For the first Sunday this season the Giants looked flat, tired and got outplayed. The Giants were beat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14. Could this be the result of Plaxico Burress and all the distraction surrounding last week's incident?

To most people the answer would probably be yes. I will have to say that the Burress situation did affect the Giants this week, even if it was indirectly. The focus all week was on Plax and Anotonio Pierce and about what the Giants were going to do as a result of the shooting. Question after question, report after report, rumor after rumor. I honestly don't remember hearing anything about the Eagles this week. Everything I saw was about Plaxico so I can only imagine how things were around the Giants all week. This whole situation was embedded in all of our minds and was the focus in the Meadowlands.

"I thought we had a good week of practice despite what everyone is going to say," Pierce said after the game. "It was just a bad game."

The Giants didn't score until a last second field goal block at the end of the first half. Justin Tuck blocked a Philly FG attempt and it was recovered by Kevin Dockery and he went all the way for the Touchdown. In a matter of seconds the G-men went from lifeless to right back in the thick of things down 10-7 at the half.

"That was what I was looking for. ... We had a chance. We didn't do anything with it," Coach Tom Coughlin said.

Was it a Philly upset on Sunday or was it that the Giants were due for a loss. I think it's a little bit of both. When Brian Westbrook and Donovan McNabb are playing well, they are hard to stop. McNabb finished 19-of-30 for 191 yards. Westbrook gained 131 yards on a season-high 33 carries and caught 6 passes for 72 yards all while recording 1 rushing and receiving TD.

“I just think we kind of beat them,” said Eagles tight end L.J. Smith, who had six catches for 44 yards. “It’s tough to say. That’s one of those: ‘How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll?’ Who knows if the distractions hurt them and helped us? I don’t know.”

The win for Philly gives them life in their pursuit of making the playoffs. The Giants even with the loss clinched the NFC East.

The Giants will face the Cowboys in Dallas next Sunday night in what appears to be a sure classic in the making. The Cowboys are coming off a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in which they dominated most of the game but lost in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. The Giants 7 game winning streak was snapped and hope that this game was just a bump in the road and the Burress situation is behind them so they can move forward and concentrate on a Dallas team looking for revenge because they didn't put up much of a fight earlier in the season when the teams met in Giants Stadium.

Time for the Giants to put this game behind them and focus on the task at hand, getting by the Cowboys and getting things ready for the postseason. Let's hope Coughlin and his crew are free of distraction the rest of the way.

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Tags: Antonio Pierce, Dallas Cowboys, Football, Giants, Justin Tuck, Kevin Dockery, Philadelphia Eagles, Plaxico Burress, Tom Coughlin

The NFC East was suppose to be the toughest division in the NFL but the Giants have made sure the only tough thing about their division is them. Last week they gave the Cowboys a beating, last night they took care of the Eagles.

It was a little tougher for the Gmen this week as the game went down to the final minutes to decide who was coming out on top. Eli Manning threw 2 touchdown passes (17-31,191 yards) and Brandon Jacobs had 2 TD runs in the 36-31 victory. It was the second week in a row where the Giants offense exploded for 30 plus points. The game was ultimately decided with 1:55 remaining in the 4th quarter. The Eagles had the ball at their own 45 and were facing a 4th and 1. The Eagles elected to give the ball to Brain Westbrook to try and gain the yard they needed for a 1st down but he was stopped by Chase Blackburn and thus sealed the win for New York.

The win puts the Giants at 8-1 on the year and puts Philly at 5-4, 3 games back of New York and tied with Dallas.

It was a back and forth game which saw numerous lead changes. Eagles QB Donovan McNabb threw for 3 TD passes (17-36, 194 yds 1 INT) and that still wasn't enough. Another big moment in the game was in the 3rd quarter when Manning threw a 17 yard pass to Kevin Boss but the play was ruled illegal because it appeared Manning was ahead of the line of scrimmage. The Giants challenged the ruling on the field and replays showed Eli's back foot was still behind the line and thus the ruling on the field was overturned and gave the Giants a 1st down. Two plays later the Giants scored on Jacobs' 3 yard TD run making it 27-24.

“I think the way the rule is written, it was worth taking a shot at it,” said Manning, who urged Coughlin to challenge the call. “If you have one toe on the line of scrimmage, then it’s a legal pass. I thought it was worth the risk.”

The risk payed off for New York. The Eagles weren't too thrilled with the overturn of the call.

“I don’t know what they were looking at,” defensive tackle Mike Patterson said.

This was another big win for the Giants as they further themselves from the rest of the division. The Eagles needed a win to stay afloat wit New York as a win would've seperated the two teams by 1 game in the NFC East. It was a hostile crowd in Philadelphia but the Giants are no strangers to winning on the road and look forward to the challenge.

“It’s great to win here,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “It reinforces everything we believe about team, supporting each other and finding a way to win the game.”

