German_Force » PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The champions got their swagger back

.After a pair of tough losses Authentic Corey Ballentine Jersey , the Philadelphia Eagles rebounded with a dominant performance on the road against a division rival and dismissed talk of a Super Bowl hangover.Carson Wentz and Co. aren’t going anywhere. They proved it in a 34-13 victory over the New York Giants on Thursday night. The Eagles (3-3) are still frontrunners in the NFC East, and they’re determined to make another long run.“Having let a couple games slip through our hands, and this is what I love about the team, the players don’t panic,” coach Doug Pederson said Friday. “The players are resilient. The players know. Players are smart. You guys are around them. They understand what’s going on. They see it. They hear it. They read about it. They see it on television. And then as coaches, we point stuff out.”Several of the team’s weaknesses were exposed during the first five weeks, especially in consecutive close losses to Tennessee (26-23 in overtime) and Minnesota (23-21). The offensive line had trouble protecting Wentz. The defensive line couldn’t get enough pressure on quarterbacks. The secondary gave up a lot of yards passing.But they put it all together against the struggling Giants and showed flashes of the team that dominated the NFC on its way to winning the Super Bowl last season.“When I talk about ownership, the guys have to take it upon themselves to make the necessary changes to fix,” Pederson said. “Our behavior has to change, right? Our standards have to change just a little bit. They have to elevate just a little bit. And I can stand up here and talk to the team until I’m blue in the face, but until they realize it, until they take ownership of it, until they sort of embrace it, it probably won’t change.“And what I saw the last couple of weeks is they’re saying and doing the right things. They’re showing up to practice every day. They’re not complaining about a short week. They’re not making excuses for injury. And that’s what our culture has established. That’s what a veteran sort of led team can establish, and they’ve embraced that, and they’ve risen to the challenge Lawrence Taylor Jerseys 2019 , and I think they’d had enough, and quite honestly, they rose to the occasion last night and played well in all three phases.”Now the Eagles have a few extra days of rest to prepare for a home game against Carolina in Week 7. It’ll give players more time to heal from injuries.Nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters left the game with a biceps injury. Pederson said the medical staff is still evaluating the extent of his injury but the early indication is positive.Cornerback Sidney Jones is week-to-week after he sustained a hamstring injury.Veteran running back Darren Sproles missed his fifth straight because of a hamstring injury and he could return next week. The Eagles lost Jay Ajayi for the remainder of the season after he tore an ACL against the Vikings.Wendell Smallwood (18 carries for 51 yards) and Corey Clement (11 carries for 43 yards, one touchdown) handled primary running duties. Personnel boss Howie Roseman could make a deal before the October 30 deadline.“Both these guys are determined runners. They run hard. They run aggressive. They’re really good backs for us,” Pederson said. “A lot of confidence in both of those guys, and what they do, very versatile. And it’s just two guys that really take their job serious and feel like they have to prove something every single day, and that’s what you want out of your players, that they’re out there proving themselves over and over because it just makes them better and it makes us better as an offense. I’ve been real encouraged by both those guys.” EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Call Odell Beckham Jr. the eternal optimist.When the New York Giants‘ flashy wide receiver was asked Friday what he hoped his 1-7 team would do for the remainder of the season, Beckham didn’t pull any punches.“I think the goal is to win eight games, go 9-7 and go to the playoffs,” Beckham said.Even though no NFL team has ever pulled off such a comeback?“It’s not an easy task,” Beckham added. “But that’s the goal. We want to win every game and I want to do everything I can to help that. The Giants have been there before, gone 9-7 and got into the playoffs. Anything is possible. It’s not impossible to win eight games. It wasn’t impossible to lose seven. Anything can happen.”Beckham remained upbeat as his team prepared to face the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, California on Monday night. He was certain his team is ready to turn it around White Carl Banks Jerseys , albeit in miraculous fashion — provided the Giants do a better job of scoring touchdowns.“We’ve lost a lot of close games that we just didn’t pull through,” Beckham said. “We know what situations we’re in when we are in those close games. We just haven’t found a way to pull them through. It’s easy to sit up here and be like we want to win eight games knowing that it’s very tough to do. You just got to pull it all together now.“I know we’re not in a very good situation, but you just got to make the most out of that.”Beckham signed a five-year, $95 million contract, with approximately $65 million guaranteed, during training camp in August, so he’s the new face of the franchise moving forward. He was asked if he felt he had any pressure to be the one who kick-starts the offense.“Not any more than I ever have,” said Beckham, who has caught 61 passes for 785 yards and two touchdowns this season. “Hopefully I can start catching some of these things and start taking them to the crib, making bigger plays. I put more on myself.Whatever happens is what’s going to happen, but I know that my mentality is not going to be to quit. I’m not going to be out there not trying to go hard every play. Any chance that I get, that’s just always how I’m going to be.”Beckham was also asked if the Giants could eliminate some problems in scoring touchdowns once they get inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.“I think that any chance I get, and all of us get a chance to take something to the house, it’s time to go,” he said. “There’s no more holding back, playing it safe Carl Banks Jerseys 2019 , or waiting for the next play, because you don’t know if you’re going to have a next play, and that’s just the mentality we have to take. Any chance I get now, and I catch one of these slants, there’s no motion wasted. It’s just got to be somebody has got to come catch me. You trust your training, you trust your speed — somebody has got to come catch me. I’m trying as much as I can to make these plays, explosive plays, and we all need to do that.”Fellow wideout Sterling Shepard also recognizes his team’s struggles in the red zone.“Explosive plays are always good themselves, but if you can take them all the way, then that obviously is better for the team,” said Shepard, who has 40 receptions for 542 yards and two touchdowns. “You just take them as they come and some of them will pop, some of them won’t, but an explosive play all around is good for the team. I think it’s we’re just not being assignment sound. I feel like one guy is always off or two guys off when we get into the red zone, and that can kill your chances of scoring.”Beckham Jr. is befuddled why the Giants aren’t scoring more.“Not to say that the opportunities haven’t been there, but they’ve been limited White Phil McConkey Jerseys ,” he noted.But Beckham feels the tide is about to turn for him personally.“I don’t know, but towards the back end of the season, I feel like I do better,” Beckham said. “As the season goes on, people’s bodies start to break down. I really try to maintain and I really try to be better than I was in Week 1 or Week 10. I feel a lot stronger going in towards the back end of the season. I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life. Now, it’s just time to do that.”NOTES: Coming off a bye, the Giants had a full team at practice Friday. WR Jawill Davis (concussion), who had been out, returned to practice, so he will more than likely be the Giants’ main return option on punts and kickoffs Monday. Starting LB Alec Ogletree (hamstring) returned to practice, as did OT Chad Wheeler (ankle). . Olivier Vernon said that there was no difference in preparing to face 49ers QB Nick Mullens, who will be making the second start of his pro career. “We have to disrupt him and make him feel uncomfortable,” Vernon said. “There’s not a whole lot of film to watch on him, so we just have to have the mindset to get after him and get him out of a comfort zone.”