Giants Also Fail to Stay Undefeated

Randall Cunningham and the Philadelphia Eagles did Sunday what they have done so well the past few years--spoil the party for the New York Giants.

With Cunningham throwing for 222 yards and two touchdowns and running for 66 yards and another score, the Eagles beat the Giants, 31-13.

It was the Eagles’ fifth consecutive victory and New York’s first loss in 11 games this year.

“We knew we could beat them,” Cunningham said. “They knew we could beat them, we just didn’t know how.”

Philadelphia Coach Buddy Ryan said, “No question, it was a super game for us, the kind of a game you really dream about.”

Against a team that prides itself on ball control, Philadelphia had the ball for 38:39, including touchdown drives that took 9:22 and 8:48.

The Eagles had 405 offensive yards, by far the most against the Giants this season. Only Washington, which had 328 against them, had gone over 300 yards against the Giants.

“Randall was superb,” said running back Keith Byars, who had eight catches for 128 yards. “He told us they weren’t doing anything to stop us. We were stopping ourselves. He was a leader all afternoon. He kept us pumped up in the huddle.”

They forced the Giants, who had run the ball 60% of the time coming in, to throw 40 passes and run only 14 times.

Phil Simms threw two interceptions, equaling his total for the first 10 games. One was a tip by Seth Joyner that went to Byron Evans, who returned it 22 yards for a touchdown just 22 seconds after Cunningham had thrown a six-yard scoring pass to Calvin Williams.

“You can’t run against us,” Ryan said.

Some of the Giants’ passing was by choice. They came out throwing and continued to pass even in a close game.

The Giants had a 7-0 lead, trailed only 14-13 at halftime and 17-13 at the end of three before those two quick touchdowns put them away.

“Our offense controlled the game so much they didn’t have a chance to get anything going,” Joyner said. “All year long they’ve established the running game. They’ve jumped out early on teams. Simms has been so conservative all year long they would get good momentum and then mix up their running and passing. We put a sense of urgency on them today.”

For Philadelphia, it was their fifth win in their last six games against the Giants, who beat them, 27-20, on opening night at the Meadowlands. It also ended a streak of 13 regular season victories by the Giants--typically, their last loss was 24-17 to the Eagles at the Meadowlands last Dec. 3.

New York scored first on Simms’ 15-yard pass to Mark Ingram one play after Myron Guyton recovered a fumble by Byars at the Eagle 18. But the Eagles took just three plays to come back on Cunningham’s 49-yard bomb to Fred Barnett.

Then the Eagles drove 80 yards in 16 plays, all but one on the ground, to take a 14-7 lead on Cunningham’s one-yard sneak on a fourth-down play. The 73 yards Philadelphia gained on the ground during that drive was four fewer than the Giants had allowed per game coming in.

Roger Ruzek’s 39-yard field goal made it 17-13 midway through the third quarter, then Cunningham drove the Eagles 84 yards in 15 plays, controlling the ball for another 8:48. The touchdown came 1:48 into the fourth quarter on the six-yard pass to Williams, which was tipped by New York’s Greg Jackson.