also didn’t have a bad game. There were some deep dimes that were dropped, but those should inspire optimism going forward. San Francisco has struggled on defense this year and the offense looked poor in C.J. Beathard’s first start whenever George Kittle wasn’t running free. While Arizona’s defensive personnel usage should be questioned — Haason Reddick has played 30 defensive snaps this season — the defense really hasn’t been that bad. This should be a game the Cardinals can at least keep close.Rams (-7) over SEATTLEThere’s nothing any team can do to stop the Rams offense right now. It’s clicking in a rare way. Los Angeles leads the league in yards per drive at 50.1 and the No. 2 team, Kansas City, is at 41.7 (though the Chiefs are well ahead in points per drive — 3.45 to 3.15). There’s a lot of pieces to like on Seattle’s defense — currently sixth in DVOA — but handling this offense would be a tough task even with Earl Thomas. Then we can take into account the Rams still have a top-10 defense going against a Seahawks offense that’s struggled to do much of anything.Minnesota (+3) over PHILADELPHIABoth of these teams have been disappointing compared to preseason projections. Philadelphia did have to start two games of the non-Super Bowl hero version of Nick Foles, which isn’t easy. Minnesota doesn’t really have an excuse. Both of these teams should be better than they’re currently playing — Minnesota is just 25th in DVOA — or maybe we just get a disappointing dud on Sunday. Either way, it could be close.Dallas (+3.5) over HOUSTONHouston continues to look better than its 1-3 record, but at the same time, should they be favored by 3.5 points over anyone? Dallas has been able to pull through some ugly games and Houston feels like they almost want to play ugly by choice, for no reason at all. Houston should handle this game, but I just don’t trust Bill O’Brien to make that happen.Washington (+6.5) over NEW ORLEANSWashington is a sneaky good team. They’ve only played three games because Week 4 byes are a thing for some reason, but they’re seventh in yards per drive and 13th in points per drive on offense and fifth in yards allowed per drive and fourth in points allowed per drive on defense. If Cincinnati doesn’t have the most underrated pass rush in the league, Washington does. The Saints are good, but might not be the world beaters most of us thought they’d be coming into the season, especially with a defense that still ranks 29th in DVOA. Last week: 7-6-2Season: 26-33-4