New York Giants Official Website

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - The once-soaring Giants are now tumbling in the wrong direction.

On Sunday afternoon they lost their third consecutive game since their 5-0 start. This one was an unsightly 40-17 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in Lincoln Financial Field, which gave them their first three-game losing streak since they dropped four in a row from Nov. 12-Dec. 3, 2006. They saw their four-game regular season win streak in Philadelphia end.

The Giants also lost their grip on first place in the NFC East. They fell a half-game behind Philadelphia and Dallas, both 5-2.

The Giants trailed 16-0 in the second quarter, 30-7 at halftime and 33-7 in the third quarter. After the game, they were searching for answers.

"It's just disappointing," linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "I couldn't think in my wildest dreams that we'd be on a three-game losing streak, but we are and that's the realization of it."

In response to another question, Pierce said, "I don't know if I'm frustrated or just mind-boggled by how we're playing. This team, just three weeks ago, was not playing like this. We weren't making the mistakes and doing the things that we were just doing today. Just three weeks ago (when the Giants crushed Oakland, 44-7). We're talking about 21 days. We've just got to look in the mirror, myself included, I'm not playing the best ball. None of us are, obviously, by the way we gave up 30 points in one half."

The offense didn't have much to brag about either, despite owning the ball for 35:33. The rushing attack was productive enough; the Giants ran for 141 yards and averaged 4.4 yards a carry.

Eli Manning completed 20 of 39 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown to Kevin Boss. But he was intercepted twice and both picks led to Eagles' touchdowns in the first half.

"Obviously, the turnovers are a problem," Manning said. "(We) can't afford to turn the ball over. The one before halftime (by Quintin Demps with 1:15 remaining in the second quarter) is the one I'm most upset about."

Manning was also asked for his take on the losing streak.

"It's frustrating, especially when you win five straight," he said. "You're feeling good. You're feeling great. And then to lose three in a row, especially when you just don't feel you're playing your best...two of them were blowouts (including the 48-21 loss in New Orleans two weeks ago). ... That's football. Just like you learn from the games you win, you have to learn from the games you lose. You're going to experience all sorts of things when you play in this game. We've had highs and lows, and we've come back before."

But they won't rebound again until they start playing better. And Tom Coughlin cited a long list of areas where the Giants must improve.

"The story of the game is fundamentals," Coughlin said. "It's tackling - when you have (24 rushes for 180 yards, as Philly did), I mean, we didn't tackle well. Our secondary didn't tackle well. We created holes in the line of scrimmage. We didn't cover kicks well. We gave them the ball at midfield. We again threw interceptions. That's not the kind of football we teach and that's not what we're all about.

"We definitely put ourselves into whatever this funk or however you want to describe this. I told the players, 'Nobody said this was going to be easy and we're going to fight 'til there's nothing left of us. And we're going to fight our way out of this.'"

Donovan McNabb threw three touchdown passes - one each to Brent Celek, DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin; Leonard Weaver (41 yards) and LeSean McCoy (66) had long touchdown runs; and David Akers kicked two field goals for the Eagles.

In addition to Manning's touchdown pass, the Giants scored on Ahmad Bradshaw's one-yard run and Lawrence Tynes' 42-yard field goal.

Behind by 23 points, the Giants thought they'd get the ball to start the second half. But Domenik Hixon fumbled the kickoff, which was recovered by Philly's Moise Fokou on the 21. The Eagles gained only four yards on three plays and Akers came on to kick a 35-yard field goal to increase the lead to 33-7.

The Giants thought they had a touchdown midway through the quarter when rookie cornerback Bruce Johnson sacked McNabb and forced him to fumble. Tackle Fred Robbins recovered the ball and lumbered for 13 yards before he flipped a lateral at the 35 to Osi Umenyiora, who ran untouched to the end zone.

Philadelphia coach Andy Reid challenged the play, apparently hoping McNabb's throw would be ruled a forward pass. He didn't get that, but the touchdown was nullified when referee Carl Cheffers ruled that Robbins' lateral was an illegal forward pass, which is a five-yard penalty.

The Giants took possession at the Philadelphia 42-yard line. A 14-yard Manning pass to Steve Smith put the Giants in position for Tynes to kick a field goal.

