It was a defensive struggle Sunday at Giants Stadium. In the end, it was the Philadelphia Eagles making more plays on both sides of the ball. They beat the NFC's top seed, the New York Giants, 23-11 to advance to their fifth NFC Championship game under head coach Andy Reid.The Eagles led for most of the second half, but didn't put the game away until the fourth quarter. It was then that the Giants' chances were destroyed by their inability to either convert short-yardage situations or trust their struggling quarterback to make plays.
Eli Manning is going to be ripped in the New York press for his performance in this game. He should be. But he didn't have the ball in his hands on either of the game's biggest plays.
With the score 20-11 after a Donovan McNabb touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Giants were on the march. They got the ball near midfield, but faced a fourth-and-one after Derrick Ward was stopped short on a third-down run.
Instead of going for it immediately, Giants coach Tom Coughlin threw the challenge flag, hoping to get the ball re-spotted past the first-down mark. Replays immediately showed that the challenge decision was not a very good one. If anything, Ward was given a generous spot.
To me, this wasn't just a bad decision because it cost the Giants a timeout. It also gave the Eagles a couple minutes to decide how to defend the Giants on fourth down. The last thing you want to do is give Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson extra time to devise a stategy, or the players extra time to rest.
That situation called for a quick-snap play, not a prolonged replay delay followed by a quarterback sneak. The fact that Coughlin called for the challenge indicated to me that he didn't have much faith in his offense to convert the fourth-down play.
Manning's sneak failed, but his defense gave the team another shot. They forced the Eagles to go three-and-out. A punt gave New York the ball at their 10-yard-line.
Coughlin confirmed his lack of faith in the offense, particularly the quarterback, on that subsequent series.
Again, the Giants saw themselves with a third-and-short near midfield. Again, the ball was taken out of Manning's hands, despite the two-score deficit and running clock. Ward took a direct snap, and he was stopped close to two yards short. With no choice, Coughlin called for his team to go for it on fourth down.
Instead of trying a pass play, the Giants tried a power run for Brandon Jacobs. He hit the pile, couldn't move it and was stopped short. This time, McNabb found DeSean Jackson for 48 yards to the Giants one, and David Akers' third field goal of the game closed the scoring.
Manning went on to throw one more pick, giving him two for the game. The Eagles are off to Arizona for next Sunday's NFC Championship Game.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Man, how can you talk about the Giants being stuffed on those 4th down attempts w/out giving out the props due to Broderick Bunkley, and his Mighty Drive Stopping Posterior? Seriously -- he knocked back Brandon Jacobs with one of his ham-hock sized cheeks.
stop your crying, the coach sent bad calls in and they deserve what they got...............their loosers
As a Pats fan, I've never been happier about a team losing in the postseason as I am now. How about a Chargers/Cardinals Super Bowl?
what's the deal fanhouse. you said we might have as many as two chats this weekend. and now we're down to none?
Also, what SoulCity said.
Last year, any of the playoff teams could have gone to the SB and really deserved it. This year, it's just the Ravens and Steelers. I mean, Eagles or Cardinals? Are you kidding me?
Also, -1 for no liveblog.
Not going to pin this one too heavily on Eli. He had a lousy start to the game, and naturally a lousy end when everyone and their mother knew he had no choice but to chuck it deep. The game was lost when:
A. The Giants coaching staff outsmarted themselves on those 4th down runs (and as the first poster said, tremendous credit to Philly's defense for their play).
B. The Giants stopped covering the Eagles underneath routes. Philly couldn't move the ball on the ground (what else is new there though, Brian Westbrook is the most criminally overrated player in the NFL. Every time Aikman started gushing about him I wanted to throw up), but once they started hitting the short passes, they had a steady method of getting down field.
