The New York Giants started the 2014 season 0-2. After being defeated handily, 35-14, by the Detroit Lions and losing a sloppy, 25-14, affair to an Arizona Cardinals team led by back-up quarterback Drew Stanton, the Giants looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL. Three straight victories later, the Giants suddenly look like playoff contenders in an NFC East division that looks like one of the league’s best.  Whether the Giants are playoff material is still to be answered, and a quick glance at the schedule tells us we’ll know a lot about the Giants in their next six games.

New York’s next six include games on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks, and tough home match-ups against the Indianapolis Colts, San Francisco 49ers and Cowboys. If the Giants are going to be contenders in the NFC, this is the stretch where they’ll prove it.

While the Giants had some things to work out on defense, the biggest question marks early on were on offense. Could Eli Manning rebound from his career-worst and league high 27-interception nightmare of a 2013 season? Could the Giants’ offensive line, which was among the NFL’s worst in 2013 and looked shaky at best during the preseason, find a way to gel? Could the Giants’ young receivers get on the same page with Manning? Through two weeks, the answer to that question seemed to be no. But since their Week 2 loss, the Giants have scored 105 points during their three-game win streak and the team has sustained drives in a way they never could in 2013.

“I think just having a better understanding of what we’re trying to do from an offensive standpoint [has helped],” Manning explained. “Getting in and out of plays and adjustments, having everyone understand what the flow of the game is going to be, how quick we’ve got to push the tempo or a no-huddle. The adjustments we make and just playing right, playing a little bit faster, and just understanding the offense. I think that’s been the biggest difference. We’re starting to make some plays and do some good things, and we’re just staying patient when things don’t go well. We’ve had good plays, we’ve had things going better so we can stay patient and not get all uptight and worry [because], eventually, we’ll start making some plays and start scoring more points.”

If the Giants are going to continue their strong play, they’re going to need to continue to push the offense forward. While the Giants’ offensive line has played light years better than most thought they would coming into the season, they have yet to face defenses like the Seahawks and Niners, and they certainly haven’t had to contend with the noise of Century Link Field, which could affect Manning’s at-the-line adjustments.

The Giants offense got a boost yesterday when they finally got their first-round draft pick, Odell Beckham Jr. on the field and he responded in a big way with four catches for 44 yards and a late touchdown to help lift the Giants to victory at home against Atlanta. It was obvious from the second he entered the game that Beckham Jr. has the speed and playmaking ability to make the offense even more dangerous than it has looked the previous two weeks.

“He is certainly going to add a lot to our weapons and our opportunities,” said Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. “For the first time back and for not having the preseason and all of those types of things, the athleticism was obvious to everybody and his speed will have to be reckoned with.”

The biggest question mark for the Giants’ offense today might be the health of starting running back Rashad Jennings. Jennings left Sunday’s game with a left knee injury he and the Giants believe isn’t serious, but he’ll have an MRI to be sure. Rookie back Andre Williams has been strong in relief of Jennings, including finishing out the victory over Atlanta with some very tough runs, but the Giants’ rushing attack will suffer if they miss Jennings for any amount of time.

The Giants want to prove they have what it takes to win the NFC East in 2014, and this tough stretch will tell a lot about the team. The Giants’ next six will either leave them in position to win the NFC East or in a spot where the playoffs are a long shot.

Like a lot of coaches, Coughlin likes to break the season  into quarters. After a 2-2 start in the season’s first quarter, Coughlin knew the effort and the execution would need to keep improving for his team to have a chance in the NFC.

“Here we are off of the Thursday night game and we come back and there are three games until the bye. We are headed into the second quarter of the season, and I expect us to get better and better as we go along here,” Coughlin said about the state of his team. “The message is execution and elimination of mental errors. We are late into the season, so we shouldn’t be seeing any of that any more. The focus and the way we practice has to be better.”

Coughlin is 100 percent right. While the Giants have been impressive over the last three weeks, they have to be better if they hope to make the playoffs out of the NFC East. The East is there to be won, but it’s going to take some good football to win it. While the Eagles, Cowboys and Giants all have some warts, the three are all finding ways to win football games, and it’s unlikely that two wild cards come out of any one division in the NFC.

The next two weeks, in particular, are critical for Coughlin’s bunch. At 3-2, the Giants are a game behind both the Eagles and Cowboys, who are both 4-1. The Giants face the Eagles in Philadelphia and Cowboys in Dallas over the next two weeks. The Giants likely feel they need to get, at worst, a split over the next two weeks. Falling to 3-4 with a pair of losses in the division would be tough enough, but falling to 3-4 with a pair of division losses before facing the Colts, Seahawks, 49ers and Cowboys again could deal a deadly blow to the team’s playoff hopes.

One thing that can be said is this Giants team through five games, has certainly been a more resilient bunch then we’ve seen from New York since their Super Bowl runs. The 2012 and 2013 Giants seemed to get down when things weren’t going well, and it seemed that one or two mistakes could derail an entire game for Coughlin’s squad. This season, the Giants seem to have more resolve in those situations.

In the Giants’ first victory of the year over the Houston Texans, the game started with a couple of “here we go again” moments for the Giants. The Giants’ second drive started strong, going 60 yards on 10 plays until Larry Donnell fumbled just yards away from the end zone. The Giants’ following drive ended in a field goal attempt, which was snapped past the holder, turning the ball over to the Texans. The Giants had two strong drives and nothing to show for it, and it looked like they might squander the game away but they ultimately held on.

This Sunday against Atlanta, the Giants got down 20-10 in the second half when Antone Smith turned a short Matt Ryan pass and an Antrel Rolle missed tackle into a 74-yard touchdown that seemingly gave Atlanta all the momentum. However, just like against Houston, the Giants didn’t get down and found a way to come out on top.

“I think it says a lot about our team; I think it says that we’re resilient, we’re going to play all four quarters and we’re not going to wait for things to get too rough for us to pick it up,” Rolle said about his team’s ability to bounce back. “Thank God that we hung in there for the first half without playing our best ball, and not even close to it. In the second half, I think we played lights out. Besides my big play, I think we played lights out both ways. Offensively, defensively and special teams, I think we did a phenomenal job.”

New York’s resiliency has been much better this year, and so have the Giants. But if they’re a legitimate contender in the NFC is still to be determined. However, a couple things are certain: the Giants have a quarterback and coach who know what it takes to get it done. The question is, do they have a roster with enough talent to get it done? With the Giants set for a brutal run over their next several weeks, we’ll have a pretty good idea before the end of November.