EAGLES NEWS

The Eagles welcomed the New York Giants to the Linc tonight in a showdown for sole possession of 1st place in the NFC East. Coming in the Eagles were looking to defeat New York for a 5th straight time. In the Eagles last two wins over the Giants, turnovers had played a big part in the outcome and they did again this one. Superb play by the Eagles defense and a tough but efficient night by the Eagle's offense were also factor in this battle. Offensively, Mike Vick threw for just 258 yards and 0 tds, and ran for only 34 yards and 1 td, not exactly the same numbers as last week. Still Vick made all the plays when he needed to so as to ensure the Eagles would come out on top. He also had help from Lesean McCoy who rushed for 111 yards and a TD, and Jeremy Maclin who hauled in 9 passes for 120 yards. Defensively, the Birds had an impressive night against the #1 ranked offense in the NFL. They forced 5 Giants turnovers, intercepting Eli Manning 3 times and causing 2 fumbles, held the vaunted Giants running attack to just 61 yards and held Eli to just 147 yards and 2 tds. Ultimately, if not for the Eagle's defense the mistakes and missed opportunities that continued to plague the Birds in this one, would likely have cost them another sure win.

Games between divisional rivals always close battles, and this one was no exception, but it could have been. If not for some near misses by the Eagles' offense it could easily been a blowout win for the Eagles, but instead it went right down to the wire. Initially it was all Eagles as they took their 2nd drive of the game about 70 yards before Vick took a QB draw in from 4 yards out for a 7-0 lead. New York answered with a field goal but that would be their only score of the 1st half. The Eagles should have tacked on an additional 21 points before the half was over but Vick and Desean Jackson twice failed to hookup on sure tds, resulting in a couple Aker's field goals and a 13-3 lead. Then following New York's first turnover, a wide open Jason Avant dropped a sure td and the Eagles were force to settle for another FG, except Akers 3rd attempt of the evening was blocked as time expired in the half. The Eagles followed that disappointment by opening the 3rd quarter with a 7 minute drive, but again they couldn't cash in again and settled for another Aker's field goal for a 16-3 lead. All of those FGs nearly came back to haunt the Birds as New York answered with a quick TD drive and then turned a Vick fumble into another TD drive to jump ahead suddenly, 17-16. Eagles and most importantly Vick did not give up though.

On 4th and 1 from midfield with a little over 4 minutes to play the Eagles decided to go for it and the decision almost back fired as Vick stumbled on the snap and bobbled the ball, but somehow he hung on to it just long enough to execute a perfect pitch to McCoy just before getting clobbered by Osi Umenyiora. McCoy did the rest racing through a huge in the Giants line and untouched 50 yards for a TD. After a successful 2 point conversion the Eagles found themselves ahead 24-17 with under 4 minutes to play. Thank to penalties the Giants got to start their next drive at their own 40 and that's when things got wild. On the first play of the drive Manning was picked off by Asante Samuel, but Samuel attempted to return the interception, fumbled the ball away after a huge hit by RB Ahmad Bradshaw, the Giants recovered right back where they started at the 40. From there the Giants eventually found themselves with a 4th and long which Eli converted by running for it into the Eagle's territory. However, instead of sliding at the end of his run, he went down head first, without being touched and lost the ball. The Eagles recovered and marched 48 yards, thanks to another 40 yard run by McCoy, to an decisive Aker's field goal. Another Eli interception later and the Eagles had themselves a huge 27-17 win. They now move into 1st in the NFC East all alone at 7-3 overall and are near the top of the NFC standings with only the 8-2 Atlanta Falcons ahead of them.