Giants Equal NFL Record With 12 Sacks

Giants 16, Eagles 3

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Sept. 30 -- The New York Giants' season appeared hopelessly broken after 2 1/2 games. But they've reassembled it with three halves of rugged play in two cities over an eight-day span, culminating Sunday night at Giants Stadium when they rode a bruising defensive performance to a 16-3 triumph over the reeling Philadelphia Eagles.

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The Giants evened their record at 2-2 and remained within two games of first place in the NFC East. They leaned on a defense that tied the NFL single-game record with 12 sacks -- including six by defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who finished one shy of Derrick Thomas's league record. Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka added three sacks. Justin Tuck had two and fellow defensive end Michael Strahan had one to supplant former Giants great Lawrence Taylor, who was on hand for the game, as the franchise's career leader.

"Whenever you're playing in the presence of a Hall of Famer, you kind of get chills," Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "That was an LT-type performance [by Umenyiora]. When he didn't get a sack, he caused someone else to get a sack."

The defense also provided a touchdown for the Giants, as linebacker Kawika Mitchell scored on a third-quarter fumble recovery. The offense cashed in only on a second-quarter touchdown pass from quarterback Eli Manning to wide receiver Plaxico Burress and a third-quarter field goal.

The Eagles have dominated the division for a half-dozen years but now, at 1-3, find themselves in last place at the one-quarter mark of their season. They couldn't get their offense going Sunday, only a week after a 56-point outburst against the Detroit Lions, as quarterback Donovan McNabb had nowhere to turn and threw for only 138 yards on 15-for-31 passing. McNabb had his left (non-throwing) hand wrapped after the game with what he called a sprain suffered while breaking one of his many falls.

"It's definitely frustrating," McNabb said. "There's no way around it. For an offense that's had as much success as we've had, for us to come out and play the way we did today is embarrassing. It's truly embarrassing."

Said Kiwanuka: "If you got knocked down every other play, wouldn't you get frustrated?"

The Eagles were called for 15 penalties and it took a 53-yard field goal by kicker David Akers in the fourth quarter for them to finally score. Umenyiora's last sack came on the Eagles' final offensive play, just after McNabb had an apparent touchdown pass to wide receiver Reggie Brown negated because he'd crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball. The Giants' pass rushers took advantage in particular of second-year left tackle Winston Justice, who was forced into the starting lineup by an injury to veteran William Thomas.

"We're in the record book," Eagles veteran right tackle Jon Runyan said. "What do you want me to say? It's not a record you want to hold, but it happened. You have to live with it."

The Eagles also were without tailback Brian Westbrook, who was on the inactive list for the game because of a strained abdominal muscle. But his replacement, Correll Buckhalter, rushed for 103 yards and was the Eagles' lone bright spot on offense.

The game was controlled from the outset by the Giants, who used their pass-rush pressure on defense to bottle up McNabb and relied on the passing of Manning to create some offensive opportunities. Manning moved the Giants into position to get some points on their second drive of the game. But they were stuffed on a third-and-one running play from the Eagles 14-yard line and kicker Lawrence Tynes pushed a 34-yard field goal try wide right.

The Giants regrouped and grabbed the lead on their next possession. Two completions from Manning to wide receiver Amani Toomer got the Giants close. On a second-down play from the Eagles 9, Manning looked for Burress, who had five touchdown catches in the first three games of the season. Number six came when he grabbed Manning's lob above two Eagles defenders.

The Eagles were going nowhere on offense. McNabb, after crafting a perfect passer rating against the Lions, managed only 44 first-half passing yards in this one. Akers missed a 42-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter.

The Giants had a chance to add to their lead just before halftime, but Manning threw a pass directly to middle linebacker Omar Gaither for an interception deep in Eagles territory. No matter. The Giants increased the lead to 10-0 late in the third quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Tynes set up by a pass interference penalty. The Eagles promptly lost a fumble on a botched handoff between McNabb and Buckhalter. Mitchell scooped up the loose ball while on his knees, stood up and ran 17 yards to the end zone.