Giant Disappointment: Mistakes Cost Eagles Another Fourth Quarter Lead

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What can you say after this one? The New York Giants end their six-game losing streak against Philadelphia, defeating the Eagles 29-16.

Mistakes doomed the Birds yet again. Dropped passes killed a drive and resulted in a turnover. Missed tackles extended drives, and resulted in a huge touchdown. Mental lapses and untimely penalties led to one momentum-stealing play after another. A questionable coaching decision also proved costly.

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy -- that's been the theme for the 2011 Eagles through the first three games, and it's already cost them dearly in two of them. This team could easily be sitting pretty at 3-0. Instead they are at 1-2, and staring at an uphill climb just to get back into the playoff picture, their starting quarterback possibly out for several weeks.

For the second week in a row, Vick failed to complete a game, and this time, it looks like he could miss a considerable amount of time. Today it was a broken right hand -- his non-throwing hand -- that sidelined him in the second half. The injury appeared to occur when DT Chris Canty pushed him to the turf after the ball was thrown.

Vick did re-enter the game briefly after the injury, but eventually the decision was made to pull him permanently. Mike Kafka replaced him when the Eagles were down two, and promptly threw an interception deep down the right sideline on his very first snap.

Kafka did not look nearly as good in relief as he did last week, but he was far from the primary reason the Eagles fell short. They simply left too many plays on the field.

The Giants scored touchdowns on two big plays to go ahead 14-0 in the first quarter.

First, Casey Matthews failed to recognize a play-action pass from his new outside linebacker position, allowing RB Brandon Jacobs to slip out of the backfield unchecked for a 40-yard catch and run to go up seven.

Later, Kurt Coleman would fail to wrap up WR Victor Cruz on a simple, short out pattern. Instead of the play ending for minimal gain, Cruz escaped up the sideline, made Nnamdi Asomugha whiff on a tackle, and bounced for 74 yards to give New York a commanding 14-point lead.

The Birds managed to get back into the game, largely in thanks to LeSean McCoy, their lone bright spot on the afternoon. McCoy carried 24 times for 128 yards and a touchdown, much of that coming in the first half.

The offense was out of sync though. They were forced to settle for field goals far too often, with Alex Henery putting three though the uprights. One of the attempts came after the Eagles attempted four plays from the Giants goal line, but were somehow unable to punch any of them in the end zone.

Vick was also intercepted in the opening quarter when Steve Smith tipped a catchable ball in the air, and DeSean Jackson added a key drop on third down in the third quarter.

Yet the biggest blunder of all though may have come from the sidelines, when Andy Reid opted to go for it on fourth down in a questionable situation.

After pulling ahead by two, the Eagles were faced with 4th and 1 on New York's 43 yard line and under 12 minutes remaining. They could have punted and made the Giants drive the length of the field, but instead McCoy was stuffed in the backfield, giving Eli Manning and company a short field.

Seven plays later, Eli hooked up with Cruz again, this time out-jumping Asomugha and Jarrad Page to haul in a 24-yard touchdown passes, and give their team the lead for good. They completed a two-point conversion to go up 22-16 after a Philadelphia penalty gave them a second chance.

Following Kafka's first pick, the Giants drove again, but would have settled for three. However, penalties reared their ugly head once more, as the Eagles jumped offsides on the kick. New York would then finish their march down the field, with RB Ahmad Bradshaw taking an 18-yard screen pass to the house to seal the deal.

Again, what can you say? The natural instinct is to blast the familiar problem areas, but the issue has been with consistency moreso than individuals. Nnamdi Asomugha made poor plays on touchdown passes as much as Casey Matthews and Kurt Coleman did. DeSean Jackson and Steve Smith dropped crucial passes as much as the offensive line failed to get enough push in short yardage or Mike Kafka threw interceptions.

This is a team that, pardon the reference, is shooting itself in the foot. They're not bad. In fact, in many aspects, they look quite good. The Eagles simply aren't playing 60 minutes of quality football.

And now they are 1-2.

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