Tired Giants trying to get back on schedule

Ever since they left Lincoln Financial Field on Nov. 21, saddled with a 10-point loss to the Eagles, the key phrase used by Tom Coughlin and the Giants has been "keeping pace."

They needed to stay within striking distance of the Eagles for the NFC East title. They needed to match strides with the other teams fighting for possible wild-card spots.

The team has won three games in a row since that loss to improve to 9-4, but this week, despite "keeping pace" in the standings, they have found themselves falling behind.

Thanks to their unexpected Monday night game against the Vikings in Detroit and the rigmarole it took to get them there and back, the Giants have been forced to play catch-up in preparation for the biggest game of their season.

"We aren't in our normal routine, obviously," Tom Coughlin said Tuesday, about 12 hours after the team landed in New Jersey from its bizarre weekend journey. "It's not the same."

Coughlin said the Giants' coaching staff was able to use some of the time during the day Monday preparing for the Eagles. But because of the unpredictable nature of their trip, they hadn't brought along all of the materials necessary to do a complete and thorough work-up. Coughlin also sounded upset about the idle time wasted Saturday when the team was "waiting for the assignment of the exact schedule that we would keep.

"We did get some work done," he said, "and we're trying to make up for the rest of it right now."

It's not the way the Giants want to go into what might be their most significant regular-season game since they played the Panthers for the NFC's top seed near the end of the 2008 season.

The Giants and Eagles are tied atop the division, with the Eagles already holding a head-to-head win as a tiebreaker. If the Giants lose to the Eagles, it would be almost impossible for them to make up the ground with only two weeks left in the season. If the Giants win, they would appear to have the rail on the sprint to the finish.

"We all know first place in the division is at stake," Coughlin said. "What both teams have done . . . is to give themselves an opportunity to be in position right now to play for the lead. That's where we are. It is of huge significance. It is the kind of game you want to be playing in the middle of December in the National Football League."

Besides missing valuable prep time in the meeting rooms, the Giants also are trying to shake off the physical weariness of their travel adventure. Coughlin said it looked as if the special-teams players had "heavy legs" Monday night, and he noted the lack of sharpness in Eli Manning's performance, perhaps because of the fatigue of the road. And he also noted his own somewhat diminished energy level throughout the day Tuesday.

"There's no way to catch up when you go to bed at 4 and you get up at 7:30," he said. "That's probably where everybody is today."

To that end, the Giants will push their schedule back Wednesday, allowing the players to sleep a little later. They will practice in the evening rather than the usual 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays, and that workout will be what Coughlin called "a little bit better than a jog-through."

"That's how we'll catch up," he said. "I think by Wednesday night we will be on our normal schedule."