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Philadelphia Eagles 19 New York Giants 17

I seriously feel bad for elderly Eagles fans whom have heart conditions. On Sunday night, the Philadelphia Eagles improved to 3-1 with yet another late come-from-behind victory - this time over divisional foe, New York, by the final score of 19-17. The Eagles' three wins have come by a combined four points and all three wins were by way of a late drive to place the team ahead of their opponent. They did this in their opening week win in Cleveland, defeating the Browns 17-16. This happened again the following week against Baltimore, beating the Ravens 24-23. As I mentioned, this occurred yet again last night in their 19-17 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Giants.

Even the Eagles have only won their three games by a combined four points, after tonight's game between the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears, they will be at the very worst tied with Dallas atop the NFC East and a game up on both New York and Washington - essentially two games ahead of New York due to their head-to-head win against them. Up next on the slate will be a tough road game against Pittsburgh, who will be coming off a bye week and be in much need for a win after starting the year 1-2. 

Going back to last night's game, it felt like a playoff game. The defenses seemed to be a step ahead of the offenses throughout most of the game's duration. Even after Philly tailback LeSean McCoy started breaking away for some solid gains on the ground in the second half, the Giants defense stiffened up in the red zone and held the Eagles to four field goals. The Giants, meanwhile, couldn't get anything going on the ground, as they totaled just 57 yards rushing for the game on 19 carries (3.0 per). However, the passing game seemed to open up in the second half, especially the fourth quarter.

The two teams appeared to be quite evenly matched. The one big difference was the turnover situation. For the first time this season, the Eagles came away from the game without turning the ball over and the Giants' only turnover was a big one, as Eli Manning got intercepted in the end zone by Dominique Rogers-Cromartie. 

Michael Vick had received his share of criticism this past week, but largely due to the fact he was afforded more time in the pocket than he had seen in previous games, he looked pretty sharp for the most part. Vick completed 19 of 30 pass attempts for 241 yards and a touchdown for a quarterback rating of 99.4. He also ran the ball 6 times for 49 yards (8.2 per). 

Actually, touching up on the pressure for a moment - NBC's Chris Collinsworth pointed out a stat which I found to be quite striking. For the season, Michael Vick has been sacked or hit on 36.6% of his dropbacks - the highest percentage of any NFL quarterback. Almost 2 of every 5 dropbacks for Vick has resulted in him getting unloaded upon by a defender. While he has made his share of bad decisions, one also has to take into account the inordinate amount of pressure he's faced to this point in the season.

While I'm sure it was quite refreshing to see the Eagles not turn the ball over, for McCoy to be used in the running game with more regularity and for Vick to not get hit as much, the Eagles weren't without their fair share of problems throughout the game. What Philadelphia will need to correct in the weeks to come are with regard to their pass defense, special teams coverage and finishing drives. 

There were times in the second half when it appeared as if Eli Manning were throwing on a blind Middle School team. After Manning led the Giants to a 4th quarter touchdown drive to put them on top 17-16, Chris Collinsworth said that in all his years of watching, that had to have been the worst defensive possession he'd ever seen from the Philadelphia Eagles. Giants kick-return specialist - David Wilson - returned 6 kicks for a total of 217 yards, an average of 36.2 (long of 53). While the Eagles defense didn't play spectacularly at times in the second half, one can't place all the blame on them, for after Wilson's returns, the Giants started with the ball close to midfield on multiple occasions. Lastly, while at game's end, the Eagles did score more points than the Giants, they were held to field goals on four of their five scoring drives - including twice inside the 10-yard line. If the Eagles want to continue winning games, they'll need to find a way to score touchdowns more regularly in place of those field goals. 

When all is said and done, though, the Philadelphia Eagles are 3-1, at least tied for the top spot in the NFC East and as I'm sure most sports analysts will say, have played anything but their best football. For turning the ball over 12 times in four games and ranking near last in the league in scoring, I'm sure most anyone affiliated with the team will take that 3-1 record. 

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