PRO FOOTBALL : Meggett Takes the Lead in Giants’ 28-23 Victory : NFC: He scores once rushing, once on a punt return, and recovers a fumble to set up another touchdown in New York’s victory over the Eagles.

Dave Meggett did just about everything Sunday, and in the process, he might have made himself the new leader of the New York Giants.

Maybe there was no need for the Giants to look for a replacement for Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor, after all.

Meggett returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown, ran 26 for another and recovered a fumble to set up another as the Giants capitalized on early errors to open the post Taylor-Simms era with a 28-23 victory.

Meggett said his play on the field will decide whether he replaces Simms and Taylor in a leadership role.

“You can’t just say, ‘I want to be a leader,’ ” said Meggett, a six-year veteran. “You just have to perform and do some of the positive things so that the guys will want to look up to you as a player. I’m not going to put the added pressure on myself.”

The key for New York was a 21-3 first-half spurt that featured Meggett’s recovery, his punt return and a 51-yard scoring pass from Dave Brown to Chris Calloway.

“We did a lot to ourselves, especially in the first half,” Eagle Coach Rich Kotite said. “It’s hard to overcome 21 points of self-inflicted wounds.”

It was equally hard to overcome the bitterness of salary cuts forced on six Eagles on Monday, although Kotite said they “had absolutely nothing to do with the loss.”

Another factor in the Eagles’ loss was their inability to fluster Brown in his first start as Simms’ replacement as Giant quarterback.

Although sacked twice and hit numerous times, he completed 10 of 20 passes for 171 yards with one interception.

The Eagles, who trailed by 11 points at halftime, never got closer than the final margin when Randall Cunningham, who completed 20 of 39 passes for 344 yards, connected with Calvin Williams on a 10-yard touchdown pass play with 1:17 left to play.

Cunningham also passed to Mark Bavaro on a three-yard scoring play and Eddie Murray kicked three field goals, but the Eagles (8-8 in 1993) had trouble against the Giants’ new 4-3 defense, which had struggled in exhibition games.

The Giants sacked Cunningham five times.

“What a great way to start the season,” said Giant Coach Dan Reeves, who led the team to an 11-5 record and a wild-card playoff berth last season. “We know how important it was to start the season on the right foot.”