The defending Super Bowl Champs are finding ways to win these tough games and that makes them a scary team going into the second half of the year. If they can keep things up, the playoffs look like they'll no sweat for Eli and the boys. Another meeting with the Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins still awaits the Gmen so they can get through those games like they did the first time around, I'd say this team is set to make a run at returning to the Super Bowl.

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Tags: Brandon Jacobs, Dallas Cowboys, Eli Manning, Football, Giants, Kevin Boss, Philadelphia Eagles, Tom Coughlin

Today's meeting between the Giants and Steelers could be a Super Bowl preview. Ok, I'm getting a little ahead of myself but with both teams at 5-1 it's not an outlandish thought.

Much talk leading into this game is which QB is better, Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger? Both were drafted in the 1st Round. Both are the only Super Bowl winning QB's who were drafted in the same 1st round.

"I think you've got to throw (San Diego's) Philip Rivers in there, too," said former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who was in Pittsburgh when the Steelers drafted Roethlisberger with the 11th pick and now works as a studio analyst for CBS. "I don't think you're going to find a quarterback class like it. Certainly you can go back to '83, but this class of Rivers, Roethlisberger and Manning is going to go down as one of the great classes of quarterbacks. You're not going to be able to match that."

The Steelers' defense is ranked No. 1 in the NFL and is first in sacks with 25. The Giants are ranked fourth overall, and second in sacks with 21.

Both men met back in 2004 when the Steelers won 33-30. On that day Manning went 16 for 23, 182 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while Roethlisberger had his first 300-yard game and 18 of 28, 316 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions.

"They are both guys who have had accelerated experiences, let's put it that way, because of the nature of playing at such a young age (and) going through the amount of experiences that they have had against the great defensive teams in the league," Tom Coughlin said. "Without a doubt, there are similarities in the way in which their experiences have gone, even though there are differences in what you might call style of play."

Today's game in Pittsburg is going to be a messy one as rain poured down all day yesterday. If you saw last night's World Series Game 3, you saw it get delayed 91 minutes by heavy rain. It was also like that here in New York. Hopefully by the 4pm start today the field will be in good condition. The weather should be pleasant with game time temp hovering around 50 but the wind is suppose be around 15mph is that going to be a factor? We'll see.

This game is going to be close and one to watch. I got the Giants going over Big Ben and his boys today. No matter the outcome today, both teams have a good shot at making the playoffs. One guy who knows about both QB's is Giants WR Plaxico Burress. Here's what he had to say about his former QB:

"Oh yeah, there was no question about it," he said. "Some of the things he was capable of doing -his athleticism, making crazy throws, getting out of the pocket, giving his receivers the opportunity to make plays down the field -he's continued to do that. Because of that he's an elite quarterback and a Super Bowl champion. I can't say enough about the guy."

Well let the talking turn into playing on the field and let's see who emerges on top.

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Tags: Eli Manning, Football, Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, Plaxico Burress, Tom Coughlin

Sunday night the Giants face the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game. It's a big game for so many reasons. So many reasons for so many people.

For the Giants, Eli Manning and coach Tom Coughlin it's about proving all the critics wrong. Over at FOX, all of their analysts chose the Cowboys to win last week and the Bucs the week before. So much for in-depth analysts. You will get a few people in the media rooting for the Giants Sunday night but they'll be in the minority. Everyone in New York and New Jersey (the Giants' real hometown) will be rooting for Big Blue. Ask any Giants fan and they would tell you they would love to face the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Their week 17 meeting caused so much attention because the Pat's perfect season was on the line and if they meet again in two weeks in Arizona, it will be again. The Giants came as close as anyone else to beating them this season so what makes you think they can't pull it off when everything is on the line? Ok so I got a little ahead of myself there...they do have to beat Brett Favre and the Packers Sunday in Lambeau Field, the Yankee Stadium of football. They would have to do it in single digit temperatures and freezing conditions. If the G men can win, it makes it all the better.

It's interesting to note that Mike Lupica has said this is the kind of game New York needs. I happen to concur with his notion. New York's last big game was in 2006 when the Mets lost Game 7 to the Cardinals when they were one win away from the World Series. Now, Manning can follow in his brother Peyton's footsteps and win the "big" game. This is as big as it gets for the Giants. The game gets bigger and bigger by the week and the Giants seem to rise to the occasion. Their playoffs started Week 17 against the Patriots and even though they lost, they gained so much. If it wasn't for Eli's interception in the fourth quarter that night, they might've beaten Tom Brady and his crew. That "almost" turned into two consecutive wins and put them into a championship game.

The Giants once again have their backs against the wall and they seem to like it that way. Whenever you have them as the favorite they tend to disappoint. So let them be the underdog, let them be the ones fighting an uphill battle. That's the way they like it and if it results in a win, then so be it. That's the way we like it and that's the way we want it.

(Frank's articles can also be read at www.HotStoveNewYork.com)

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Tags: Eli Manning, Football, Giants, QUITE FRANKLY, Tom Coughlin