EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- This is cruel, but not unusual, punishment.

The Giants have convinced themselves and their fans that they're back in playoff contention.

All they have to do is something they haven't done all season, twice.

The Giants have to beat two teams heading to the playoffs -- first the Indianapolis Colts in the RCA Dome on Sunday, then the Eagles at home on Dec. 28. In addition, they must pray for a little help from their friends to sneak past the New Orleans Saints or the Atlanta Falcons and grab one of the two NFC wild-card slots.

And that's just about where they were last year.

	Amani Toomer's fumble against the Eagles helped end the Giants' postseason dreams in 2001.

Left for dead, they rallied for two victories. They just needed to beat Philadelphia, on the road, and then Green Bay and hope that the Eagles lost to Tampa Bay, and they would take the NFC East title -- their only playoff hope.

But they fell behind Philadelphia on David Akers' 35-yard field goal with seven seconds to play and found themselves 80 yards away with just one, last desperate chance.

They called "76 Lambuth Special."

Tiki Barber took a short pass from Kerry Collins and flipped the ball to Ron Dixon, the speed racer from Lambuth University, who crossed the field and tracked down the sideline. He was just steps from the end zone when Damon Moore knocked him out of bounds at the 4-yard line.

Are the Giants setting themselves and their fans up for one more big tease?

"We don't think it's that," Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi said, admitting this year's scramble is very much like the last one. "We think we have a chance. Nothing that's got to happen is any more unbelievable than what happened last Sunday."

Last weekend, while the Giants were just starting to pound the Dallas Cowboys, they got word that the Saints, playing at home, had lost to Minnesota on a two-point conversion in the final seconds. And that the Falcons, also at home, had lost to Seattle in overtime after missing their own game-winning field goal in the extra session.

So Accorsi and his team have reason to believe.

"I'm grateful," he said. "People are excited around here. There's something about being in contention. It's exciting to be alive."

	“	We think we have a chance. Nothing that's got to happen is any more unbelievable than what happened last Sunday. ”
		— Giants GM Ernie Accorsi, on the team's playoff chances

But there's no reason for their species to be so endangered.

They have lost six games. Five of them could have or should have gone the other way. Flip just one of them, especially the one against Atlanta when the Falcons were playing without Michael Vick and Dixon fumbled away a chance at a tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and the Giants would control their own playoff destiny. Flip two, and they'd be cruising. "When you look back, it is frustrating," said cornerback Will Peterson, who will share the responsibility for stopping Marvin Harrison, the Colts' record-setting receiver, this weekend. "We should have won more. You ask, 'What went wrong?' We're a better team than that."

Jim Fassel always implies that his team's dire straits can be pinned on Accorsi's failure to bring in any new players before the season, or on injuries that took Keith Hamilton off the defense and Ike Hilliard away from the offense.

But Michael Strahan made the Pro Bowl again. Jeremy Shockey, the rookie tight end, joined him. Barber, their all-around weapon, was voted as an alternate. And Amani Toomer has posted a fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season. So the talent is there.

If they are on the brink of elimination, it's Fassel's fault.

The coach who took the Giants to the Super Bowl two years ago has had an awful season on the sidelines, with too many questionable calls that cost his team too many crucial games.

He mismanaged the clock in a season-opening loss to San Francisco, so his team never had a chance to come back from the 49ers' game-winning field goal. He called for a foolish pass in the flat in the closing seconds of the first half in Arizona, a pass that was picked off and returned for a touchdown that turned the game around. And he couldn't get his team into the end zone late in the fourth quarter against Tennessee, settling for a field goal that left just enough room for the Titans to rally back with a touchdown and two-point conversion that set up the Giants' overtime defeat.

Throw in an unforgivable loss to the expansion Houston Texans, when the coach didn't have his team ready to play, and Fassel has no excuses.

No matter what kind of season they were supposed to have, they so easily could have been so much better.

"It drives you nuts," Accorsi said. "You replay everything, every play of every loss."

Now they need to beat the Colts and the Eagles, and watch the scoreboard.

Cruel, but not unusual.

Another Giant tease in the making.