Giants hang on to defeat host Eagles
Associated Press
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA -- A dejected David Akers buried his head in his hands while the New York Giants celebrated all around him.
It was the other way around the last time these teams met here.
Eli Manning threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress, Lawrence Tynes made three short field goals and the Giants moved closer toward clinching a playoff spot with a 16-13 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Akers hit the right upright on a 57-yard attempt with one second left after Donovan McNabb drove the Eagles 50 yards in the final minute.
Last January, Akers kicked a 38-yarder with no time remaining to give Philly a 23-20 victory over New York in a wild-card playoff game. He was trying to tie his career-long kick.
Now the Giants (9-4) have all but eliminated the Eagles from playoff contention with their sixth consecutive win on the road. New York is almost locked into the No. 5 seed in the conference with three games left.
"We're playing pretty well on the road," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "We hang together. We battle. We believe in each other. We believe that we can find a way to win and we never stop playing. We have good heart. It's not always pretty, but some how, some way we scratch and find a way."
The defending NFC East champion Eagles (5-8) can start looking ahead to next year following their third straight loss and fifth loss by four points or less.
McNabb hadn't played since spraining his right ankle in the second quarter against Miami on Nov. 18. A.J. Feeley led the Eagles to a win over the Dolphins, but threw costly interceptions in the final minutes of losses to New England and Seattle.
After McNabb led the he Eagles into the end zone on their first possession, they managed just a pair of field goals the rest of the game.
"It's really frustrating," McNabb said. "It's a collection of things at the wrong time that keeps leading to us getting field goals instead of touchdowns."
The Giants were driving to put the game away when defensive end Juqua Thomas came from behind and forced Brandon Jacobs to fumble following a 21-yard gain. Thomas recovered it at the Eagles 5 with 5:51 left.
Philly drove to New York's 44, but McNabb's pass to Jason Avant on fourth-and-6 was incomplete and the Eagles didn't get the ball again until the final minute. It appeared linebacker Antonio Pierce hit Avant early, but no flag was thrown.
"It was a call that was missed, but the refs are human, too," Avant said. "He hit me. Then the ball came."
With no timeouts and 53 seconds remaining, McNabb moved the Eagles from their 11 to the Giants 39, but Akers couldn't send it into overtime.
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