Philadelphia Eagles 23 – New York Giants 11

Giants Season Ends on an Unhappy Note: The defending NFL Champion New York Giants fell to the Philadelphia Eagles 23-11 earlier today at the Meadowlands. It was a bitter end to what had been an excellent 2008 season, with the Giants finishing the regular season with a 12-4 record and an NFC East Division Championship.

The biggest problem for the Giants was the poor play of QB Eli Manning, who finished 15-of-29 for 169 yards, 0 touchdowns, and two interceptions. The Giants out-rushed the Eagles 138 to 59, but New York could not overcome the poor passing effort. The Giants’ offense handed the Eagles their first touchdown, was 3-of-13 on 3rd conversion attempts, was 1-of-3 on 4th down conversion attempts, and most damning of all, only managed three field goals. PK John Carney also missed field goals of 46 and 47 yards.

The Giants received the ball first and HB Ahmad Bradshaw returned the opening kickoff 65 yards to the Philadelphia 35-yard line. On 4th-and-2 from the Eagle 27-yard line, Head Coach Tom Coughlin decided to go for it and HB Brandon Jacobs picked up the first down with a 3-yard gain. After a 13-yard pass to TE Darcy Johnson, the offense stalled and Carney kicked a 22-yard field go to give the Giants a 3-0 lead.

Starting from their own 33-yard line, the Eagles picked up one first down on their first possession before being forced to punt. Disaster then struck. On the first play of the Giants’ second possession, Manning’s pass intended for WR Domenik Hixon was intercepted at the Giants’ 27-yard line and returned 25 yards down to the Giants’ 2-yard line. QB Donovan McNabb scored from one yard out to give the Eagles a 7-3 advantage.

The Giants only picked up one first down on their next possession before punting. The Eagles went three-and-out.  And the Giants punted again after one first down.

The punt by Jeff Feagles pinned the Eagles at their own 5-yard line. On 2nd-and-9, McNabb was called for intentional grounding while standing in the end zone, resulting in a safety. Eagles 7 – Giants 5. After the safety, the Giants received the ball and drove to the Philadelphia 28-yard line, but could not pick up another yard. Carney’s 46-yard field goal attempt was no good.

The Eagles then drove to the Giants’ 41-yard line on their fifth possession. On 3rd-and-9, McNabb was picked off by CB Kevin Dockery at the Giants’ 20-yard line. The Giants then drove  to the Eagles’ 21-yard line with a 24-yard run by Jacobs and a 25-yard reception by TE Kevin Boss.  But again the offense stalled and the Giants settled for a 34-yard field goal by Carney. The Giants regained the lead 8-7.

The Eagles then retook the lead by marching 68 yards in 12 plays to set up a 25-yard field goal as time expired. At the half, the Eagles led 10-8.

The Eagles received the ball to start the second half and returned the kickoff 46 yards to the Eagles’ 47-yard line. On 2nd-and-8, McNabb’s pass was intercepted by DT Fred Robbins at midfield and returned 17 yards to the Eagles’ 33-yard line. Two runs by Jacobs took the Giants to the Eagles’ 17-yard line, but after two incomplete passes, the Giants settled for yet another field goal attempt. Carney was good from 36 yards out. Giants 11 – Eagles 10.

On the Eagles’ second drive of the third quarter, Philadelphia overcame a 3rd-and-20 to keep the possession alive and then managed to reach the Giants’ 17-yard line to set up a 35-yard field goal. The Eagles regained the lead for good 13-11.

On the Giants’ second possession, New York moved from their own 31-yard line to the Eagles’ 29-yard line. The big play was a 34-yard pass from Manning to Hixon. However, the Giants only picked up one more yard. Carney’s 47-yard field goal was no good.

The Eagles took charge of the game late in the third quarter/early in the fourth quarter as Philadelphia drove 63 yards in 10 plays to take a commanding 20-11 advantage. A costly 15-yard face mask penalty on LB Antonio Pierce helped the Eagles.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Giants started their third possession of the second half. On 4th-and-1 from their own 44-yard, Manning was stuffed and the Giants turned the ball over on downs. The Giants’ defense forced a three-and-out. The Giants then started their next possession at their own 11 and drove to their own 47-yard line. On 4th-and-2, Jacobs was held to a 1-yard gain and the Giants turned the ball over on downs again with less than seven minutes to play.

On 2nd-and-11, McNabb hit WR DeSean Jacks deep for a 48-yard gain down to the Giants’ 1-yard line. The defense prevented the touchdown but the Philadelphia field goal gave the Eagles a 23-11 lead with four minutes to go.

The Giants’ last two possessions ended in turnovers with Manning throwing his second interception and WR Steve Smith fumbling the ball away after a short reception.

Offensively, the Giants finished with 307 total net yards (169 passing and 138 rushing). Jacobs finished with 92 yards on 19 carries while HB Derrick Ward had 46 yards on 12 carries. Boss had three catches for 52 yards and Ward five catches for 24 yards. The Giants’ wide receivers only combined for six catches. The offense did not allow a sack.

Defensively, the Giants held the Eagles to 276 total net yards (217 passing and 59 rushing). The defense picked off two passes but did not sack McNabb.

“It is disappointing and you can blame it all on the offense,” said LG Rich Seubert. “Our defense played its heart out. We have to get touchdowns. I feel bad for guys on defense because they played well. We just couldn’t get it done.”

“I’m in disbelief right now,” said Boss. “I thought we were playing well enough to make another run. I know we prepared well for this game. We just didn’t play well offensively.”

“Obviously we are extremely, extremely disappointed,” said OC Shaun O’Hara. “I don’t think anybody on this team was ready to stop playing. We had great expectations and to fall short like we did today just tears your heart out. We moved the ball well on them. We did a great job of not turning the ball over all season and not getting penalties. For some reason today we didn’t take care of that. We turned the ball over, we had penalties. Our winning formula has been to limit turnovers and penalties. And we didn’t do that today. We kicked three field goals in the first half. There were opportunities there to win this game and we did not make those plays and we did not capitalize.”

Post-Game Notes: Inactive for the game were HB Danny Ware, WR Mario Manningham, OT Adam Koets, DE Dave Tollefson, DT Jeremy Clark, DT Leger Douzable, LB Gerris Wilkinson, and CB Rashad Barksdale.

The Giants, who won four playoff games last year, lost their opening postseason game for the third time in four years.

The Giants’ post-season record fell to 20-24. Their playoff record at Giants Stadium is 7-4.

The Giants did not sack Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb. They failed to record a sack five times this season, including all three games against the Eagles.