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Giants fall to Eagles, 20-14
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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DECEMBER 7, 2008

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - The Giants that showed up at Giants Stadium today to take on the Philadelphia Eagles didn't look like the Giants of 2008.

The NFL's highest-scoring team couldn't score, getting its only offensive touchdown with 15 seconds remaining. The league's leading rushing team ran for only 88 yards, about 72 less than their per-game average. The Giants were second in the NFL in average time of possession, but owned the ball for just 25:06. And the team that hadn't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 14 games saw an opposing back run for 131 yards.

Most importantly, the Giants team that had won seven consecutive games, including six in a row against teams with winning records and was undefeated at home and in the division, lost. The Giants fell to the Philadelphia Eagles, 20-14. Their record dropped to 11-2, including 6-1 in Giants Stadium and 4-1 in NFC East games. Despite the loss, the Giants claimed the NFC East title as Dallas was defeated by the Steelers in Pittsburgh, 20-13, later in the day.

"We didn't play very well," Coach Tom Coughlin said. "We have no excuses. We got beat on the field. They had time of possession, they had rushing yards, they had every stat."

"We didn't play our best," quarterback Eli Manning said. "We knew the team was going to come out and they're a good team. Every time we play them it's a close game. Last time we played them a few weeks ago it was a tight game and it went down to the wire (the Giants' 36-31 victory in Philadelphia on Nov. 9). They were fired up and came ready to play and we didn't play our best. Offensively, we could hardly do anything right and they came out and played better than us."

The game ended a tumultuous week in which wide receiver Plaxico Burress was suspended and placed on the reserve/non-football injury list after he was wounded in an accidental shooting. Linebacker Antonio Pierce has also been involved in the investigation. But Coughlin said those events did not influence the game.

"I said that there is no excuse," Coughlin said. "I don't think that had anything to do with it."

"Obviously, everybody is going to use that as an excuse," Pierce said. "It's not an excuse. The Philadelphia Eagles came ready to play and they made more plays than the New York Giants today."

The Giants had season-low totals of 211 yards and 14 first downs (they also had 14 at Pittsburgh on Oct. 26). They converted only three of 11 third down opportunities and went zero-for-three on fourth down. Manning completed less than half of his passes (13 of 27, 48.1 percent) for the first time this year, though at least three of his throws were dropped.

The Giants' only offensive touchdown was a one-yard pass from Manning to tight end Darcy Johnson just 15 seconds before time expired. Their other touchdown was Kevin Dockery's 71-yard return of a blocked field goal attempt on the final play of the second quarter.

"We just didn't get it done today," center Shaun O'Hara said. "It really falls on us as players to make the plays that we normally do. Today just wasn't the day. We didn't get it done. No excuses."

"They had our offense figured out today, that is for sure," fullback Madison Hedgecock said. "In the third quarter we looked up and we had 36 yards rushing. Our rushing yards were suffering because they were stacking us up; stopping our run. We had to rely on the passing game. It was cold and we had a lot of drops but there are still no excuses - we should have made the plays when we had to."

Philadelphia's Brian Westbrook gained 203 yards from scrimmage - 131 on 33 rushing attempts and 72 on six catches. He scored both of Philadelphia's touchdowns on a 30-yard run in the second quarter and a 40-yard reception in fourth. David Akers also kicked field goals of 51 and 34 yards for the Eagles, who improved to 7-5-1.

"They just played well," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "They did a lot of things to put themselves in third-and-short. They did a good job on first and second down and getting positive yards. Whenever you throw quick stuff early in the game it allows you to get into a rhythm and that kept us at bay for us to dial up a few things to try and get pressure on (Donovan) McNabb. But early, he was getting the ball out so quick that we couldn't get to anything. We definitely got to get off that because I think we played well, but we didn't play well enough."

"(Westbrook) did a great job of being very patient," Pierce said. "They have a very big offensive line and he hid behind them. We have to go back to being a gap-sound defense. You have to stay in your gaps, everybody has to be accountable and obviously we weren't accountable enough."

The game's first series was a snapshot of the entire game. The Giants moved from their 28-yard line to the Philadelphia 31, but Manning's fourth-down pass to Domenik Hixon fell short.

"We have to convert those," Manning said. "That's a game-changing play right there on fourth down on the first drive, to give ourselves an opportunity to go score some points. We couldn't convert on fourth down and that was kind of the way the day went all day. When we had an opportunity to make a play and give us some momentum or give ourselves a chance to score some points, we didn't make those plays."

Akers scored the only points of the first quarter on a 51-yard field goal as time expired. Before the kick, Philadelphia drove 29 yards in five plays, the longest a 32-yard pass from McNabb to Kevin Curtis. That gave the Eagles a first down on the Giants' 30. DeSean Jackson lost seven yards on a third-down end around and Akers came on to kick the field goal.

When the teams changed sides, the Giants had the 21-mile-per-hour wind at their backs. On the first play of the quarter, Manning threw deep down the middle to Hixon, who dropped the ball. The series ended with Trent Cole blocking John Carney's 47-yard field goal attempt.

"I just didn't finish," Hixon said. "It's was right there and I didn't finish looking the ball in."

Philadelphia had increased its lead to 10-0 on Westbrook's 30-yard touchdown run with 1:52 remaining in the second quarter. On a first down immediately after the two-minute warning, Westbrook took a handoff, slipped past the line of scrimmage and found himself in the open with no Giants defender near him.

It took a tremendous special teams play for the Giants to avoid their first scoreless regular season first half in four years (Dec. 4, 2004 at Washington). Akers lined up for a 32-yard field goal that would have given the Eagles a 13-0 lead at the break. But Tuck jumped high to block the kick. The ball caromed into the backfield, where it was picked up by Dockery, who sprinted 71 yards for the Giants' first points as time expired in the half.

It was their first touchdown on a blocked field goal return since Oct. 1, 1978, when George Martin brought one back 78 yards at Atlanta. The field goal block was the Giants' second this season; Fred Robbins blocked a 38-yard try by Baltimore's Matt Stover on Nov. 16. It was Dockery's second career touchdown. He scored on a 96-yard interception return at Dallas on Oct. 23, 2006.

"I just tried to jump the snap count and get off as fast as possible," Tuck said. "I was lucky he kicked it right into my arm."

Westbrook's second touchdown increased the Eagles' lead to 17-7 with 13:38 remaining in the third quarter. On third-and-11 from the Giants' 40, Westbrook looped from left to right, caught Donovan McNabb's pass at the 35 and easily outran linebacker Antonio Pierce to the end zone.

"It was man coverage," Pierce said. "The quarterback had some time and there was two ways he could go. I chose outside and he ran inside. It was a good run and catch by him. I have to find some sort of way to make that play."

Aker's 34-yard field goal made it 20-7 with 2:09 remaining. The Giants then put together their best drive of the day, moving 70 yards in six plays and ending with Johnson's touchdown.

Now the Giants will try to regroup as they prepare for another big division game next week in Dallas.

"That's always a tough game," Manning said. "We have to get back to playing good football and execute."

"We didn't play as well as we should've," Tuck said. "We're just going to go to the drawing board and watch the film and look at the things we could've done better, and come out next week and do those things."