Eagles - Giants Takeaways

He's A Loony, But He's Our Loony

> On 3rd and 10 in the rain on the opening drive, Giants QB Eli Manning fielded a bad snap, fended off pressure, and converted, and from a field position standpoint, that mattered a lot

> The Eagles DL dominated early, possibly because Brian Dawkins was able to infuse them with his Primitive Warrior Essence

> Eagles HC Andy Reid actually called a running play to start the game, and while it was stopped for no game, it still made me raise both hands to the heavens and scream "WOW!"

> Giants TE Martellus Bennett de-pantsed Mychal Kendricks, but the Eagles LB was bailed out by a holding call

> The 32-yard floater to Eagles WR DeSean Jackson on 3rd and 11, six minutes into the game, made the Eagles offense look like a football team again

> Eagles G Todd Herremans got called for holding on  a play where he got pancaked, and while I guess you can hold while you get pancaked, it's kind of hard to imagine

> No one has Looking Like He's Going To Pee And Still Makes The Throw Feet like Eli

> Eagles S Nate Allen's play in 2012 is light years ahead of his play in 2011

> Reid actually won a shaky challenge for an 11 yard gain and first down, which probably isn't a first, but sure felt like one

> The Giant STs kept getting very close to blocking, or taking a penalty on, Eagles P Mat McBriar

> On 3rd and 17 with 12 minutes left in the second, Jason Babin popped a helmet off for a free first down

> There were way too many "Cruuuuiiiissseeee" chants to make me feel like the Eagles really have a home field advantage

> Reserve CB Brandon Hughes made a great play to stop a drive and make Eagle Fan mull over CB Nnamdi Asomugha's 2013 release

> The Twitter feud between McCoy and Giants DE Osi Umenyiora is tiresome to everyone but, McCoy, Umenyiora, and NBC

> Eagles WR/PR Jamaris Jackson is starting to have a poor man's DeSean vibe to him

> If you bet the under, the first half was all kinds of thrilling

> CB Stevie Brown pwned McCoy on a 2nd and 8 screen, and that doesn't happen very often

> On 3rd and 9 from the Giants 20 for the Eagles' only touchdown, Vick hit DJ for a perfect TD on great coverage, as every Eagle Fan I knew waited for a back-breaking turnover

> Domenic Hixon got away with offensive pass interference on Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie for their end of half drive, but to be fair, DRC's brand of coverage is close to DPI on nearly every play

> If Allen can tackle Bennett in bounds with 13 seconds left in the half, Blue doesn't even get a figgie, and those points kind of mattered a lot

> Patience in the running game led to two big sweeps by McCoy in the third, and six million exasperated chants of "FINALLY, THEY ARE RUNNING THE DAMN BALL" from Eagle Nation

> The Eagles coverage units have been secretly terrible so far in 2012

> I'm not saying that NBC was in the tank for Blue, but they had WR Victor Cruz's salsa music cued up for his touchdown

> Al Michaels believes that the Linc still has a jail, which is wrong, since that was retired, along with an actual home field advantage, with the Vet

> On fourth and 1 at the end of the third quarter, the Giants went for it from the shotgun, and the Eagle defense decided to forget about Cruz for some reason

> DRC's pick in the end zone was all kinds of useful and an inexplicable throw from Eli, but the run-back attempt to the 8 was nearly safety-inducing

> WR Jason Avant showed some serious hands on a play where LT Detemtress Brell got away with an inadvertent trip

> I can't tell you what a stiffie it gives me to see the Eagles call more running plays than passing plays

> It's starting to get a little obvious that Asomugha is actually the Eagles' fourth or fifth best CB

> The Giants went 83 yards in 2:40 when they needed a touchdown, mostly because the Eagle defense utterly and totally lost coverage on play after play

> Vick's scramble for the late first down was a huge play, but had he slid rather than go out of bounds, the end game might have been a lot less stressful

> The Eagles left more than enough time on the clock, and a wildly generous kickoff coverage, to give Eli every chance to win it

> Blue's first two plays on their final drive were just begging to be turned over

> The fourth down penalty on DRC to give the first down should have decided the game, and why Blue is trying a low percentage deep ball on fourth and inches, I will never know

> The subsequent third down interference call on Asomugha should have also decided the game

> Ramses Barden's OPI, to my eyes, was so over the top to go beyond the obvious claim of Make Up Call

> Andy Reid's idiot ice of the kicker should have won the game for the Giants, but...

> Brian Dawkins used his Jedi Mind Powers to knock down PK Lawrence Tynes' second attempt, so...

> The Eagles are now in first place in the NFC East, despite being utterly inconsistent, wildly maddening, and nine kinds of crazy

> If Alex Henery isn't perfect tonight, the Eagles lose

> If the Eagles don't win the turnover battle (1-0), they lose

> If you are wondering when the last time was that an Eagles opponent failed to hit a long field goal to win the game, I'm pretty sure you are going back to Mike McCormack

> And they can beat anyone if they just run the ball and don't turn it over, which is to say, just not beat themselves