"There is no finger on the panic button - at least not yet. That's what Tom Coughlin has stressed to his team all week: that the Giants are still in pretty good position at the top of the NFC East standings, as they join the Yankees in invading Philadelphia Sunday. There's no reason to be worried, even after two straight crushing defeats.

"We have a half-game lead in the division and we have absolutely nothing to be moping around about," Coughlin said. "A loss is a loss. Move on. You have to bounce back."

It's really as simple as that as the Giants (5-2) get back into division play this afternoon against the Philadelphia Eagles (4-2). At another time, this game might have been a grudge match for the Giants, who were punched out of the playoffs by the Eagles last year at home in the divisional round. But they've got more important issues to deal with now, such as a defense that was humiliated in a 48-27 loss in New Orleans two weeks ago, then gave up a few too many big passing plays in a 24-17 loss to Arizona last Sunday night. And an offense that has been out of sync for two weeks, directed by a quarterback who is in a two-game slump.

Those are significant issues for a team that was 5-0 and isn't exactly used to losing. The Giants are on just their third two-game losing streak in the last three seasons, and they haven't lost three straight since a four-game slide in November and December of 2006.

That's one of the reasons Coughlin met with his 13-player Leadership Council on Wednesday, just to make sure his team's psyche was okay. He made sure to tell his team before its first practice of the week that, "Look, you can't do anything about yesterday. But what you do today can help you for tomorrow."

"I don't think we needed coach Coughlin to tell us that," said linebacker Antonio Pierce. "It doesn't matter if we were in last place. We're playing the Philadelphia Eagles, the team that knocked us out of the playoffs two of the last three years. There's nothing you need to say."

It does help that the Giants are going to Philly, and not just because of those playoff losses to the Birds. In some ways, they are the perfect opponent for a Giants team looking to bust out of a slump. Eli Manning has had some of his best career games in Philly, including a career-high 371-yard performance there in 2006. In fact, he's undefeated in Philadelphia (4-0) in the regular season; his lone loss there came in the 2006 playoffs."