Giants Take the Ball and Run

The New York Giants own the Philadelphia Eagles, and even their problems in games after a bye week couldn’t change that.

Ron Dayne ran for 93 yards and a touchdown, and the Giants held the ball for all but 16 minutes, 19 seconds Sunday in defeating the Eagles for the eighth consecutive time, 24-7.

“We know we got their number,” safety Sam Garnes said after the Giant defense limited Philadelphia to 192 total yards. “There’s no question about that. There is no other reason we’re 8-0 against them. It’s not that we’re that much better than them. We’ve just got their number.”

Kerry Collins threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Amani Toomer and Joe Montgomery scored on a short run as the Giants embarrassed the Eagles for the second time this season.

“For some reason, it seems like we have an answer for everything they do,” said Collins, who completed 22 of 37 for 253 yards and no interceptions. “We always feel like we have a good game plan and we pick up their blitz packages, which is big.”

The win was only the Giants’ third in 12 games after a bye week, and this one put them into a tie for first place in the NFC East with Washington. The Redskins play the Tennessee Titans tonight.

The Giant defense didn’t let the Eagles score until Donovan McNabb threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Charles Johnson with 5:12 to play.

Earlier this season, New York (6-2) beat Philadelphia, 33-18, holding the ball for 38:44.

Sunday’s possession time of 43:41 was the most by the Giants since Nov. 20, 1983, when they held the ball for 45:43 against the Eagles (5-4).

McNabb finished 10 of 31 for 129 yards and an interception on a cold, blustery late fall afternoon at Giants Stadium.

“It was windy and there was a little snow, but there were plays to be made and I didn’t make them,” McNabb said. “But no matter how things were going I felt we were just one big play away from getting back into it.”

The Eagles never made that play, and Coach Andy Reid took the blame for that, in both games with the Giants this season.

“Obviously we have to go back to the drawing board and work something out,” Reid said. “We are a better football team than we showed in both of these games.”

Collins made three big plays to set up Dayne’s one-yard smash up the middle. He completed a 36-yard pass play to Tiki Barber on a short crossing pattern and then found Toomer for 13 yards on the next play. A six-yard scramble got the ball to the 1-yard line.

The Giants increased the lead to 14-0 with 1:31 remaining in the half on a 27-yard pass from Collins to Toomer on a play in which the Eagles didn’t reach the quarterback with an all-out blitz.