Eagles-Giants Live Blogging: First Quarter

Well, kids, Armageddon is upon us, and with all of the road team upsets used up yesterday, I'm prepared for 3+ hours of agony that can only be replicate by dental surgery without pain meds. In other words, I'm an Eagles fan.

Fox opens up with a historical montage of how These Teams Just Don't Like Each other, followed by the moron robot thing. Woo. I Be Pumped Now.

Weather seems sunny and hospitable for January, but it's 30 degrees with 20 mph winds. Lawrence Tynes, the Giants long kicker, is running around with sweat pants on. Very manly.

Things begin badly with the ball being blown off the tee. Once again, people, why can't we get a better tee? Akers puts it in the endzone, but the coverage teams suck very badly, and the kicker is the first man to touch returner Ahmad Bradshaw. Giants start at the Eagles 36, a season-long return for Bradshaw, and GAHHH.

Pre-snap weirdness and Steve Smith was wildly open, but Eli misses him. Samuel was going for the short route and phew, that was lucky. Second and 10 is a give to Jacobs, who has a big hole for 7. So far, we've had three plays in this game, and they've all sucked. Third and three requires a stop, and they get it, as Samuel forces Ward out of bounds at the 28. It's 4th and 2, with a 45-yard field goal, so the Giants are going for it. Huge play early, and Jacobs gets the first down with relative ease. That sick feeling in my stomach isn't getting any better here.

From the 25, the Giants pick up the blitz again with ease, and Eli hits Darcy Johnson, the back up tight end, for a a soft 14 yards. Jacobs avoids the run blitz for a 2 yard gain, with Dawkins taking him down. Second and eight from the 9 and nothing looks good right now. Jacobs is stopped at the line by multiple defensive linemen, and that was a little more encouraging. Can they limit the damage to a short field goal attempt in heavy wind? Yes, as Stewart Bradley takes down Ward at the 4, before he can turn the corner and try to reach the pylon. John Carney from 22 yards is good into the wind, and with 9:59 left in the first, the Giants strike first. 3-0, home team, and five minutes of possession into the wind. Not encouraging on any level... other than getting the stop in the red zone, and the defense generally being better later in games. I'm grasping at straws here.

Tynes kick is taken by Demps at the 15; he runs through one tackle to set up the Eagles at the 34. Akers looks a little dinged from his tackle on Bradshaw, which is just what we needed to see, really. Commerce kicks in, and I'm too geeked to talk about these today. At least for now.

First offensive play has Don rolling right and hitting DJ for 10; nice play, and good to see him accurate early. BDub has no hole and no hope; a loss of 3. Not too surprising. From the gun, a screen to Buck loses another 3, and this drive is not long for the world. Third and sixteen is one of those plays where you run clock and set up the punter, and from the gun, Don tries but misses Curtis, who wasn't open. At least he had time. Giant Fan is in full Eagles Suck fury right now. And to think, we were happy for you people when you took out the Patriots.

Rocca on to punt after a 2 minute possession, and things aren't helped by a false start. From the 30, Rocca underhits it and Hixon has a good return through bad tackling, but flags are on the field. It's a clip backed up a personal foul, both against New York, and that makes the Giants start at their own 15. Useful, if the defense can get a stop.

Fox shows some Dawk Talk. From the 13, Eli rolls out and makes a huge mistake, overthrowing the ball to (who else?) Asante Samuel. He takes it to the 2, and Eli makes the tackle, as the defense fails to pancake him. That's about the only thing that happened on that play that didn't make me giddy. Damn it, where Chris Clemons to launch the quarterback on that play? Samuel's 7th career pick and that free agent contract is looking like a super bargain right now.

BDub for no gain to the left as the Eagles show why they are not a power team; they mark him back to the 4. From the gun, Don has time but no one open, and the flag is for defensive holding, which helps loads. First and goal from the two is a lot easier than third and goal from the 2.

BDub leaps and gets closer. 2nd and goal from the 1. It's short yardage hell right now, but Don sneaks it -- dangerously with an exposed ball -- and gets it in. Phew. Eagles 7, Giants 3, and the lead is all due to Eli and Samuel. Well, the road teams won with turnovers yesterday. With 5:58 left in the first, the road team has a lead and the home team has some cause for concern.

Akers kicks it 5 yard deep; Bradshaw takes it out anyway and gets to just about the 21 yard line. Buck and Aikman are sad that the Eagles are leading. Cry, Joe and Troy, cry! Ward's first carry is run blitzed; he gets it back to the line of scrimmage. Second down is a draw to Ward for two with post-whistle discussions; I believe that the Eagle defense is saying something along the lines of "All Day." Aikman lobbies for a penalty to no avail. On third and eight, Eli has time and an open Steve Smith (again); the d-line isn't getting good pressure right now, and any QB in the league can hit an open guy with a clear line.

Ward is tackled behind the line, and there's more chippiness post-whistle, as Akeem Jordan gets into it. Dangerous behavior, but I'm liking the run defense as Ward gets a yard to the left. The second third and long of the drive is third and nine. Um, Troy, wht team doesn't want to get to third and long? From the gun, Eli gets late pressure from a quasi-blitz, and while Toomer was open, he couldn't keep it in play. Jeff Feagles punts it inside the 20, and DJ's return goes nowhere. The flag doesn't help either, and the clip will start the Eagles on their own 10; Sean Considine with his second straight week with a weak flag call on a punt. With two minutes left in the half, the Eagles might want to take advantage of the wind while they have it.

From the 10, Dub loses one on a run; he has -4 on 4 carries so far. Not encouraging. From the gun, the pre-snap move is from the hated LJ Smith, leading to second and 15 from the 5. Eagles have 8 plays on offense, four for negative yards. Buck gets back 5 on his carry for the day. Third and 10 with a half minute left is from the gun, and Don can't connect with Avant on a play where the rush was almost in his arms. At least Rocca gets to punt with the wind, and he kind of sucks at that, as Bradshaw brings it back to the other side of midfield. Considine kills him there, and yet another clip helps matters. The Giants Start at the 35, and Jacobs picks up 11 to end the quarter. Not sure why they are getting away from him at any point in this game. Quarter ends with the Eagles leading 7 to 3, but with many hours of grind ahead.