Sports Then and Now

When it comes to the rivalry between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles, the “miracle” wins seem to always go to the Eagles such as their 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to knock off the Giants in 2010.

But in the second week of the 2006 season, the Giants had their own “miracle” win against the Eagles as they overcame a 17-point 4th quarter deficit to defeat the Eagles.

New York was coming off an 11-5 season in which they won the NFC East Division only to be eliminated by the Carolina Panthers 23-0 in their NFC Wild Card Game at the Meadowlands.

In that game, Giants quarterback Eli Manning was intercepted three times and threw for only 113 yards.

Coming off that poor performance, Manning needed to come back strong in the 2006 season, which was his third in the NFL.

Thankfully for Manning, he had running back Tiki Barber and wide receiver Plaxico Burress at his disposal as well as head coach Tom Coughlin, who was also heading into his third season in New York.

The Giants’ 2005 NFC East title snapped the Eagles’ four-year reign as NFC East Champions as Philadelphia seemed too affected by a Super Bowl hangover in 2005 as they went 6-10 during the season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

The Eagles and quarterback Donovan McNabb were hoping for a bounce-back season in 2006.

Philadelphia got off to a good start as they won their season opener 24-10 over the Houston Texans while the Giants dropped their opener, a 26-21 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

After their playoff debacle and Opening Day loss, Manning and the Giants were dire straits of a victory in Philadelphia.

The Giants got the ball to start to the game and were able to get in the end zone on the seventh play of the drive when Manning found Amani Toomer for a 37-yard touchdown to put New York ahead 7-0 just 3:25 into the game.

The Eagles answered the Giants’ touchdown with a touchdown of their own as Brian Westbrook scored on a 12-yard run to end an 11-play, 92-yard drive that tied the game at 7 midway through the first quarter. Read the rest of this entry →