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Terrell Thomas knows the Giants have a lot of work left to do.

(Chris Faytok/The Star-Ledger via USA Today Sports)

The Giants seem to understand that two wins has kept the season on life support thanks to a bad division. They also know it hasn't even taken them out of last place in a bad division.

"We haven't done nothing yet. We're 2-6," cornerback Terrell Thomas said right before the Giants players left for the week. They aren't expected at the facility for practice until next Monday as they enter their bye week. "It feels great to have two wins. There are smiles around here, everyone is confident. This team has the makeup to make a run like this. We've been in this position before when our backs are against the wall."

Never quite like this though. The Giants have their worst record at the midway point since 1980. They finished 4-12 that season.

When the Giants players return to work, coach Tom Coughlin knows there are plenty of areas to improve. Two wins hasn't camouflaged the warts.

Coughlin noted the offensive line still has "work to be done." He said allowing special teams touchdowns has "got to cease." He mentioned the Giants need to find a way into the end zone more regularly. And these are just some of his concerns as the front office gets set for a week of self evaluation.

What the Giants do know right now is that they won a game they had to have on Sunday in Philadelphia. It would be a completely different situation (maybe one where several veterans would have been moved by Tuesday's trading deadline) if the Giants fell to 1-7, or if Dallas hadn't blown its game in the final seconds in Detroit.

"We knew full well that this was a really, really important game for us," Coughlin said. "Not only because we had the bye following, but because if we were going to have any chance to make a run -- and let's be frank, it's a very difficult schedule in the second half of the year -- we had to put ourselves in position here.

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"We had not won in the division. By winning in the division, that was an important thing. So I think there is some excitement. We're certainly not blind to the issues we do have, but at the same token we're excited about the opportunity to improve on those areas and excited about the second half of the year."

The second half of the year is where the Giants have an opportunity to do damage because, as Thomas noted after eight games, they haven't done anything yet aside from becoming an afterthought before the start of November.