What went wrong …
1. A tale of two runners — Perhaps injuries to key starters, center Shaun O’Hara and left tackle David Diehl, had something to do with the Giants’ nonexistent running game. It was apparent the Giants had little faith in the makeshift left side, as they repeatedly ran behind its veteran right side of guard Chris Snee and Kareem McKenzie, which led to Ahmad Bradshaw gaining just 29 yards on 12 carries with a fumble. LeSean McCoy, meanwhile, broke off a 50-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-1 to put the Eagles up 24-17 with 4:34 left. McCoy then busted for a first down on Philadelphia’s final drive to seal the win. He finished with 111 yards on only 14 carries.
2. Careless — Eli Manning threw three picks and fumbled late as Big Blue committed five turnovers. Manning throws one pick every 25 attempts this season and threw two to Asante Samuel last night. His most costly turnover, though, came on a potential game-tying drive in the closing minutes. The ball popped out as he was sliding for a first down.
3. Covering Maclin — They took away Mike Vick’s legs, but he found Jeremy Maclin nine times for 120 yards. It’s not often the Giants lose games in which they didn’t allow a deep pass over top, but because of turnovers, the dink and dunk, quick-slant formula for Philly was enough for the win.
What went wrong …
1. Giants aren’t Vick-tims: Vick went 24-of-38 for 258 yards but wasn’t the difference in this one, partly because of Justin Tuck’s three sacks. Vick was mostly kept in the pocket and as a result, the Giants managed to force his first turnover of the season when Tuck strip-sacked him at the Philadelphia 31-yard line. Derek Hagan scored two plays later to give Big Blue its first lead of the game, at the 13:55 mark of the third quarter
2. Holding Eagles to FGs: This game could have been out of hand early if not for the Giants holding Philadelphia to short field goals instead of touchdowns. David Akers’ 28-yarder put the Birds up 16-3 midway through the third. In actuality, the game could have easily been 28-3.
3. Bottled up for 55 minutes: Take away those two long runs by McCoy and he was sitting on nine carries for 13 yards. The Eagles’ rushing attack, that includes Vick, wasn’t as explosive as usual. New York might have shown the rest of the league a blueprint in how to slow down Philly’s manic rushing game, as they showed various defensive fronts to confuse the Philadelphia offensive line and kept the elusive Vick in front of them whenever he broke containment.
