Giants Dethroned As The Eagles Roll, 23-11

Sunday's rubber match between the Eagles and Giants certainly lived up to the hype, as both teams engaged in a high stakes fist fight that ended with the high flyin' Eagles moving on to the NFC championship, ending the Giants season with a 23-11 defeat.

Somewhere between Donovan McNabb's interception and John Carney's 34-yard field goal, the Philadelphia Eagles finally arrived at Giants Stadium and took over Sunday's heated NFC Divisional round match-up. 

The Giants had just about everything going for them coming into round three of their turnpike rivalry with the Eagles. They had home field advantage. They had the benefit of two weeks rest and the return of their mack truck running back Brandon Jacobs. 

But it wasn't enough as they were unable to overcome the unstoppable force that is the Philadelphia Eagles.

New York's hopes of repeating as Super Bowl Champs went up in smoke as Eli Manning threw his second interception of the game as Quintin Mikell stepped in front of a pass intended for Steve Smith, effectively ending any hopes of a comeback.

The Giants offense got off to a hot start this afternoon following an electrifying 65-yard kick return to start the afternoon that led to a John Carney field goal. From there, it was nothing but missed opportunities and undisciplined mistakes. 

Eli Manning, who had come into Sunday's game in a bit of a funk, continued his sloppy play with a poor performance against the ferocious Eagles defense. Manning completed just 15 of his 29 pass attempts and threw two very costly interceptions.

The first of Manning's two picks led to the Eagles first touchdown, and the second cemented their fate, late in the fourth quarter. The Eagles defense put enough pressure on Manning to force mistakes and hurry his throws.

The Giants ground game received a much needed boost with the return of Brandon Jacobs this afternoon. While Jacobs and fellow 1,000 yard back Derrick Ward moved the ball effectively, they were unable to come up with the key runs on third down numerous times. 

While the Giants uncharacteristically turned the ball over three times today, their performance on third down is what ultimately did them in. The offense converted on only 3 of their 13 third down opportunities, coming away successful just 23 percent of the time.

Three of those failed opportunities came deep in Eagles territory, twice when the Giants started with magnificent field position. Clearly that's not a formula for success.

The Giants defense utterly dominated the first 28 minutes of the game until a key two minute drive ran by the Eagles, sent them into the locker room trailing by two.

New York's front seven had Donovan McNabb under heavy duress for much of the half while they rendered Brian Westbrook powerless. Until the Eagles late scoring drive, their offense had been held to a meager 29-yards. 

It was a completely different story in the second half for the defense as they were really unable to stop the Eagles on third down and allowed them to control the clock. 

As for the Eagles, this game could not have gotten off to a worse start. They allowed the Giants to have great starting field position from the get go, and their offense got off to an anemic start. 

However, the defense kept them above water and they began to move the ball and put up points. 

Philadelphia's defense struggled against the Giants' rushing attack, but they came up when the big stops when called upon and came up with two massive game changing stops on fourth down in the fourth quarter. 

The secondary for the Eagles was spotty at times but overall played fine. Asante Samuel got the Eagles started when Eli Manning was pressured into an interception that eventually led to the Eagles first touchdown. 

While the front seven really didn't get off the ball great, as I said earlier, they came up big when called upon. On those two key fourth down stops, Brodrick Bunkley was able to penetrate the line and disrupt the rhythm of the play. 

It took 28 minutes for the Eagles offense to wake up, but field goal late in the first half propelled them into the second half where they controlled the clock and put up 13 big points. 

Donovan McNabb's stat line for today's game certainly wasn't impressive, but like the defense, he came up with the big time throws in the big time situations. 

McNabb's receivers played a key role in his success today as they came up with numerous big catches on second and third down. Jason Avant was one of those receivers who stepped up today with four catches for 41 yards, 21 of those coming on a key third and 20 in the third quarter. 

Another receiver who stepped up today was Kevin Curtis. Curtis dropped a big pass in the second half that could have ended up in a touchdown.

Curtis got open down the sideline, McNabb threw a beautiful pass that bounced off of Curtis' hands incomplete. But Curtis responded with two catches on third down, on a drive that would end up in a Brent Celek touchdown reception.

But the spark plug of the group, DeSean Jackson, made the biggest catch of all today. On a second and eleven, Jackson reeled in a pass over Cory Webster and nearly carried the corner into the end zone, but fell just one yard short. Jackson ended the game with four receptions for 81 yards.

The Eagles ground game was ineffective for the second consecutive week as Brian Westbrook continued his struggles today. While the Eagles running backs struggled to move the chains, they were able to make their impact in other aspects of the game.

Westbrook, came up with a key reception on an Eagles drive late in the first half that would end in a David Akers field goal. Correll Buckhalter came up with a big 19-yard reception in the third quarter that once again ended in an Akers field goal.

 Another shocking stat was the fact that for the third consecutive game, the Giants failed to sack Donovan McNabb. Now the Eagles offensive line was far from great on Sunday, but they did their job in keeping McNabb clean. 

The win sends the Eagles to the NFC Championship for the fifth time in eight years. They will make their first trip to Arizona in three years to face the No.4 seed Cardinals, another former NFC East rival.