It wasn’t pretty but it sure was exciting Sunday as the Eagles took sole possession of first-place in the NFC East by beating the Giants 45 - 38.
The defense was bad, the offense was sharp and the special teams dazzled as the Birds won a Sunday Night Football shootout that featured nearly 900 yards of offense. The game looked more like Tecmo Super Bowl (Jeff Feagles and all) than an NFC showdown.
DeSean Jackson starred for the Birds as he hauled in a team-high six balls for 178 yards and a 60-yard score. After missing a week with a concussion “Action” Jackson also went for a 72-yard punt return for a score.
“I said I was going to come back strong,” Jackson said. “I told the team I was going to come back strong.”
The two longs TDs put Jackson at eight scores of 50-plus yards, tying an NFL record.
But, the Giants (7-6) had fireworks of their own as Hakeem Nicks caught a 68-yard TD and Domenik Hixon added a 61-yard score.
This aint your father’s NFC East. Long gone are the days of defensive battles between the Giants and the Eagles as the two division rivals combined for 886 yards. The two teams also combined for an astonishing five touchdowns of 60-plus yards.
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Despite coming out on top the Birds defense was downright terrible. All night the Eagles (9-4) struggled to tackle allowing the Giants to run up 512 total yards.
They also had trouble stopping the Giants' signal caller as Eli Manning would toss three scores on 27-for-38 passing for 391 yards.
But, the Birds also forced Manning into a controversial fumble after Eagles QB Donovan McNabb threw an interception that gave the G-Men the ball deep in Birds' territory. McNabb otherwise played well throwing for two scores and 275 yards on 17-for-26 passing.
McNabb also put his mark on another great drive as he took the offense 91 yards over more than seven minutes resulting in a one-yard Leonard Weaver run that put the Birds up 45-31 with 5:48 remaining. Amazingly during the 12-play drive the Eagles never faced a third-down situation.
What made McNabb's late success even more impressive was that he did it without one of his favorite weapons. Jeremy Maclin tore the plantar fascia tissue along the bottom of his left foot in the first half. The rookie wideout left Giants Stadium on crutches.
Despite their troubles, the Eagles defense came up huge when Sheldon Brown (who was picked on all night as he looked slowed by injuries) returned a Brandon Jacobs fumble 60 yards for a first-quarter TD. Defensive end Trent Cole, who would later be thrown out of the game for punching Giants lineman Shaun O'Hara, made a nice play to force the fumble.
Head coach Andy Reid again tried to balance passing and rushing as they ran 24 times compared to 28 passing attempts.
The victory was the Eagles fourth straight this season and the fourth consecutive win over the G-Men including a playoff victory last season at the Meadowlands.
Speaking of the Meadowlands -- this was the last regular season visit by the Birds to the current Giants Stadium. And, the win assured that the Eagles will forever be the winningest visiting team at the stadium.
The Birds now come home to play the 49ers next Sunday with a chance to put some distance between themselves and the Cowboys in the NFC East.
