This has not been a match made in heaven for the Philadelphia Eagles this season.
And Sunday it was not a match made in New Jersey as the New York Giants continued their mastery over their division rivals 20-10 in front of 78,765 towel-waving fans at Giants Stadium.
The Giants (13-4) beat the Eagles (12-6) for the third time this season to advance to the NFC championship game against the Minnesota Vikings.
“We need big players to make big plays in big games,” Giants coach Jim Fassel said. “And we did that today.
“I’ll worry about the Vikings later. I’m not even dry from this [Gatorade soaking] yet.”
The Giants reached the NFC championship game for the first time since January 1991, when they went on to capture their last Super Bowl title.
After a game-opening 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Giants’ Ron Dixon, the Eagles faced difficult odds.
“It was a big game and I’m a big-time player,” Dixon said. “I wanted to set the tone for the whole game. Once I broke through the hole, I just saw the kicker (David Akers) and there was no way I was going to let him tackle me. I needed that touchdown; I had to have it.”
Fassel improved his record to 9-0 against the Eagles during his three-year stint in New York. And the Giants won their sixth straight since Fassel guaranteed his team would make the playoffs. The guarantee came after the Giants lost back-to-back home games to St. Louis and Detroit. They reeled off five straight wins to clinch the NFC East title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Eagles’ offense–namely, quarterback Donovan McNabb–was frustrated throughout the game by a swarming Giants defense that ranked second in the NFC during the regular season. McNabb completed 20-of-41 passes for 181 yards, was sacked six times and intercepted once. McNabb managed a consolation touchdown pass of 10 yards to Torrance Small with 1 minute 56 seconds left in the game.
“We kept Donovan McNabb where we needed to keep him,” Fassel said. “We contained him well. When you pass-rush a guy, you don’t have to kill him, you have to contain him.”
The Eagles managed just 46 yards rushing, 17 of those from a scrambling McNabb as Giants middle linebacker Micheal Barrow was used as a “spy” on the mobile quarterback, who was the runner-up in the NFL Most Valuable Player voting.
“We confused him,” Giants outside linebacker Jessie Armstead said. “They (Philadelphia media) called him `Michael Jordan,’ but Michael Jordan couldn’t do it by himself. We didn’t talk to him. We talked with our helmets today. We weren’t `paper’ NFC champions. We earned it.”
New York took a 10-0 lead on a 37-yard field goal by Brad Daluiso on the first play of the second quarter.
Then veteran Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn made a spectacular diving interception in front of Eagles running back Chris Warren. He returned it 32 yards for a touchdown with 1:40 left in the half to increase New York’s lead to 17-0.
“All I know is that it was one of the greatest interceptions I have ever seen,” Giants defensive end Michael Strahan said.
A 25-yard Daluiso field goal gave New York a 20-3 advantage midway through the fourth period.
New York’s Kerry Collins completed 12-of-19 passes for 125 yards. The Giants held the Eagles to 11 first downs and 186 total yards.
Eagles coach Andy Reid expressed frustration about being swept by a division foe this season, yet praised the resurgence of his team, which was 5-11 last year.
“We didn’t get the job done today, and that comes right back to me,” Reid said.
The Eagles, who converted only 19 percent of their third-down opportunities in the previous two losses to the Giants, were 2 of 15 (13 percent) Sunday.
“The biggest part of our plan was: `Don’t be afraid to rush (McNabb),'” Strahan said.
“They blitzed on first, second, as well as third downs,” McNabb said. “That put us back in a hole on third-and-long. Whenever you get caught up in that situation, the defense can do whatever they want to do.”
