Eagles ready for latest battle with Giants

Jan 5, 2009 - 7:07 PM By Bob Birge PA SportsTicker Staff Writer

For a number of reasons, the Philadelphia Eagles are the last team the New York Giants want to face in the divisional round of the playoffs.

The Eagles always seem to play the Giants tough, and head to the Meadowlands with plenty of momentum following Sunday's 26-14 wild-card victory at Minnesota.

Philadelphia, which has been in a playoff mode for a month, won't back down from the challenge that awaits them Sunday against the defending Super Bowl champions.

The Eagles already have beaten New York once this year, handing the Giants their only home loss of the season with a 20-14 victory on December 7. The NFC East rivals split their two regular-season meetings, with the Giants posting a 36-31 victory in Philadelphia on November 9.

The Eagles fully expected to travel back up I-95 for a third meeting with the Giants, and it would hardly be a shock if they ended New York's hopes for a repeat.

"I never look past any NFL football team, but I figured we would have a rematch," Eagles veteran cornerback Sheldon Brown said.

Philadelphia would love to follow the same path the Giants traveled to a Super Bowl title last season. New York snuck into the postseason as a wild card and won three playoff games on the road.

The Eagles needed a lot to break right on the final week of the regular season just to get into the playoffs as the No. 6 seed and also would have to win on the road three times to reach the Super Bowl.

Philadelphia's playoff hopes seem to be extinguished after a 36-7 loss at Baltimore dropped the Eagles to 5-5-1. That defeat followed an inexplicable 13-13 tie at lowly Cincinnati.

However, Philadelphia responded by winning four of its final five regular-season games.

"We tied Cincinnati and then we lose to Baltimore, the worst losses I have been a part of since I've been here," Brown said. "We've had that adversity and we know how to build all that in and we're just using it as fuel to the fire."

Donovan McNabb faces an inordinate amount of verbal abuse from the highly-critical Eagles fans, who never have warmed to the former Syracuse quarterback, and it may finally lead to his departure from Philadelphia.

However, McNabb finds himself in the second round of the playoffs for the seventh time in his nine-year career. He passed for 300 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings, and Eagles owner Jeff Lurie said over the weekend that he wants to keep McNabb in Philadelphia.

"That's exciting," McNabb said. "I guess I don't have to answer the question from you (media) if I'll be here anymore. I never said I don't want to be here. I'm here."

The Eagles' defense also played well down the stretch, allowing an average of 10 points in their final four regular-season games. They held Adrian Peterson, the NFL's leading rusher, to 83 yards - and nearly half of that came on one play - a 40-yard TD run in the second quarter.

"We lost some tough games early on in the season," said Eagles running back Brian Westbrook, who clinched the win over the Vikings with a late 71-yard TD reception. "We didn't continue to fight throughout those football games. We did fight (against the Vikings), and we won."

Now the Eagles turn their attention to the Giants' "Earth (Brandon Jacobs), Wind (Derrick Ward) and Fire (Ahmad Bradshaw)" backfield.

In its last meeting with the Giants, Philadelphia hammered the "Earth" into the ground, limiting the 260-pound Jacobs to 52 yards on 10 carries.