Giants' Smith expects success vs. Eagles

Giants wide receiver Steve Smith has experienced a great amount of success through the first seven weeks of the 2009 season.

And he expects that to continue Sunday against the Eagles at the Linc.

Speaking to Giants reporters Wednesday, Smith didn't sound like he's expecting to be contained.

"They're good. They're savvy guys," Smith said of the Eagles' defensive backs, per Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger. "Sometimes they get caught with their eyes in the backfield and you can run right by 'em sometimes. We're not going to be surprised if we're wide open down the field on a play. … (Opportunities are) going to be there. There are going to be a few plays where you're going to be wide open. You just gotta make the play."

I used to think that the whole "bulletin board material" thing was much ado about nothing. But in the past couple years, it's become clear to me that professional athletes will use anything for motivation.

So who wants to be in charge of making sure Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel see the quotes?

As for Smith, he leads the NFC in both catches (45) and receiving yards (594). He has four touchdowns but has not reached the end zone in the Giants' last three games.

I wanted to post Man Up today but did not get around to it because of that whole World Series thing. We'll get it out there Thursday morning. I re-watched every offensive snap Tuesday evening and will point out the specific areas where the Birds struggled Monday night.