Giants Sneak Away With NFC East

GIANTS 36

EAGLES 31

This game was a wild as a game could get. The Giants dominated the Eagles on the line of scrimmage all night long, holding the ball for 39 minutes yet had to sweat out a 36-31 victory Sunday night.

The game turned in the Giants favor after a controversial call. With the Eagles up 24-20, Giants quarterback Eli Manning stepped over the line of scrimmage at the Eagles 20 and threw the football for a first down to tight end Kevin Boss. The officals originally said that Manning had stepped over the line, which represents a 10 yard penatly and loss of down. If that call had stood, the Eagles would have gotten the ball back with a four point lead.

Instead, the Giants challenged the call, and it was reversed in the Giants favor. Clearly, the officals dropped the ball here. It was obvious that Manning was over the line when he threw the ball to Boss. It was the difference in the game. With the call now in the Giants favor, Brandon Jacobs took up the middle for the touchdown to give the Giants a 27-24 lead.

Jacobs and Derrick Ward had huge nights against the Eagles defense. The duo ripped apart the Eagles front seven from start to finish for 219 net yards. The Eagles defense had no answers for the Giants rushing attack. Every run was four or five yard gains, costing the Eagles any hopes of getting the football.

Later in the fourth quarter, Jacobs scored again, but as he was crossing the goal line, he was stripped of the football. Eagles coach Andy Reid challenged that the ball was out of Jacobs' possession before he crossed the line. The call stood as a touchdown. A good call this time, and video shows that the ball didn't fall out of Jacobs' arms until after his body was over the goal line.

As for the Eagle offense, they were pathetic at the end. Donovan McNabb was winded by the end of the game and didn't hurry the offense down the field at all for the potential winning score. It was reminscent of McNabb's futility in the Super Bowl four years ago when he took seven minutes to lead a touchdown drive to get the Eagles back in that game.

The Giants are now a dominating 8-1 on the season, clearly the best team in the NFC.