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Foles' 4th-quarter magic helps Eagles take down winless Giants

Oct 6, 2013 - 11:09 PM East Rutherford, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) - Nick Foles threw a pair of fourth- quarter touchdown passes in relief of an injured Michael Vick, and the Philadelphia Eagles capitalized on more turnover woes from the mistake-prone New York Giants to come through with a 36-21 victory at MetLife Stadium.

Foles finished with 197 yards on 16-of-25 passing after taking over for Vick, who pulled his left hamstring late in the second quarter on a 13-yard scramble. DeSean Jackson hauled in one of the fill-in's scoring tosses as part of a 7-catch, 132-yard effort, while Alex Henery went 5-for-5 on field goals to help Philadelphia (2-3) halt a three-game losing streak.

"He's a student of the game," Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said of Foles. "He prepares himself like he is a starter, because he is literally a chinstrap away from being a starter. I think that's a credit to him."

New York, on the other hand, fell to 0-5 for the first time since 1987 after committing four turnovers that were converted into 17 Eagles' points. The Giants now have a league-high 20 giveaways through five games, including 12 Eli Manning interceptions after the struggling quarterback was picked off three times in the fourth quarter.

"Offensively, we just have to take care of the ball better. It's as simple as that," said wide receiver Victor Cruz. "We make plays when we have the ball in our hands and we are pitching and catching, moving the ball up the field. When we turn the ball over, that's when things go awry."

The injury-riddled Giants also saw another key player go down, with running back David Wilson exiting in the first quarter with a neck injury.

Manning did accumulate 334 yards despite completing just 24-of-52 attempts and hit Rueben Randle for a pair of touchdowns in the second half. Hakeem Nicks racked up 142 yards on nine catches in the setback, while Randle put up 96 yards on six grabs.

Prior to departing, Vick rushed for a team-best 79 yards on seven scrambles and went 6-for-14 for 105 yards through the air.

Randle's second touchdown, in which he outleaped safety Earl Wolff on a 6-yard corner route with under four minutes to go in the third quarter, staked the Giants to a 22-21 lead, but Foles responded by leading a go-ahead drive before Philadelphia's maligned defense came up with several big plays to enable the Eagles to pull away down the stretch.

A defensive pass interference call on New York's Prince Amukamara and a 22- yard reception by Jason Avant quickly moved the Eagles into enemy territory, and Jackson later came up with a clutch 7-yard catch-and-run on 3rd-and-6 to position Henery for a 41-yard field goal with 1:04 remaining in the third quarter.

The Eagles' pass rush then ramped up the pressure on Manning, whose floater while being hit landed right to linebacker Mychal Kendricks with under 11 minutes left. An 18-yard return by the second-year pro put Philadelphia on the Giants' 25, and Brent Celek made a pretty over-the-shoulder diving grab on Foles' heave into the end zone on the following play to extend the margin to 29-21.

Manning was picked off on New York's next two series as well, with Brandon Boykin outmuscling Cruz on the first to change possession inside the Giants' 40-yard line.

The Eagles needed just four plays to reach the end zone again, with Jackson coming down with a 5-yard fade from Foles for a 36-21 advantage with 8:24 left. Jackson had a 28-yard catch to the Giants' 10 to begin the short drive.

New York never crossed the 50-yard line the rest of the way, as Manning was intercepted by Cary Williams after Jackson's score and the Giants were forced to punt on their final sequence.

"I honestly believe that he's trying so hard to get us a win, he's almost put too much on himself," said Giants head coach Tom Coughlin of Manning. " I'm not making excuses. There were a couple of those plays that were terrible. Sometimes in trying to make a play without both feet underneath you, you throw a ball that you regret you even threw. That's what happened a couple of times today."

Vick misfired on his first five attempts as the Eagles trailed 7-3 after one quarter, but regained his passing touch in the second as Philadelphia scored on four consecutive possessions to build a 12-point lead entering the break.

The veteran lefty dropped in a pinpoint 24-yard strike to tight end Zach Ertz that gave the Eagles a 1st-and-goal from the Giants' seven early in the period, though Philadelphia ended up settling for Henery's 27-yard field goal that cut the deficit to one.

After the Eagles' defense induced a second straight 3-and-out, Vick found Jackson on a 56-yard bomb down the middle of the field to ignite a 4-play, 71- yard march capped by LeSean McCoy's 1-yard touchdown that put Philadelphia up 13-7 with 8:11 left in the half.

Wilson's replacement, Brandon Jacobs, then fumbled near midfield on New York's ensuing series and Kendricks recovered. Shortly afterward, Vick scrambled for a 13-yard gain to the New York 18, but pulled up at the end of the run and was seen clutching the back of his left leg.

"I'm just running by myself and running out of bounds," said Vick. "I tried to slow down and I think I just took the wrong step."

He stayed in for the remainder of the drive, which ended on Henery's 29-yard boot 2:38 prior to intermission, but departed on the initial snap of Philadelphia's next trip after being hit by Giants' defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.

Foles took over at his own seven and promptly moved the Eagles downfield for Henery's fourth field goal of the day, a 36-yarder as time expired that sent Philadelphia into the locker room carrying a 19-7 advantage. The backup QB went a sharp 7-of-8 for 68 yards to get his team in scoring range.

"I thought the drive at the end of the first half, where we had an opportunity to get a field goal during the two-minute situation, [Foles] managed the game real well and I was happy," said Kelly.

New York's dormant offense came alive in the third quarter, however, to temporarily overcome the 12-point differential.

Manning made good on 6-of-7 throws for 92 yards on the Giants' second drive of the second half, and got his team back in it by hitting Randle on a short slant that the wideout shook off a tackle attempt on and raced into the end zone for a 26-yard score.

Philadelphia failed to generate anything on the following series, and Boykin was flagged for a 32-yard pass interference penalty on 3rd-and-10 to allow the Giants to keep the ball on a 7-play, 51-yard jaunt that ended with Randle's second touchdown grab.

The Giants mustered just seven points combined in lopsided road losses to Carolina and Kansas City over the previous two weeks, but matched that total on their first possession of the game. Manning teamed up with Nicks on a deep ball down the middle on 3rd-and-9 for 48 yards, and Wilson crossed the goal line from five yards out two plays later to give New York a 7-0 edge just 3:23 in.

New York had McCoy stopped short of the marker on third down during Philadelphia's subsequent trip, but Coughlin opted to accept a holding penalty to push the Eagles back. Vick in turn broke out of the pocket and sprinted 34 yards for a first down at the Giants' 29, then added an 11-yard run later on to help set up Henery's 40-yard field goal just past the midway mark of the first quarter.

Game Notes

Including a victory at Giants Stadium in the 2008 NFC Divisional Playoffs, the Eagles have now prevailed in nine of the last 11 meetings with their division rivals and gone 6-1 on the road over that stretch ... The Giants have allowed 31 points or more in every game this season ... Henery's five field goals were one short of an Eagles' single-game record set by Tom Dempsey against the Houston Oilers on Nov. 12, 1972 ... Randle's only other two-touchdown game came against the Eagles at MetLife Stadium in last year's season finale, a 42-7 Giants' win in Andy Reid's last as Philadelphia head coach ... Cornerback Corey Webster (groin), defensive tackle Linval Joseph (ankle) and center David Baas (neck) were all inactive for New York ... Giants veteran David Diehl made his first start of the season at right guard in place of Chris Snee, who landed on IR Friday with a hip problem.