The Eagles were only 6-5-1 (groan) on December 7th of last year when they went to the Meadowlands to pay the Giants a visit. Big Blue, in the meantime, was an NFC-best 11-1, firing on all cylinders on a seven-game winning streak that was making them look like the class of the conference. But fortunes were quickly to change, in large thanks to a season-best performance by RB Brian Westbrook, who the Giants had no answer for the entire game.
West's stat line for the game was one of those you barely ever saw from other running backs, but almost came to take for granted coming from #36. He went for 133 yards and a score on the ground, and augmented it with 72 yards and another score through the air, accounting for well over half the Birds' total offense. David Akers added a pair of field goals as well, which ended up being the difference in the Eagles' 20-14 victory over the G-Men.
"This was a big win," said Westbrook after the game, "But we're in a position now where we have to win them all." So it seemed at the time for the Eagles, though they still snuck in one more loss just to make things interesting before clinching a Wild Card spot in the playoffs in the last week of the season. There they would eventually meet the same Giants, who limped into the post-season with three losses in their last four games, and fell to the Eagles once more on a windy day in New Jersey. Let this be a lesson to you, kids, about, uh, something.
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Who knows how many, if any, more games we'll see like this out of Brian Westbrook before his time in the Green and White comes to a close. But performances like this are why, when all is said and done, he'll likely go down one of the great running backs in the history of the franchise.