EAGLES CRUSH THE NY GIANTS

Article from CSN Philly

By Andy Schwartz
CSNPhilly.com

BOX SCORE

It’s still to early to figure this team out. Or any team for that matter.

Three weeks ago, the Eagles suffered a dismal 13-9 loss to the Raiders, who a week earlier were throttled by the Giants, 44-7. Three weeks seems like three months now.

“When I can explain those things, I’ll be undefeated,” head coach Andy Reid said.

If the Eagles keep playing like they did Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, they’ll go undefeated the rest of the way. Every phase produced. The passing game. The running game. The pass defense. The run defense. The special teams. The result was a 40-17 laugher over the Giants that propelled the Eagles (5-2) into first-place tie in the NFC East with the Cowboys, who visit Philadelphia next Sunday.

It's the Eagles’ largest margin of victory against the Giants since a 24-0 win in 1996. They also hadn’t reached 40 points against them since a 47-34 victory in 1992.

“I think we did send a statement,” said defensive end Trent Cole, who didn’t register a sack but was credited with a pair of QB hits. “We’re going to keep building upon that statement.”

“Hopefully people are paying attention,” safety Quintin Mikell said. “This is what we can do when we are all on the same page, when we are all doing our thing.”

Donovan McNabb last week noted how he studies his mechanics when he struggles, and the film work paid off. McNabb was on target, he completed 17 of 23 passes for 240 yards – a gaudy mark of 10.4 yards per attempt – and three touchdowns for a passer rating of 146.7. Four of McNabb’s six incompletions were knocked down at the line of scrimmage.

“I guess I was pretty accurate today,” McNabb said.

McNabb threw his first touchdown to tight end Brent Celek. It was an 18-yard bullet that whizzed its way through a Giant triangle.

McNabb’s second score was hauled in by DeSean Jackson, who continued his assault on the Eagles’ record book with a 54-yard catch-and-run. Moments later, McNabb found offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg on the sideline.

“Going back to film study, we recognized the way the way the safeties played,” McNabb said.

And if they can force a safety to cover Jackson …

“We’ll take that every opportunity,” McNabb said.

Said Jackson: “All week in practice, we kind of knew that they [used] the Cover Two on that play, it was going to be a great play for us. When I saw guys going across, and broke it back out, there was nobody else there. Donovan made a great throw.”

McNabb made several of them. Jackson was one of four receivers to have a reception of at least 20 yards – one of which whistled to Jeremy Maclin, who made a tough leaping catch in double coverage for a 23-yard score.

“I got inside position on the defensive back,” Maclin said. “Don threw it in there and gave me a chance to make a play on the ball. That’s a great throw – keep me away from the safety at the same time and give me a chance to make a play.”

Running back LeSean McCoy and fullback Leonard Weaver (that’s right, a fullback) filled in for Brian Westbrook, who was out with a concussion. The two combined for 157 yards rushing on 19 carries.

“We kind of knew he wasn’t going to play with an injury like that,” McCoy said. “We prepared the right way.”

As did the coaches. The Eagles called 23 running plays (kneel-down included) and 26 passing plays.

“It was something we felt we needed to do against the Giants,” Reid said. “The defense here is an explosive defense, so it’s important that you play physical football both in the pass game and run game equally.”

Weaver scored the Eagles’ first touchdown with a 41-yard run. Then after the Giants crept within 33-17 early in the fourth quarter, McCoy sealed the victory with a 66-yard score – shortly after which the fans began chanting, “Let’s go Phillies!”

“These type of games man, you get the three-[yard runs], you get the four – one’s going to pop,” McCoy said. “The one that pops, you’ve got to take it to the house.”

All five of the Eagles’ touchdowns resulted from drives consisting of five plays or fewer. Of their 20 offensive touchdowns this season, 15 have been scored on such drives.

“This is definitely a tough situation, anytime you’ve got playmakers like we have on our team, not even speaking about myself – Celek, Weaver, McCoy, Jeremy – everybody emerged today,” Jackson said. “To beat a team like the Giants, that’s what we had to do. We talked about it a lot. If we got two or three more big plays than they got, we would win, and that’s what happened.”

On defense too. Asante Samuel and safety Quintin Demps each picked off Eli Manning, who was sacked only twice but harassed often. Manning managed a meager passer rating of 55.7.

“I think there was a lot of pressure,” Cole said. “We had him scrambling everywhere. But Eli got out of that pocket pretty fast and took off (Manning had 34 yards on three rushes). We know we were rattling him and getting pressure on him. The only thing we can do is make sure we keep him in the pocket next time.”

The special teams produced a pair of field goals (David Akers was 2-for-2) and gave the offense good field position (Ellis Hobbs averaged 29.3 yards per kickoff return).

By the time the two-minute warning arrived, the stadium was almost empty. The Eagles and Giants will face each other again in six weeks – and by then we’ll have a better idea of how whether one or both of these teams should be considered a Super Bowl contender.

“I think we’re just kind of touching the surface,” McNabb said. “The sky’s the limit for us, but again, it comes back to being consistent.”

They have two more months to work on that. As they left the field, time was running out for the team across the street to right itself. About four hours after the Eagles left the field, the Phillies would start Game 4 of the World Series trailing two games to one.

“I’ll be watching,” Reid said.

E-mail Andy Schwartz at aschwartz@comcastsportsnet.com.