• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Garcia hopes to beat the Giants again

Jan 7, 2007 - 5:34 PM NY Giants (8-8) at Philadelphia (10-6) Sunday 4:30 pm EST

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Jeff Garcia handed the New York Giants an excruciating postseason loss four years ago and beat them again less than three weeks ago.

On Sunday, the sixth-seeded Giants have a chance to avenge those losses against the veteran quarterback when they visit the third-seeded Philadelphia Eagles in an NFC wild card round game on Sunday.

The teams are two of three from the NFC East to make the playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys, who earned the first wild-card spot, visit Seattle on Saturday.

Garcia has turned out to be one of the league's most important offseason signings. Not many people gave the Eagles much of a chance to make the playoffs after starting quarterback Donovan McNabb tore his ACL in a November 19 loss to Tennessee.

But Garcia, a Pro Bowler with the San Francisco 49ers from 2001-03, came to the rescue. After losing his first start, Garcia led the Eagles to five straight wins and their fifth NFC East title in six years under coach Andy Reid.

"It's been like a rebirth for me," Garcia said. "The coaching staff had the confidence in me to bring me here and I'm glad its worked out."

The Giants are not surprised by Garcia's success. In a wild card round game in January 2003, Garcia rallied the Niners from a 24-deficit to a 39-38 victory over New York.

After deciding to go with a no-huddle offense, the Niners scored the game's last 25 points in the final 17 minutes. Garcia capped the comeback with a 13-yard scoring pass to Tai Streets with one minute left.

Garcia completed 27-of-44 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 60 yards and another score.

Some Giants remain from that team, including running back Tiki Barber, tight end Jeremy Shockey and defensive end Michael Strahan, who is out for the playoffs with a sprained foot ligament. Shockey is also hobbled with an ankle injury.

Then on December 17, Garcia hit Reggie Brown with a go-ahead 19-yard touchdown pass with 2:57 left in the fourth quarter and defensive tackle Trent Cole returned an interception 19 yards for a score 10 seconds later to lead the Eagles to a 36-22 victory at Giants Stadium.

Garcia completed 4-of-4 passes for 63 yards on Philadelphia's game-winning drive before New York's Eli Manning threw the interception that was returned by Cole.

Brian Westbrook had 97 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries and added 40 yards on five receptions for the Eagles.

Manning completed 24-of-34 for 262 yards with two interceptions. Plaxico Burress caught six passes for 120 yards, while Barber had 75 yards on 19 carries and 23 more on four receptions.

The Giants showed their ability to come from behind with a 30-24 overtime win at Philadelphia on September 17.

After being sacked eight times, Manning lofted a 31-yard touchdown pass to Burress with 3:11 left in overtime. Manning passed for 371 yards and three touchdowns as the Giants erased a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit.

"It comes down to who makes the plays in the end," Burress said. "It was us in the first game and it was them in the second game."

New York struggled in the second half of the season, losing six of seven games before finishing with a 34-28 victory at Washington last week. Feeling the heat of the collapse, coach Tom Coughlin stripped offensive coordinator John Hufnagel of his play-calling duties, handing them to quarterbacks coach Kevin Gilbride before the win over Washington.

Gilbride did not have to do anything more than call Barber's number. In his final regular-season game, Barber rushed for a career-high 234 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries.

The Giants' all-time leading rusher, Barber will retire after the playoffs. The New York Post reported on its web site Monday that Barber will sign a four-year, $10 million contract to work for both ABC News and ESPN.

"Maybe we're flying under the radar a little bit and that can be a good thing," Barber said.

Barber's career-high performance bailed out Manning, who completed just 12-of-26 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. His longest completion went for 14 yards.

Last January, Manning was intercepted three times and completed just 10-of-18 passes for 113 yards in a 23-0 loss to Carolina in the wild-card round.

The Giants are the eighth 8-8 team in NFL history to make the playoffs. None of the previous seven reached the conference championship game.

If the Eagles win on Sunday, they will play the second-seeded New Orleans Saints in the divisional round.

If the Giants win, they will match up against the top-seeded Chicago Bears.