Warning: these Eagles tougher than Cowboys
Steve Serby, NY POST
December 13, 2009
I am sending out an urgent allpoints bulletin today. It’s a warning actually, to the Giants, and to their loyal fans, including the Generation X diehards who sadly will not get an up close and personal view of the blood curdling, bone crunching rivalry that has given us Bednarik-Gifford, Pisarcik-Herman Edwards, Parcells-Buddy Ryan and Manning-McNabb because of those prohibitive PSL costs at the new stadium:
Beware the Birds.
Because if the Giants do not bring their “A” game — if above all Eli Manning does not bring his “A” game, on a night he could be slinging in the rain but little wind — then tonight will turn into the football equivalent of the scary Alfred Hitchcock chiller “The Birds” for them.
That will not be Wade Phillips standing on the visiting sideline this time.
That’s Andy Reid, who owns a .689 winning percentage since the start of the decade in November and December, 25-12 during those months against the NFC East.
That will not be Tony Romo, who has matured from his reckless gunslinger days, but has yet to figure out how to win in December and beyond.
That’s Donovan McNabb, who knows exactly what it takes to win in December, and sometimes in January.
Those will not be the psychologically fragile Cowboys trying to win the division and push the Giants back on life support.
These are the mentally-tough Eagles, who know how to beat the Giants. These are the battlehardened Eagles who pried the Giants’ grip on the Lombardi Trophy loose and ended their repeat dreams 11 months ago. These are the gritty Eagles who will swagger into Giants Stadium tonight knowing that they knocked the Giants around Nov. 1 the way George Foreman knocked Smokin’ Joe Frazier around in Jamaica.
No one around the Giants wants to accept the notion that the Eagles have their number. No one around the Giants wants to acknowledge that they haven’t beaten the Eagles since Plaxico Burress shot a season dead.
“They came out with all the fire that they had last game too, we just got on top of them early and kept rolling,” Eagles safety Quintin Mikell said. “The notion that we didn’t get their best shot, or they weren’t playing as hard as they could, this is the NFL, so I don’t think that’s really an excuse.
“Right now, we’re prepared for whatever they do. I think they’re going to come out ready to go. We’re a different team than we were last time we played them. We had a lot of ups and downs, but I think we’re a lot better team than we were back then.”
A team like the Eagles can lose to a team like the Raiders on any given Sunday, but it has become obvious that the mere sight of the Giants brings out the beast in them.
And the mere sight of the Eagles lately has brought out the least in Manning.
Manning has completed just 51.6 percent of his passes and averaged just 5.6 yards per attempt with four touchdown passes and five interceptions in his last four games against the Eagles. He was gone with the wind (two interceptions) during the 23-11 playoff loss to the Eagles, and he was picked off twice more last month.
The Eagles are explosive enough — even without Brian Westbrook — that it is a death wish whenever you do McNabb, DeSean Jackson & Co. favors by gifting them the ball and asking your schizophrenic defense to hold the fort.
Manning was asked whether the Eagles hold a psychological edge over the Giants.
“No,” he said. “Every game’s different, that’s why you play ’em, and we’re at home, and we got a great opportunity to go out there and play great and get a win.”
Manning has cooled off again during this roller-coaster season. He will not come clean until after the season on how much his right heel and foot have hampered him. He started the season looking like SuperMann, but he has reverted back to Clark Kent the past two weeks.
In fairness, he hasn’t had a running game. He hasn’t had a vintage Big Blue defense. The Giants will need both tonight. They will need a raging fire and vengeance in their hearts. And ultimately, they will need their $100 Million Manning to outplay McNabb, to find a way to win the game in the fourth quarter.
A season on the line. No more games for the birds.
