With the winds swirling at Giants Stadium, New York made the odd decision not to take the wind and instead took the ball off the coin toss. It was a stupid decision and one that would come back to haunt them throughout the day. They kicked a field goal on their first drive, but an Eli Manning interception into the wind led to a Philadelphia touchdown and they fell behind 7-3.
New York pulled closer after a nice punt by Jeff Feagles backed Philadelphia up to their own end zone. Donovan McNabb committed an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone and that gave New York an automatic safety. The Giants kicked a field goal to take an 8-7 lead, but Philadelphia answered with their own field goal to take a 10-8 lead at halftime.
The Giants must have left their mojo in the locker room, because they were totally outplayed in the second half. Fred Robbins made a beautiful interception on the Eagles’ opening drive and returned the ball to the Eagles 33, but New York could only kick a field goal. Trailing 13-11, New York missed their second field goal of the game and when Philadelphia responded with a touchdown, the Giants had a nine-point hole to climb out of.
They were not up to the challenge. Eli Manning was miserable, missing receivers and looking like the bad Eli of old. The defense didn’t touch McNabb, giving him ample time to find open receivers. Two consecutive drives in the fourth quarter ended when the Giants couldn’t convert on fourth and short. Philadelphia beat them at the line of scrimmage and they beat them in all facets of the game. And now the Giants will have seven months to think about how they didn’t show up to defend their Super Bowl title.
Maybe all of their fairy dust is away from New Jersey. The team has not won a playoff game at the Meadowlands since 2000.
