It’s amazing what a couple of wins can do for a team after a

Crazy as it may sound Andrew Adams Color Rush Jersey , the New York Giants are starting to believe they have a chance to make a run at the playoffs. start.Saquon Barkley ran for a career-high 142 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Giants held off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-35 on Sunday to win consecutive games for the first time since December 2016.“I think there is some excitement going around,” said Eli Manning , who hit 17 of 18 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns. “It is good. It is a good feeling to have in the locker room and you see some growth. You see the improvement.”What the Giants (3-7) are doing is making plays and finishing. The running game has picked up and it’s opened up the passing game, and the defense is forcing turnovers. The group intercepted four passes in sending the Bucs (3-7) to their fourth straight loss with linebacker Alec Ogletree returning one 15 yards for a touchdown.“I just know that we’re playing better and I just love to see these guys in here after the game with smiles on their faces,” said receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who caught an 8-yard touchdown pass. “We just put it all together, so it’s always a lot more fun when you win.”Playing in the NFC East also helps increase the belief the Giants are not dead.Washington, which fell to Houston and lost quarterback Alex Smith for the season to a broken leg, leads the division with a 6-4 record. No other team has a winning record.“We’ve got a long way to go, there are a lot of things we’ve got to get better at, but if we can just keep battling and fighting, who knows?” coach Pat Shurmur said. “That would be a fun thing for everybody to write about.”The Giants never trailed as Manning found a wide-open Barkley on a 6-yard TD pass on the opening series, and the No. 2 overall pick in the draft scored from 5 yards out on the second possession to give New York the lead for good.“We’re finishing games and we’re finishing drives, and that’s what we weren’t doing in the first half of the season,” Barkley said of his first winning streak as a pro.Tampa Bay made things interesting after Jameis Winston replaced a turnover-plagued Ryan Fitzpatrick in the third quarter and led four touchdown drives. The last score came on a 41-yard pass to Mike Evans with 2:22 to play and got the Bucs within 38-35.The Bucs got the ball back at their 20 with 23 seconds to play, but B.W. Webb intercepted Winston’s long throw down the sideline to ice the win.After Tampa Bay got within 31-28, Manning, whose only incompletion came on a short pass to Barkley late in the second quarter, connected with tight end Evan Engram on a 54-yard pass and run on the second play after the kickoff, and Barkley capped the drive with a 2-yard run with 3:52 to play.The Winston-to-Evans TD pass closed the gap to three points again.“It hurts me when I have to see my team lose a game because I turned the ball over,” Winston said. “And I’m sure it hurts Fitz. And I’m sure it hurts anyone that has a hand in what they believe led the other team to winning. That’s our main focus. We have to find a way to win.”Fitzpatrick scored on a fourth-down 1-yard run for the Tampa Bay, which squandered a chance to score on its opening possession when Fitzpatrick was stopped on a quarterback sneak inside the Giants’ 5.Evans recovered a fumble in the end zone in the third quarter to start the comeback, Peyton Barber tallied from 5 yards out and Adam Humphrie s and Evans caught TD passes in the fourth quarter to get the Bucs within three points twice.Winston finished 12 of 16 for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Barber rushed for 106 yards on 18 carries. Evans had six catches for 120 yards. Fitzpatrick was 13 of 21 for 167 and the three interceptions.INJURIESBuccaneers TE O.J. Howard left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. Giants DL Kerry Wynn left the game in the second half with a concussion.WELCOME SACKJason Pierre-Paul Wayne Gallman Color Rush Jersey , the Giants’ 2010 first-round draft pick, returned to face his old team for the first time since being traded in the spring. He had 1陆 of the Bucs’ four sacks. He helped Manning up after the first sack.