NFL Week 11 Predictions: Eagles Will Give Giants All They Can Handle

Don't count the Philadelphia Eagles out of their Sunday night matchup with the New York Giants just yet.

It's a tempting proposition, I know, considering that Michael Vick isn't likely to play and that the team has dropped its last two games and has already fallen well short of the lofty expectations it set for itself coming into the 2011 NFL season.

But as much as the Eagles may be a collection of players more than a team, they're still a collection of pretty darn good players; guys who have tasted success and know what it takes to win. Pro Bowl corner Asante Samuel was all too accurate in his rather scathing assessment that the Eagles' front office had played fantasy football with free agency, choosing to load up on high-profile players rather than simply fill out a team that won the NFC East just last year.

At this point, capturing the divisional crown is likely the only way Philly is going to crack the playoffs for the 10th time in 13 seasons under Andy Reid. While the probability of that happening is alarmingly low, the Eagles won't have any shot if they don't beat the Giants this weekend.

Which is precisely why they'll give Big Blue, sitting pretty atop the division at 6-3, all it can handle. It was against New York that Philly's fourth-quarter follies first came to light, as the offense stalled with Vick getting knocked out (again) and the defense letting the Giants turn a 16-14 disadvantage into a 29-16 defeat thanks to two big touchdown passes by Eli Manning.

The argument could easily be made, of course, that the Eagles would've hung on in that game had Vick not went down, though Philly won't even have that luxury on Sunday, not with Vince Young and Mike Kafka juggling duties under center from the get-go.

On the bright side, at least Andy Reid will (presumably) have to make LeSean McCoy the focal point of his offensive game plan, unless, of course, he thinks Young and/or Kafka is competent enough to throw the ball with consistent accuracy.

And when it comes to Reid, you can never be sure what you're going to get, other than something entirely unpredictable.

Even Reid has to be smart enough to recognize that he has the NFL's most productive ground game at his disposal and that the Giants rank 20th against the run...right?

If the Eagles' coaching staff is, in fact, smart enough to realize its clear advantage with the carry, then they may have a chance to pull off yet another "Miracle at the New Meadowlands." Such a strategy would allow Philly to keep Eli Manning and the Giants offense (and their own inept defense) on the sidelines while eating up clock and yardage, perhaps even on the way to the end zone.

If nothing else, the Eagles will have the advantage in desperate motivation. A loss would drop Philly to 3-7, in effect hammering the final nail into the coffin of their postseason hopes.

Those same hopes would remain slim even in victory, though a win over New York would pull Philly to within two games of the NFC East lead with six more to play.

And if there's anything we've learned about the NFL this season, or about Eagles after last season's miracle, it's that anything is possible, that the unlikely can and does happen.

That alone won't be enough to get the Eagles back on the winning track, but it's a start.