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Eagles, Giants look to climb back to .500

Sep 30, 2007 - 12:22 PM Philadelphia (1-2) at NY Giants (1-2) Sunday 8:15 pm EDT

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants find themselves in a similiar position. Each is coming off its first win of the season and hoping to climb back to .500.

The intense NFC East rivals, who met in the wild card round of the playoffs last season, clash Sunday night at Giants Stadium in a key early-season contest.

New York will be looking to avenge a tough 23-20 playoff loss in Philadelphia. Despite finishing the regular season 8-8, the Giants took the NFC East champion Eagles to the final minute before David Akers kicked a 38-yard field goal on the game's final play.

After a pair of lackluster performances against the Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins, the Eagles' offense broke out in a huge way last week.

Donovan McNabb silenced his critics - at least for one day - throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-21 rout of the Detroit Lions.

The 56 points by the Eagles were the most points they scored since October 25, 1953 in a 56-17 win against the Chicago Cardinals. They did score 58 points in a playoff game against Detroit in 1995.

After struggling in first two games and saying in an HBO interview that black quarterbacks are held to a higher standard than their white counterparts, McNabb looked like his five-time Pro Bowl self.

McNabb completed 14-of-15 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, when the Eagles scored on their first five possessions.

McNabb's favorite target was Kevin Curtis, who tied an NFL record with 205 receiving yards in a first half. Curtis had TD catches of 68, 12 and 43 yards in the half and finished with 11 receptions for 221 yards.

However, the Eagles could be without running back Brian Westbrook, who left in the third last week with bruised ribs after rushing for 110 yards and catching five passes for 111 yards.

The Eagles will be facing a Giants defense that finally stepped up after surrendering 82 points in season-opening losses to the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers.

The Giants, who avoided their first 0-3 start since 1996, scored 21 straight points in the second half to rally for a 24-17 victory over the Washington Redskins.

The defense preserved the win with a goal-line stand in the final minute as the Redskins could not score despite a 1st-and-goal at the 2.

The Giants and Eagles split two regular-season meetings last year with each winning on the road.