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Jacobs, Giants hold off Eagles

Nov 10, 2008 - 7:15 AM By Vince Digregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- It wasn't a typical NFC East encounter, but the New York Giants found a way to distance themselves from the rest of the division.

Brandon Jacobs had 22 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Giants to a wild 36-31 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.

Eli Manning completed 17-of-31 passes for 191 yards and two scores to help New York (8-1) win its fourth straight game and increase its lead in the NFC East to two games over the Washington Redskins (6-3) and three over the Eagles (5-4). The Dallas Cowboys (5-4) are also three games back.

"This was a big game because we are now two games up in the division," Jacobs said. "This is very big for us to have separation right now. The season though, is a long way from over.

Manning echoed his running back's words.

"We've still got a long season left," Manning said. "We've got to play this team again. We've got to play Dallas and Washington again. We have some tough teams ahead of us. We should be fine."

Donovan McNabb threw three touchdown passes for Philadelphia and finished 17-of-36 for 194 yards.

"I put a lot of the problems that happened in the game on my shoulders," McNabb said. "That's just how I am. I'm very critical of my play. As a professional, that's the way you should approach each game, win or lose."

With the Giants trailing 24-20 early in the third quarter, Jacobs gave the visitors the lead for good at 27-24 with a 3-yard touchdown run to cap a 13-play, 69-yard drive with 5:59 left in the third.

John Carney increased the advantage to 30-24 with a 28-yard field goal before Jacobs added another 3-yard scoring plunge that made it 36-24 with 9:30 left in the fourth quarter.

"It's always tough when you come to Philly," Manning said. "Our offensive line did a great job. We ran the ball extremely well, especially down the stretch. We were able to run it in for some big plays."

McNabb attempted to rally the Eagles and threw a 2-yard scoring strike to Kevin Curtis exactly four minutes later, but the Giants stopped Brian Westbrook on 4th-and-1 near midfield with under two minutes to play and ran out the clock.

"We thought we could attack the weakness of their defense," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "But we didn't get it done."

The first half did not resemble a normal tough NFC East battle between the bitter rivals. Each side committed two turnovers that both teams capitalized on.

"This game is all we focused on this week and everyone was aware of the quality of the opponent, what the win means and so on and so forth," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "We spent the week preparing for this and I'm really happy with what we got."

Philadelphia took advantage of the first mistake when Mike Patterson intercepted a pass by Manning on the third play from scrimmage and returned it to the New York 9-yard line.

Two plays later, DeSean Jackson took a direct snap and raced around the right side and into the end zone for a touchdown to give the Eagles a quick 7-0 lead.

However, Manning shook off his mistake on the ensuing and capped a 10 play, 80-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress that tied it at 7-7 with 8:26 left in the opening period.

"To have some mistakes and come back from them and hit big plays was big for us," Manning said.

Following Carney's first field goal, Manning increased the margin to 17-7 on the first play of the second quarter when he threw a 1-yard scoring strike to tight end Kevin Boss.

"It was a great playcall on the touchdown and I got jammed," Boss said. "But Manning put the ball in a great spot."

McNabb cut the deficit to 17-14 with a 10-yard TD pass to Jason Avant. The teams then traded field goals as the Giants led, 20-17, at the half.

McNabb fired a 7-yard toss to Hank Baskett in the end zone on the first possession in the third quarter that gave Philadelphia a 24-20 lead.

Philadelphia has now lost all four of its games by six points or less.

"I know how good we are. I know what we should be doing," Reid said. "We're a good enough football team to be able to win all these games.

"This (loss) should hurt, then you learn from it and move on. That's what this football team is all about. Anything's possible."