Eagles-Giants: Well, That Was Unexpected

> I picked up Leonard Weaver in my cursed fantasy league. Maybe not so cursed? And there's no wonder why the G-Men fell prey to a fullback run; after six weeks of Line of Scrimmage Punt Return, it must have seemed downright exotic.

> On the first quarter pick from Eli Manning to Asante Samuel, Eli wound up running down the field with his back to the man with the ball. Hard to do, really. Nice to see how you are a football player and all, Eli.

> On third-and-goal from the 17, Donovan McNabb found Brent Celek for the touchdown, and wow, that was huge. Suddenly the Eagles were up 13 (a blocked PAT that, for once, did not come back to haunt them) after just four minutes of game play, and we were singing "Fly, Eagles, Fly" here in the Man Cave.

> I'm not sure I'm prepared to live in a world where an Eagles TE wearing the number 82 makes a play. Welcome to the Verse, Alex Smith.

> On third-and-11 from the Giants' 38, McNabb scrambled for 14 to convert and put the Eagles in field goal range, and this fan felt a lot better about the world.

The simple fact of the matter is that when McNabb runs effectively, the rest of his game (a.k.a., accuracy in passing) just seems to fall in line, and while the drive didn't end in a touchdown, it did lead to a 30-yard field goal, and kept the Giants' defense on the field for an extra five minutes. Helpful.

> It's nice that Jason Peters is good at hustling and recovering fumbles. Not so good when his man got the sack and fumble in the first place. The prize free agent acquisition continues to underwhelm.

> Just once, I'd like to see an Eagles' opponent not get huge plays from the TE, or Eli not get big plays by just throwing jump balls to tall wideouts. I want some variety in my rage, please. And just like that, what was a comfortable game became a lot less so, because good teams score before the half, and Manning's gotten hot...

> And um, so much for that, as DeSean Jackson got ridiculously open for yet another huge touchdown. Wow. DJ's just freaking awesome right now; six TDs so far this year, all of them over 50 yards. He's historically dangerous right now.

> Don't sleep on Ellis Hobbs having two big kick returns in the first half when the game was in doubt. If Hobbs can give the Eagles a plus in the return game, that's just another weapon, really.

> The most highly paid player in the NFL then responded to his hot streak by sailing a center ball for a stunningly easy pick, and my laundry was in pure Blood in the Water mode. McNabb to Celek, and then Jeremy Maclin pulls off his catch of the year. Fourteen points in less than a minute, and it's 30-7, Eagles. The four touchdown drives  *averaged* less than a minute. I'm speechless.

> Starting the second half, an unforced error on the kickoff return by Domenik Hixon put the game in kill shot territory, but two blocked passes forced a field goal attempt. Something a bit worrisome for Eagles fans is how many of McNabb's passes are getting batted down this year; it does seem to be a growing trend.

> On fourth-and-four from the Eagles' 29 with 9:48 left in the third, the G-Men went for it, and Eli threw a nice deep ball that Steve Smith couldn't control for the de facto turnover.

Fox mouth-jobber Darryl Johnston stood up for Manning there, but maybe, just maybe, throwing into double coverage 25 yards down the field when you have a must-have conversion... isn't the best possible play by the QB. I know it's against the law to speak ill of a Manning, but still.

> I'm not sure which team I'm watching; Andy Reid just made a good replay challenge on the sack, fumble, lateral, and defensive touchdown for the Giants. To be fair, it was kind of an obvious call, since the play is a touchdown and all, but still. We take what we can from Andy, and it wound up taking a few minutes and four points off the board. Better than the completely sharp stick in the eye.

> Last week against the Cardinals, Cris Collingsworth made a big deal over how Eli used the word "Omaha" before the snap count. He's still doing it this week. Do the Giants not pay attention to network broadcasts? You'd think that changing a word wouldn't be that hard, really.

> I'm not saying the Fox team is in the tank for the Giants. But the fact that New York took time to score to cut the game to 33-17 with a minute left in the fourth seemed to be personally disappointing to the crew.

> Some actual ball control burned the clock for the rest of the quarter, and the third ended with the Eagles up 33-17... and then LeSean McCoy put the game away by going 66 yards to the house.

Absolutely no interest from the Giants in taking McCoy down shy of the goal line, and if you want to call the Giants big dang quitters at this point, I won't argue the point. Just a shocking 40-17 score right now, and that ended the drama with 14:22 left.

> The Giants aren't going to have a lot to feel good about after this game, but Hakeem Nicks is a player. Any WR that gets lit up, fumbles, but keeps his head long enough to recover and get seven yards out of it can play on my team. He's going to be a beast.

> I hate the horse collar penalty on principle—should a defender just give up on a play where he's behind the ball carrier?—but I especially hate it when it's a marginal call on a QB. Just put a dress on the player and be done with it, and accept the idea that some players are less equal than others.

> After watching McNabb lose extra yards on the kneel down play last week in Washington, it's nice to see the team go to Michael Vick for that play. Also good to see Tom Coughlin managing the game to the close, if only for fantasy purposes, really...and for the game to end on one more satisfying sack of Eli.

Good times, really. I laughed, I laughed, and I laughed some more. Let's have more games like this one, really.

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