Eagles at Giants

Ugly as sin, but anytime we beat the Eagles, I’ll take it. Both teams looked sluggish and meandering with the exception of Mike McMahon who looked like a man who had something to prove. I’d say he proved it. Final score Giants 27, Eagles 17.

Yeah but it was a lot closer than a 10 point game. Even with only 23 seconds left I’m glad the Eagles missed that field goal especially given the weird ways the Giants have lost to them over the years.

Again the defense looked good, the special teams were solid this week, after the disaster last week, and the offense sort of yucky through three quarters, and then kaboom, fourteen points in the last quarter. Is it that they have to tire the opposing defense out? I don’t get it. If Eli and company can ever start putting whole games together they way they play the 4th quarter, they’ll be dangerous.

Two weeks ago, after the T.O. suspension, I said the next two games could make or break the Eagles season. Two wins and they would be back in the hunt and two loses and they would be just about finished. They lost both but certainly weren’t blown away in either game. That reflects well on the players and coaching staff. After all the hullabaloo, and now with McNabb out, to still give both Eastern Conference rivals a run for their money was impressive. That being the case, even though they lost both games, I’m not quite ready to write them off although its a long, very long, shot.

The Giants have a tough last six games. Four of them are on the road including two on the West Coast, one at Philadelphia and the other at Washington. That’s no bed of roses and the two home games are Dallas and Kansas City. Dallas isn’t much better off with both Denver and Carolina on their schedule.

Assuming things stay close, the last weekend could be interesting. The Giants play Oakland on Saturday, New Years Eve at 8 PM. Philadelphia hosts Washington at 4 PM New Years Day and Dallas winds up the season against St. Louis at 8:30 PM New Years day.

The big problem Philly has is that the Giants and Cowboys play each other in two weeks and somebody has to win. At least I think somebody has to win. If there are two teams that could figure out how to both lose, these are the two.

Then there’s always Washington…