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He knows what he knows and he knows how it looks, which is why Chris Snee cannot fault anyone for giving up on the Giants.
“I still believe we’re a good football team,’’ said Snee, the sturdy right guard finishing up his ninth season. “Listen, I know everyone has the right to think that we’re not, based on the last two games, I understand that, but we’re going to try to end this thing on a good note and hopefully things will work in our favor.’’
If the Giants live for another day it will be because things work out in their favor so fortuitously an investigation might be in order. Losing in Atlanta (34-0) and Baltimore (33-14) the past two games has made the playoffs an almost laughable destination for the Giants, who today need four games to go their way — starting with their tussle with the down-and-out Eagles at MetLife Stadium.
The way the Giants have operated, shooing away these flightless Birds will be a chore. If they do, and if the Lions beat the Bears, the Packers beat the Vikings and the Redskins beat or tie the Cowboys, the Giants slip into the postseason as the NFC No. 6 seed, alive to attempt another Super Bowl run. Far more realistically, figure by tomorrow they are packing up for good, leaving behind a season of extreme disappointment.
A look inside the game:
BEST BATTLE
Eagles RB LeSean McCoy vs. Giants LB Chase Blackburn: Of course this won’t be a one-on-one confrontation, but Blackburn is on the field to stop the run, something the Giants have failed to do with alarming regularity. Three months ago, McCoy ran for a season-high 123 yards on the Giants. He returned last week after sitting four games with a concussion. If in gear, he can embarrass this confused Giants defense.
TRENDING
Andy Reid is 17-13 vs. the Giants, and lately he has had no trouble beating down coach Tom Coughlin’s team. The Eagles have won eight of the last nine games in this series, four years’ worth of domination.
BLINDERS ON?
At the same time the Giants are playing, the goings-on in Detroit will be of keen interest, as the scenario for the Giants to get into the playoffs calls for the Lions beating the Bears. What happens if players at MetLife Stadium glance up and see a first-quarter score of Bears 14, Lions 0?
“I’m usually in tune with the game, so I usually don’t look at the scores unless it’s the end of the game and we already have it won decisively,’’ Mathias Kiwanuka said. “For the position we’re in for this team, that shouldn’t matter, whether they put the scores up or not. We have to much more to play for. Pride is a good thing, so no matter how the scenarios work out.’’
FOR THE BIRDS
No one can honestly say they know what to expect out of the Eagles, a franchise not accustomed to being 4-11 and on the brink of enormous changes, with Reid about to get fired after 14 years. Quarterback Michael Vick, who is not expected to return, dusts himself off after not playing for seven weeks, needed only because Nick Foles has a broken right hand. The Eagles might be inspired to send Reid out a winner, or at the first sign of adversity they might cave in, considering they have lost 10 of their last 11 games.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
The Giants have been here before, awaiting a regular-season finale knowing they need a lot of help to make the postseason. It happened in 2010, when they went down to Washington, beat the Redskins 17-14 and then learned they were eliminated even though they finished 10-6. That prompted Tom Coughlin’s locker room “kiss my [butt]’’ message to his team, directed at those who viewed the season as a failure.
“We finished the season on a high note, but we still were on the outside looking in,’’ Chris Canty recalled. “Usually 10-6 is good enough to get you into the postseason, but it wasn’t that year and that was tough. But we had a positive performance, and it was something that we were able to build on and we carried that into the next season. And we all know what happened.’’
LAST ROUNDUP?
Veteran players getting up there in age, performance level dropping, team not winning. It’s a combination that signals change and, one year removed from the Super Bowl, bet on general manager Jerry Reese making some difficult roster decisions in the offseason. Could this be it for Osi Umenyiora, David Diehl, Michael Boley, Blackburn or Corey Webster?
“There’s going to be a lot of guys that’s gone next year and you just never know who’s going to be going,’’ Ahmad Bradshaw said. “It could be me. It could be anybody. You’ve just got to praise the time that you got with the guys here.’’
paul.schwartz@nypost.com