eagles crush giants, 23-11, and banish them from the post-season

while not as embarrassing as the jets late season implosion, the giants weren't too far behind in humiliating self-destruction as philadelphia waltzed into giants stadium, manhandled them, and left moving on to the nfc conference championship game next weekend. the giants failed to score a touchdown, missed two field goal attempts, missed two 4th down conversions, and were unable to mount anything resembling a running game as the eagles won 23-11.

while the eagles succeeded in completely shutting down the giants running game, it was manning himself that was unable to put together any semblance of a passing game. he repeatedly threw the ball long or short, unable to complete crucial passes. he was intercepted twice, the first of which was converted into a touchdown by philly in the first half. manning's 169 passing yards, where he went 15 for 29, was woefully inadequate.

it's unfair to blame it all on manning. philly effectively shut down the giants running game. countless series found the giants in a passing situation with 3rd and long after the initial runs got zero traction. then philly just needed to step up and pressure manning - which they did repeatedly throughout the game. still, despite all this, the giants had plenty of scoring opportunities, but were unable to complete drive after drive.

i hate to write this, but philly played as if they wanted to win - and they deserved to win, given the giants performance on the field. it's almost lame to point out that while plaxico burress may only have shot himself, the collateral damage blew a hole through the giants team. what a terrible waste to such a great start to the 2008 season. the giants 11-1 start now seems just as impressive as new england's 16-0 2007 season:

"full of sound and fury, signifying nothing..."

apologies to the bard :(