Tynes deliberately booted a short kickoff, which sailed to the left side and was recovered by Kevin Dockery at the Eagles' 23-yard line. The Giants methodically covered that ground and Bradshaw scored from a yard out to make it 33-17 and give the Giants a glimmer of hope.

But it didn't last long. On the fourth play of the next drive - and the second snap of the final quarter - McCoy, the rookie from Pittsburgh, slipped through the defense for a 66-yard score and a 40-17 lead.

Tynes later pulled a 47-yard field goal attempt wide left.

"I'm not at my wit's end," Coughlin said. "I'm just as frustrated as the next guy. I know we fought ourselves out of these situations in the past. We're at the midway point and there are things that we have to correct, things that you would have hoped you would have played yourself into doing better than we are. Basic tackling - don't miss tackles in the open field."

Philadelphia scored two touchdowns in a 52-second span late in the second quarter to boost its halftime advantage from 16-7 to 30-7. It was the second time in three weeks the Giants faced a sizeable deficit after two quarters. They were behind in New Orleans at the half, 34-17. The 23-point deficit was their largest at halftime since Sept. 24, 2006, when they trailed at Seattle, 35-3.

"It was 16-7 and we were excited," Coughlin said. "We fought our way back into that position and it feels like we were going to get ourselves right and play ourselves back to the way we should be playing. And then we go ahead and give up those two scores."

After the Giants pulled to within nine points, the Eagles struck back with lightning quickness. On the first play of the subsequent possession, McNabb threw downfield to a wide open Jackson, who caught the ball at the 10 and stepped into the end zone to complete a 54-yard touchdown that made it 23-7 with 1:38 remaining in the half.

Two plays later, Manning overthrew an open Sinorice Moss and the ball was intercepted by safety Mikell, who returned it 12 yards to the Giants' 43-yard line. McNabb and the Eagles needed only two plays to cover that territory, a 20-yarder down the middle to Brent Celek and a 23-yard throw to the left wide to Maclin, Philadelphia's first-round draft choice this year. That increased the lead to 23 points with 46 seconds remaining in the half.

"It was just a bad decision," Manning said. "I was kind of hoping Sinorice would do something else and he didn't. I still just tried to fit it in there. It was just kind of a hope shot and you can't have those. You can't have those decisions. Throw it away, take a sack. Don't turn the ball over and give them some momentum."

The Giants' one shining moment in the half was Manning's 18-yard touchdown pass to Boss with 1:54 remaining in the second quarter. It was Boss' first touchdown of the season. On a second-and-11 immediately after the two-minute warning, Manning lofted a pass to Boss, who was behind the defense in the end zone.

The score concluded an eight-play, 89-yard drive, the Giants' second-longest series this season (they had a 94-yarder vs. Oakland). In addition to the touchdown, Manning completed passes of 22 yards to Boss and 35 yards to Hakeem Nicks on the drive.

Philadelphia had increased its lead to 16-0 on the third play of the second quarter on Akers' 30-yard field goal. Before the kick, the Eagles drove 72 yards in 14 plays, including McNabb's 28-yard pass to Jason Avant and his 14-yard scramble. The Eagles had a first down at the Giants' 11, but McCoy was stopped for a one-yard loss before McNabb threw two incomplete passes.

The Giants' 16-0 deficit was their largest before scoring since Dec. 12, 2004, when they fell behind Baltimore, 17-0.

Another Manning interception was instrumental in the Eagles racing out to a 13-0 lead just 3:45 into the game.

Weaver's 41-yard run on the game's third play put Philly on top, 7-0. On second-and-seven, the fullback burst through a hole in the line, then outran the secondary for his first touchdown of the season.

The Giants' initial possession lasted only three plays after Manning's pass for Travis Beckum was intercepted by Assante Samuel, who returned it 37 yards to the Giants' 10-yard line. A holding penalty pushed the Eagles back to the 17, but McNabb responded with a strike down the middle that Celek caught for a touchdown.

On Monday, the Giants will begin preparing for the San Diego Chargers - and picking up the pieces from their latest defeat.

"Every one of us has to be accountable," Pierce said. "We have to do our jobs. Right now we're not doing our jobs and it's obvious."