PHILADELPHIA – The dominant Giant defense we saw a week ago against Dallas was nowhere to be found for most of yesterday’s game with the Eagles. Luckily for the Giants, though, it showed up when it counted most.
Osi Umenyiora’s hit on Eagles quarterback Mike McMahon in overtime knocked the ball loose and Kenderick Allen pounced on it, setting up the game-winning field goal in the Giants’ 26-23 victory.
It wasn’t pretty early on for the defense, though. The Eagles sliced and diced the Giants with a balanced attack that raised serious questions about the Giants’ playoff pedigree. Philly did this damage with a lineup that contained the star power of an off-Broadway show.
With Donovan McNabb watching from a luxury box and Terrell Owens doing his sit-ups far from Philadelphia these days, the Eagles’ offense did not appear to have much of a chance, but the Eagle subs proved more than capable.
Quarterback Mike McMahon showed little flash but did not make many mistakes. The Rutgers alum completed 14-of-32 passes for 190 yards. Meanwhile, the Giants’ defense made few big plays and forced no turnovers until the overtime fumble.
“I certainly was not going to be pleased when I looked at the numbers,” Giant coach Tom Coughlin said. “There wasn’t a lot of resistance in the first half. That’s not our defense. That’s not the way we play.”
The biggest surprise of the day for the Eagles was rookie running back Ryan Moats. In his first year out of Louisiana Tech, Moats entered the game with 50 career rushing yards on 16 carries with a long of 14. Against the Giants, the 5-foot-8 back suddenly became a mix of Barry Sanders and O.J. Simpson, rushing for 89 yards on his first five carries, a 17.8 average.
“We didn’t seem to be getting anything done,” Coughlin said. “When Moats’ runs went outside us it looked like we were standing there in some kind of quicksand.”
On his first carry of the game, Moats ran around the left side and broke free for a 40-yard touchdown burst to tie the game, 7-7. He returned to the end zone with 2:00 left in the first half, when he again went around the left, this time for an 18-yard score, bringing the Eagles within three points at 17-14. Two plays earlier, he had a 20-yard run
The Giants played most of the game without their leading tackler, Antonio Pierce. The middle linebacker suffered an ankle injury late in the first quarter and never returned.
“We just had to find our rhythm,” Umenyiora said. “Early none of us were really doing anything. We weren’t making tackles. We came on strong in the second half and that’s what good defenses do.”
