Eagles v Giants Recap

What a huge win. When I looked at the Eagles playoff picture after there last loss to the Giants, I thought that they had to go 6-1 in the final 7 games to make the playoffs. When they tied the Bengals, then went on to lose to the Ravens, the playoffs looked like it had as much of a chance of happening as Andy Reid ordering diet coke. 

My how much can change in one Sunday.

With the Eagles win today, followed by losses by the Cowboys and the Redskins, the Eagles are now in the best position possible to make the playoffs. With the Giants, Cardinals, Buccaneers, Vikings and Panthers all likely to make it, that leaves 1 playoff spot for the Eagles, Cowboys, Redskins, and Falcons. The Eagles are only 1 game behind the Cowboys and Falcons, and .5 games ahead of the Redskins. The catch? They get to play the Redskins and the Cowboys. So there fate is in there hand. If they can win out, they will finish 10-5-1. That would leave the Cowboys at 10-6 and the Redskins at 9-8. If the Falcons win out, that would leave them  at 11-5, ahead of the Eagles. But they have a hard remaining 3 games, with a visit from the Bucs next week, and a trip to Minnesota the following week. Both teams will need to win those games. The Eagles better hope that they lose one of them, because the last one is vs the Rams, which is a sure win.

So its simple: The Eagles need to win out, the Falcons need to lose, and the Eagles are in.

With all that in mind, lets look at todays huge win.

What I Liked:

1) Coaching: For all of the blame I cast on Andy Reid, looking at the two games the Giants and the Eagles played this season, they look like night and day. I give the coaching staff the credit for obviosly making the better adjustments between games. 

2) The Defense: After getting burned for 219 rushing yards in their last meeting, the defense gave up only 88. And after yielding 36 points last time, they let up only 7 points in this one, and those 7 points were in garbage time. The defense absolutely dominated. They stopped the Giants on all 3 of their 4th down conversion attempts, and never let the Giants get in sync as an offense. They did get lucky on a drop pass by Dominck Hixon, but other then that, the Giants never even came close to scoring.

3) Brian Westbrook: Two great games in a row. After limping thru most of the season, the Brian Westbrook from last season might be back. That 30 yard touchdown run, he would not have been able to do that earlier in the year. Or that 40 yard touchdown catch. He appears as elusive and quick as ever, and thats bad news for the rest of the NFC East.

4) Kevin Curtis: True, he did only have 2 catches, but that first one was huge. It was still a game, and the Eagles has not scored. With the wind, and both teams struggling as offenses, I thought Curtis came down with a huge catch. I felt it got the offense rolling. It was a shame he got hurt later.

5) Donovan McNabb: While not his most impressive day stats wise (19/30, 191 yds, 1 TD), two things he did won the game for then: he ran the ball, and he did not turn it over. McNabb ran for two first downs in this game, which was huge. Everyone allways tells him to run it, and today he finally did. Why does he take that element away from his game? The other thing he did, not turning it over, was probaly the biggest. For a QB that never used to throw interceptions, he was throwing it away at an alarming rate these last few weeks. The last two weeks? Zero interceptions. Eagles Record? 2-0. 

Thing I Didn't Like:

1) Asante Samuel: I dont break down film, but from a fans point of view, I feel he has been a dissapointment. He has the same about of interceptions as Quiten Mikell, and I can think of numerous times he's been burned. Today he got in the way of a sure thing, game over Dawkins interception. 

2) Reggie Brown: Should he even be on the roster next year? I like the receiving core of Jackson, Curtis, Baskett, and Avant then throwing Brown in their. 

3) Antonio Pierce: First of all, he shouldn't have been on the field today. He was involved in a felony, and tried to hide the gun for Plaxico Burress. He was questioned by NYPD earlier in the week. So he shouldn't have been on the field. But on the field, he was called for numerous penalties, and looked pathetic as he tried to hold Westbrook on the ground as the Eagles tried to run their hurry up offense. 

4) First Win in Division: Does anybody realize that the Eagles are now 3-7 in their last 10 

NFC East games, and this was their first win this season? Man, those days of 6-0 seem like forever ago.