Monday’s last-second field goal by the Dallas Cowboys’ Dan Bailey left the New York Giants in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East with the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. Over the past two weeks, the Giants have squandered opportunities take a lead against their division rivals. Now with just four games left to play, the only hope for the Giants to make the playoffs is with high-level play by their veteran quarterback Eli Manning.

The Giants don’t deserve a spot in the playoffs in 2015 after five blown leads in the final two minutes of a game, tying an NFL single-season record. And this week, the New York papers called Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets a “Nail In The Coughlin.” Well, the Giants still share a spot atop the NFC East and they have something their competitors do not: a two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback.

With the exception of the most recent game against the Redskins, Manning has been protecting the ball relatively well thus far. The Giants still have a plus-nine turnover margin which has been one of the only statistics they can hang their hat on this season. Manning will need to keep the interceptions to a minimum for the final four games if the Giants hope to eke their way into the playoffs.

Perhaps just as important is Ben McAdoo’s approach to the offense. McAdoo stressed last week the importance of balance in his offense. Well, the Giants lost another piece of their offensive line against the Jets in their rookie LT Ereck Flowers. The O-line that suits up for the rest of the season will be made up of backups or guys not playing their natural positions. The four-man running back rotation hasn’t been successful all year. Going forward, the offense needs to limit the amount of time Manning holds on to the ball. That may mean almost abandoning the run so as not to put themselves in third-and-long situations.

Obviously, the one-handed catches and elite production of Odell Beckham Jr. draw the attention of Giants fans and opposing defenses. OBJ has been targeted 10 or more times in nine separate games this year; he will surely have a couple more of those games before the season ends. Manning needs to get the ball to OBJ whenever possible, but defenses will be keying in on him for the rest of the season. Players like Will Tye and, if possible, Rueben Randle need to up their productivity and take advantage of the attention OBJ draws.

Getting to the playoffs will have to be a team effort, but Manning has the requisite experience and talent to get the job done. If he keeps his turnovers low and gets rid of the ball quickly, Eli could give the Giants the advantage over their NFC East brethren in the playoff hunt.

Christopher Schwarz is a New York Giants beat writer and NFL Coverage writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter.