Giants-Eagles Running Blog - The Battle for 1st Place in NFC East

7:50 p.m. - I'm back by unpopular demand with a new running blog of tonight's Giants vs. Eagles game. Let's see how it goes.

7:57 p.m. - Things are working out well for me in fantasy football this week and this year. I'm in 1st place in two leagues and 2nd in another. I advanced in the first round of my Fanball.com league, have a bye week in the Auxiliary league and am fighting for regular season first place ($55) and points leader ($55) in my Keeper league. I never do well in fantasy football, so I'm extremely happy about this.

8:05 p.m. - In the keeper league, I'm in good position to take home both the regular season and the points championships.

Me - 87-67 with Steve Smith, Frank Gore and Eagles Def. yet to play against Vern Davis, Lesean McCoy and Brent Celek.

Pit Crew (First place...he needs to lose and I need to win to capture the regular season championship). He is losing 74-67 with Jacobs going against him tonight. He has Boldin tomorrow.

Pacman Jones (Current points leader by 1 point.) He has 57 points with Kevin Boss and Larry Fitzgerald yet to play.

It's going to be crazy close in every matchup, but I'm hoping to bring home the dough

8:18 p.m. - It's a huge, huge game for the Giants tonight - maybe the Game of the Year - after the Cowboys wet the bed against the Chargers today. Giants win and they are in first place. That's about the furthest thing I thought could happen after watching the team stink up the place for 5 of the last 6 games. Let's see if they answer the bell tonight.

8:25 p.m. - The Giants always play better with their backs against the wall and love playing the "Nobody believed in us card." It's that attitude that won them Super Bowl XLII.

8:27 p.m. - I've heard a ton about Battlestar Galatica since it premiered in 2005, but I never watched it for one reason or another. I was wrong to wait. I just blew through the 4 hour pilot and first 8 episodes and have loved it. It rivals The Wire as my favorite drama of all time.

8:29 p.m. - I don't care how bad he's played this year, if Brandon Jacobs steps up big-time tonight - on the real life and fantasy football side of things - all will be forgotten.

8:30 p.m. - I continually marvel at Justin Tuck's head. It's egg shaped. Very strange.

8:34 p.m. - Eagles are driving and the Giants defense does not look good at all. Yuck.

8:35 p.m. - Al Michaels refers to Michael Boley as one of the "new" Giants. When does he not become a "new" Giant Al? This is the 13th game this season. He ceased being new after the first game.

8:36 p.m. - Celek scores and hurts both the Giants (7-0) and my fantasy team (87-73).... Crap.

8:39 p.m. - Nice runback by Dom Hixon who runs it from the 5 yard line to to the 33.

8:40 p.m. - Hakeem Nicks gets his first pro start. He's earned it with 575 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. Pretty nice for a rookie.

8:42 p.m. - Jacobs fumbles (NO!!!) and the Eagles defense takes it back for a TD. It's good for my fantasy defense, but a complete and utter disaster for the Giants who are now down 14-0.

8:46 p.m. -- Well at least my fantasy team is in good shape. 106-73, although that Jacobs fumble hurt the guy who is playing Pit Crew.

8:47 p.m. - Nicks catches a 17-yard slant from Eli. Every time he gets the ball he makes a ton of things happen.

8:49 p.m. - Great, great year for the real Steve Smith -- not the fake one from Carolina. Smith has 80 catches, 1,007 yards and 5 TDs through 12+ games. He's a dominant No. 1 WR and has completely replaced Plaxico...Plaxico who?

Who would have expected that?

8:51 p.m. - G-men going for it on 4 and 1. They need this right here.

8:52 p.m. - Jacobs buries his head ahead for a first down - for the first time this season - and gets a big first down.

8:52 p.m. - Just got my first glimpse at the wet soggy field turf at the Meadowlands. Lots of puddles. It looks like a little league field.

8:53 p.m. - Kevin Boss makes a crazy, Phil McConkey type catch off a deflection from Eagles DB Jeremiah Trotter.

8:54 p.m. - Giants need to score right here to get some of the momentum back in this game.

8:55 p.m. - Manningham catches a TD out of bounds. Just horrible field awareness there as he should have gotten two feet in bounds.

8:56 p.m. - And the Giants settle for a short field goal. 14-3 Philly.

9:01 p.m. - Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the route that Manningham ran the same Slant n Go route that Burress caught the SuperBowl XLII winning TD on?

9:03 p.m. - Nice pressure by Giants defense and Eagles offense goes 3 and out.

9:05 p.m. - Giants need to score here to cut the Eagles' surprisingly early lead.

9:11 p.m. - Nicks drops a wide open sure TD. ...And then he drops a second bomb by Eli. Both would have been complete daggers to the Eagles. Luckily Eagles get back-to-back illegal contact calls.