Hey, it sucks that they lost, but it was a good season. Giants need a big time receiving weapon to replace Burress and they'll be right back next year.
well said Adam. The Ravens, the Cardinals, the Eagles??? This year's Superbowl is going to be for the birds...
sorry, I couldn't resist
Now both Manning brothers can stay home and eat oreo cookies together.
Its about time crybaby giants got beat. Im tired of hearing their arrogant fans bragg about them . Way to go eagles, now the crybabies can sit at home with their asshole fans and watch the rest of the playoffs
hey Gianthater, the team had a bad day, thats oK we have 3 super bowls and we'll be back next year with a vengeance , with Osi coming back and probably Burress ( on good behavior, the idiot) , and win the division again, and probably back to the Super Bowl. Your lucky stinkin Eagles will lose in Arizona next week, another chapter in your shit ass history.
It is kind of funny to complain about the teams left standing after you've watched them totally dominate your team two times over the past month.
That's true crybabyhood in my book.
I know it's hard when the season ends but you have to give some credit to the team that pulls it out.
Defence ruled today......If the eggles do get past the cards Donovan will just puke it up one more time!!!!!
Just a very bad performance by the Giants today
> Coughlin and Gilbride were outcoached and both should be fired
> Glaring weakness at receiver needs to be addressed in offseason and Hixon needs to return both kick offs and punts as primary repsonsibility
> O-Line was exposed again and was manhandled at the point of attack
> Leadership was weak in this game
> Hire Spagnola as head coach before we lose him
Giants could not catch the ball, how many drops were there? Eli wasn't throwing great but come on some of those missed passes killed them. Go Steelers!!!
The Giants plain.STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNK!!!!!They didn't belong on the field today.Eli was HORRIBLE.Nothing was the same.Was it really the Giants?????????????.
This game was lost because the Giants thought they just had to show up as evidenced by Brandon the mouth Jacobs comment that the Giants had nothing to fear in the Eagles but the Eagles had everything to fear in the Giants...by the way Jacobs is so overrated he gets all of his yards on holes Fred Robbins could run through but when ypu need the tough yards he fails always.. also nice challenge by Coughlin wasting a time out on such an obvious stop
High point of the game for the Iggles was that TD pass at beginning of the fourth quarter. Made you think that they can do something other than just ram Westbrook into the line once they're inside the 3-yard line. Then their low point was later in the fourth quarter, when they had first and goal at the 2-yard line, and ran three line smashes to lose a yard or so before they kicked another FField Goal. Like they never learned from the TD play that variety has benefits.
well.....eli really made some bad throws and i must admit some coaching calls were questionable...defense held up nicely...offense didnt show up...but...next year well have osi ...possibly buress(if he can behave)..or maybe well pick up someone in free agency or the draft....but i know one thing for sure!!!.....the crappy ass lucky ass eagles will be watching the super bowl from the couch also....no way they beat the cards...and if so....they cant match up with steelers or ravens defenses either...either way they arent going anywhere....they can add more failures to their resume....you know what they say....you can win all the division championships you want...break records etc etc...but NO ONE WILL REMEMBER YOU IF YOU DONT WIN THE BIG ONE....LOOK AT BUFFALO WITH ALL THOSE SUPER BOWL APPEARANCES BUT NO WINS...WHO TALKS ABOUT THAT???....g-men will be in it next year...eagles suck and mcnabb is an a#$%&*#!!!.....GO ARIZONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ironic----people saying "The Eagles????
how about last year???
The Giants were the road team for all their playoff games and BARELy made the playoffs.
The Eagles have beaten Pittsburgh, the Giants twice, Dallas, Atlanta, Arizona, Minnesota.
They deserve to be in the playoffs; they've beaten 5 playoff teams and 2 of the 3 remaining contenders.
The Giants got hot late last year, in the playoffs-----------the Eagles are hot now--------------they're doing just enough right on offense and their defense is doing almost no wrong...........it's a combo that's obviously working........
you can deride it all you like, but the facts are there...........they're a much better team than they were 11 games into the season