“I just said to him: ‘Get up, stop falling,’ but no, I was just helping him up because that used to be my old teammate and I’m not trying to hurt him, I’m just trying to play football and have good sportsmanship,” Pierre-Paul said.Kareem Martin had the Giants’ first and only sack in the last three games.UP NEXTBuccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.Giants: Travel to Philadelphia to face the Eagles on Sunday. The 2018 season is in the rearview mirror for the New York Giants. We have spent much of the week talking about the future at quarterback, and we certainly will spend more time doing that over the next few months.There are, however, other positions on a football team and other decisions the Giants have to make. Let’s begin position-by-position reviews with a look at tight end. We will look back at what transpired in 2018, discuss the choices the organization has to make and what the position might look like in 2019.2018 review2018 roster: Evan Engram, Rhett Ellison, Scott Simonson, Hakeem Valles (practice squad/IR)As we look at the tight end position, let’s first look at how the Giants employed their tight ends in 2018. Last January, we wondered how Pat Shurmur would use tight ends. Well, the Giants used ‘12’ personnel, one running back and two tight ends, on 24 percent of their offensive snaps. Only five teams used that alignment more frequently. So, the position was important to their offense.That deployment made sense with Evan Engram being able to split out and function at times as a pseudo-wide receiver, and with the Giants really struggling to find a consistent third wide receiver. It also made sense at times to use Rhett Ellison and Scott Simonson in heavier sets to run block for Saquon Barkley.Here is how the Giants aligned Engram in 2018, per Pro Football Focus:Inline — 243 snaps (51.1 percent)Slot — 169 snaps (35.6 percent)Wide — 57 snaps (12 percent)Backfield — 6 snaps (1.3 percent)This was not a great season for Engram. He played in only 11 games as a knee injury sidelined him for three games and a hamstring injury cost him two more. Some speculated during the middle portion of the season that Engram was a disappointment and the Giants might look to trade their 2017 first-round pick this offseason. Engram and Odell Beckham Jr. are the only Jerry Reese first-round picks remaining on the Giants’ roster, so perhaps that speculation was understandable.Engram Jon Halapio Color Rush Jersey , though, became a primary focus of the passing attack over the final four games. He made 22 of his 45 receptions and had his four highest yardage totals of the season in those games.Engram said he “just kind of stayed the course” throughout the season.“I just wanted to finish strong,” Engram said. “Just take advantage of the opportunities that I got, and to just keep getting better and keep taking steps as a player and a better playmaker.”For the second straight season Ellison, better known for his blocking, set career highs in receptions (25) and yards receiving (272). Simonson, who had only one reception in 18 career games prior to this season, played in all 16 games and had nine receptions. Simonson did, however, commit seven penalties in 217 snaps. Right guard Jamon Brown (eight penalties in 509 snaps) was the only offensive player to commit more.2018 Tight End ProductionNameTargetsReceptionsPct. CaughtYardsTouchdownsYards/ReceptionDropsPasser RatingNameTargetsReceptionsPct. CaughtYardsTouchdownsYards/ReceptionDropsPasser Rating2019 look aheadRather than moving on from Engram, the Giants should really be figuring out more ways to utilize him. Especially when Odell Beckham Jr. is in the lineup. In both of Engram’s NFL seasons, his role in the offense has spiked when Beckham has been hurt. To take another step on offense, the Giants need to find more ways to incorporate the talents of both players.These are the kinds of things Engram can do for the Giants:The Giants do have decisions to make in regards to whether Ellison and Simonson are back next season.Ellison is a good player and a Shurmur favorite. He will, however, be 31 next season, has probably reached the peak of his production as a receiver, and carries a 5.75 million cap hit that is high for what he brings to the table. The Giants could save $3.25 million against the salary cap by cutting him, $4.5 million if they designate him a post-June 1 cut.Simonson can be a restricted free agent. He is a similar player to Ellison and a less expensive one, so perhaps his fate is tied to whether or not the Giants bring Ellison back.If the Giants move on from Ellison they will likely need to add a player at this spot. Considering all of the other needs the Giants have, though, it doesn’t seem likely that they would spend big free agent dollars or a high draft choice to add to the tight end spot.