9:14 p.m. - And Nicks follows that up with a crazy Madden like 68-yard TD catch started by a nifty catch, a juke and a spin followed by a sprint to the end zone. I believe you execute those moves in Madden by hitting Y, RB, B and then RT. Ha. 14-10 Eagles.

9:18 p.m. - 101-73. Still winning in fantasy as Eagles defense has taken a few lumps from Giants defense. Luckily. Yes. I am rooting for Giants and not my fantasy team. I'm serious. No, really.

9:21 p.m. - Of course, the Giants D is letting the Eagles take the momentum right back. Can they stop someone please?

9:24 p.m. - Considering that the Eagles are on the 2 yard line and bound to score a TD here, can I ask that it be someone other than McCoy or Celek. Please?

9:25 p.m. - Wow, the Giants D actually stops them. Nice work by Aaron Rouse on last two plays. FG attempt by Eagles. 17-10 Eagles.

9:26 p.m. - 6:42 left until the half. Can the Giants tie it up before the half. That would be nice.

9:35 p.m. - And Giants don't do it and instead - aided by a missed block in the back by the Eagles - allow Jackson to run it back 72 yards for a punt return TD. 24-10 Eagles.

9:36 p.m. - Up 107-58 vs. Pacman right now, which pretty much puts the points championship in my pocket. He still has Boss and Fitzgerald, but I'm not guessing they are scoring 50 points combined. It would take like 300 yards and 5 TDs. That still doesn't make the Giants' 2 TD deficit better.

9:49 p.m. - Bradshaw leads the Giants down the field with a number of great runs. He ends it with a short 3 yard TD up the middle. 24-17 Eagles.

9:52 p.m. - Honestly, the Giants offense has looked good tonight. They are losing because of a Eagle fumble recovery TD and a punt return TD. I think we can take that into the lockerroom if they hold right here, with 1:08 left in the 1st half.

9:54 p.m. - Boley drops a sure pick-6 that would have tied up the game going into the half. Ahhhh.

9:55 p.m. - Not sure why Coughlin calls a timeout. It's 3rd and 10, crowd is going wild and they have the Eagles offense on their heels. Of course, after the timeout, they complete a long pass to Jackson.

10:02 p.m. - The convicted dog killer runs it in for a TD and the extra pt is blocked. 30-17 Eagles.

10:12 p.m. - First time I've ever seen it, but boy is the Tailgating History bit really, really bad. It's worst than SNL. ...and that's pretty bad.

10:12 p.m. - Gotta love Tony Dungy promoting his pet - no pun intended - project Mike Vick by showing a Vick pass completion highlight during the half-time show.

10:17 p.m. - After the TD to end the half by the Eagles, I'm really not sure how to characterize the first half. Giants need to really try to score early in the 3rd quarter to set the tone for the 2nd half.

10:29 p.m. - Jacobs runs it in to cut Eagles lead to 30-24 and to increases Clams lead over Pit Crew to 82-67 (with Boldin yet to play for Crew). I can smell the regular season championship money!

10:32 p.m. - If the Giants really want to make the playoffs here, their defense needs to start coming up with stops against the Eagles offense.

10:35 p.m. - JON GOFF WITH A HUGE INT AT EAGLES 35 YARD LINE. BIG TIME!

10:37 p.m. - Eli runs it to the 10 and fumbles the ball after diving head first. The booth is reviewing the play now. Was he touched? Hope so?!

10:38 p.m. - Question is should Joe Girardi have trained Mark Sanchez or Eli Manning to slide feet first?

10:41 p.m. - Giants' don't win the call and Eagles retain possession.

10:47 p.m. - Hixon takes a short pass from Eli 67 yards to tie the game for Giants!! What a crazy game! Extra pt by Tynes and its 31-30 Giants!!

10:52 p.m. - Another big play by Eagles and they go right back up. 37-31 Eagles.

11:01 p.m. - I'm amazed that Andy Reid got a contract extension. He's a horrible game manager.

11:08 p.m. - Why are the Giants running on 3rd and 5. What kind of play calling is that?

11:15 p.m. - And the Giants defense is bending on a mid-4th quarter Eagle drive that is featuring a lot of screens and a lot of running plays. Even a FG here is bad news. We need a turnover!

11:18 p.m. - And Eagles score TD to go up by 2 TDs. The Giants Defense let them go 91 yards and tear up 7 1/2 minutes of 4th quarters. Worst drive of the game. There goes 1st place and probably the playoffs. 45-31

11:20 p.m. - The defense should be ashamed of themselves. They've given up 85 points....85! in the last two games against the Eagles. Fire defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan right now.

11:34 p.m. - Manningham makes his second out of bounds TD catch. Another play where he should have gotten 2 feet down.

11:41 p.m. - Boss scores to cut lead, but it's pretty much over. ...

Recap not needed....Blech.