*******OFFICIAL Giants vs Eagles Thread********

[lastchance]

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Pretty uninspired performance by both teams. I think they are about even on a neutral field (maybe Eagles by 1), but giving the Giants 7 was certainly way too much. The Eagles will have to play much better next week to beat New Orleans.

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QFT. Garcia and Eli were both mediocre, both O-Lines played pretty well, both defenses did manage to stop the run at times. Good games from Burress and Reggie Brown. I thought the Giants played the Eagles even (or close to it) and just had a few bad breaks go their way.

Mad, mad props to Brian Westbrook, and also Tiki Barber.

[SuperUberBob]

Yay Giants defense.

If at least half the coaching staff is not fired at the end of this season, I'm becoming a Jets fan. All of the coordinators except for Mike Sweatman must go. Gilbride should be fired as well and pretty much every other position coach.

[MacGuyV]

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If at least half the coaching staff is not fired at the end of this season, I'm becoming a Jets fan.

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rofl

[PokerFink]

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ok, now that we have that out of the way...

I was at the game, and let me tell you, it was LOUD - the place was insane when the Giants had the ball, especially on 3rd down. And all the false starts (Giants had atleast 5) made the place even louder. I'm curious how well it came across on television.

Brian Westbrook obviously had an amazing game. He finished with 140 something yards on 20 carries, but 3 of those carries were at the end of the game and they weren't trying to gain any yards. The Giants coulden't let the Eagles score - Westbrook was just taking the handoff and diving into the line for no gain. So 140+ on 17 carries is pretty amazing.

The Giants really shut down the Eagles interior running game - the Eagles were getting only 2-3 yards per carry instead of their normal 4-5. But Westbrook destroyed them on the edges. In the postgame interview, Westbrook mentioned the "zone right" running play, which accounted for the long TD as well as a couple big first down runs on the final drive.

Garcia was ok, not great. He seemed even more jittery in the pocket than usual, but maybe it just seemed that way live. Offensive line did a good job with blitz pickup. On the touchdown to Stallworth, they picked up the blitz and I said outloud "great blitz pickup here's our chance" as Garcia fired a bullet to Donte. It's so much easier to see big plays like that develope live when you can see the reciever running free (instead of offscreen on TV). Garcia was very accurate in the pocket completed a lot of short passes after a slow 1 for 4 start. He completed the short curl to Brown 4-5 times for a solid gain every time. But they kept rolling him to the right on designed sprint outs and those plays just didn't work. He finally completed a pass to Shoebel (sp?) on the final drive for like 5 yards, but that was it for designed sprint outs. Ditch those plays Reid.

Carlos Emmons is done. The Eagles just abused him. On the end-around to Brown, Emmons read the play beautifully and stayed at home, but was simply too slow. Brown ran right by him no problem for a solid gain. Westbrook as well got around Emmons way to easily on the edges.

On the other side, Tiki had a good game and hurt the Eagles with cutback runs, as always. You can see the Eagles overpersue, and Tiki cuts back and it's over. The Saints would be wise to use the same strategy with Bush. The Eagles still can't cover Burress and will probably have trouble with Colston. Eli was his normal scattershot self. The first TD to Burress was a perfect example of how much Eli needs him. Burress had to jump and reach high in the air to make the catch - at 6'5" he can catch that pass, but very few other recievers in the NFL (if any) can make that same play. They're quite a pair.

Eagles should continue to use Westbrook in the return game now and then, especially in the playoffs. His TD punt return was sensational. Caught it, three steps to the left, and then he just exploded through the hole and it was all over. But I saw the flag go up (most fans did) so there was no excitement - we all knew it was coming back. But Mahe simply doesn't have the speed or acceleration to make that kind of play.

Eagles shut down Jacobs in the last PHI-NYG game, which may explain his absence.

Where was LJ Smith?

What did Runyan do? I didn't see it and they didn't show a replay.

Eagles lost CB Lito Sheppard to a dislocated elbow. That's really going to hurt against the Saints.

There should have been a PI on the Giants on the long pass to Brown. The contact was basically the same as the PI on the Eagles, and the Giants CB did not look back just as Brown did not look back.

Refs missed 2 pretty blatant helmet-to-helmet hits on Garcia.

All in all, great win, great night, good riddance to Barber and on to New Orleans!

[Dudd]

Runyan is a punk. He hit a Giants player well after the play, then Sam Madison said something to him and got a forearm to the face that knocked him over. Then Runyan got pushed back and stumbled back over a ref and fell over. Jesus, I don't like that guy.

[DemonDeac]

never been more proud to wear my westbrook jersey at the Linc than tonight

GO BIRDS!!

[Triumph36]

Meh - typical Coughlin loss - bad game management and poor play calling undermine a talented team once again.

[Homer]

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I'm curious how well it came across on television.

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It sounded louder than during any other Eagles TV broadcast this season. If you hadn't been watching the Eagles all season, though, it wouldn't have seemed spectacular. It is really tough to make the Linc loud.

[CieloAzor]

The shots of the crowd going wild and singing Fly Eagles Fly was impressive, even if the volume wasn't.

All in all, I thought the Eagles played a pretty good game and were in control most of the way, after a shaky start. I don't think the final score really did them justice, but they made the plays when they needed to and a win is a win.
Losing Lito sucks, but I still feel we have a decent shot going into next week.

Two things I didn't see mentioned here...

Dawkins' flying Superman tackle was awesome, although unnecessary. Dude cracks me up.

When Runyan got pushed over, his fall was hilarious. He looked like an idiot, flailing and falling all over people. I assume that's what cowtipping looks like.