| | | | | | | | Thursday, October 24, 2002
MNF Breakdown: Giants-Eagles
By Mike Diegnan
ABC Sports Online
Carl Banks had him. Rushing through the line, the All-Pro linebacker had Randall Cunningham in his grasp.
But in a breakout performance that helped elevate him from a good quarterback to a superstar, Cunningham broke free. Facing third-and-goal from the Giants 4 and trailing 3-0, Cunningham rolled to his right where he stumbled on the Veterans Stadium turf. Banks came in and nailed him, but with his knee nearly touching the ground, Cunningham somehow slipped away from Banks and tossed a scoring pass to tight end Jimmie Giles in the right corner of the end zone.
"It amazed me," Cunningham said after he led the Eagles to a 24-13 win over the Giants that October night in 1988. "God gave me this talent. ... Things like that aren't supposed to happen. "It's amazing to me what I do because it's not anything planned."
When Cunningham wasn't lighting up the Giants for a 369-yard, three-touchdown performance that Monday night, Reggie White, Jerome Brown and Clyde Simmons were forcing Phil Simms to run for his life.
It could have eerie similarities this Monday night when the Giants return to Veterans Stadium with Donovan McNabb in Cunningham's role and Jim Johnson's defense all but ready to go after Kerry Collins.
McNabb is arguably the NFL's most dangerous quarterback, and back in Week Two, he showed off all his skills in front of the MNF cameras when he torched the Redskins for 292 passing yards, 36 yards on the ground and three touchdowns in a 37-7 rout. Although New York should pose a much stiffer challenge (Michael Strahan has sacked McNabb more than any other quarterback, including a 3 ½ sack performance last December), McNabb is starting to get more comfortable with his trio of receivers, James Thrash, Todd Pinkston and Antonio Freeman.
Then there's the Giants, who are 1-5 on MNF under Jim Fassel. The Giants rank just 27th in the NFL in rushing, but they will need to get some type of running game going to prevent the Eagles from sending in their dogs. Philly's defense heads into Monday night second in the league in sacks, takeaways and total defense. If the Giants are forced into a one-dimensional offense, that will give even more opportunities for Darwin Walker (4.5 sacks) and Hugh Douglas (4) to rush the passer.
MNF record
New York: 15-26-1 (0-1 last season)
Philadelphia: 16-15 (1-0 in 2002)
Season record
New York: 3-3 (2nd, NFC East)
Philadelphia: 4-2 (1st, NFC East)
Head-to-head
New York leads the all-time series 72-60-2 (and a 2-0 edge in the playoffs).
The Eagles won both meetings last season. Before that, the Giants had won nine games in a row in the series.
The Eagles have won five of the six meetings between them and the Giants on MNF, including the last four.
Notes
Giants QB Kerry Collins has thrown a franchise-record 1,574 consecutive passes for the club, the longest current streak in the NFL.
Michael Strahan is aiming for his fourth consecutive multi-sack game against the Eagles, and has 7.5 sacks in his past three games versus Phil, including postseason. He has 8.0 career sacks on Donovan McNabb, most of any QB.
Giants rookie K Matt Bryant has connected on his first 10 career field goal attempts and needs three to tie Kris Brown for most consecutive FGs to start a career.
Philadelphia is looking for its eighth consecutive primetime win.
The Eagles are 25-4 (.862) when scoring 20 or more points under head coach Andy Reid. Philadelphia has scored in 21 of 24 quarters in 2002, and a 5-2 start would be its best since 1996.
McNabb looks to improve to 3-0 on MNF. He has a 93.6 passer rating (41-of-64, 446 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) in 2 career MNF games.
Eagles KR-PR Brian Mitchell has 20,984 combined yards and needs 16 to become the third player in NFL history (Walter Payton, Jerry Rice) to reach 21,000.
Philadelphia K David Akers has connected on 18 consecutive field goal attempts, including the postseason.
| New York vs. Philadelphia |
| |
 |
 |
| OFFENSE |
| Points/G (rank) |
14.3 (29) |
30.8 (5) |
| Rushing/G (rank) |
87.3 (27) |
143.5 (4) |
| Passing/G (rank) |
244.5 (9) |
227.3 (13) |
| Total Offense/G (rank) |
311.8 (17) |
370.8 (7) |
| 1st downs/G (rank) |
17.7 (20) |
21.3 (7) |
| 3rd down eff. (rank) |
38-86, 44.2% (8) |
36-88, 40.9% (16) |
| 4th down eff. (rank) |
2-7, 28.6% (25) |
6-8, 75.0% (3) |
| DEFENSE |
| Points/G (rank) |
16.3 (5) |
17.0 (6) |
| Rushing/G (rank) |
84.8 (3) |
85.5 (4) |
| Passing/G (rank) |
197.2 (10) |
169.0 (3) |
| Total Defense/G (rank) |
282.0 (3) |
254.5 (2) |
| Sacks (rank) |
9 (28) |
22 (2) |
| MISC. |
| Takeaways (rank) |
7 (30) |
16 (2) |
| Giveaways (rank) |
11 (13) |
10 (9) |
| Turnover ratio (rank) |
-4 (25) |
+6 (2) |
| Penalties (rank) |
39 (11) |
39 (11) |
| Penalty yards (rank) |
327 (11) |
331 (12) |
Passing
|
GIANTS |
CMP |
ATT |
YDS |
CMP% |
LNG |
TD |
INT |
SACK |
RAT |
|
Kerry Collins |
130 |
203 |
1565 |
64.0 |
56 |
5 |
8 |
14 |
79.4 |
|
EAGLES |
CMP |
ATT |
YDS |
CMP% |
LNG |
TD |
INT |
SACK |
RAT |
|
Donovan McNabb |
132 |
226 |
1407 |
58.4 |
59 |
12 |
4 |
21 |
87.0 |
Rushing
Receiving
Returns
| Kickoffs | |
Punts |
| GIANTS |
ATT |
YDS |
FC |
AVG |
LNG |
TD |
|
ATT |
YDS |
FC |
AVG |
LNG |
TD |
|
Daryl Jones |
7 |
147 |
0 |
21.0 |
31 |
0 |
|
6 |
28 |
3 |
4.7 |
17 |
0
|
|
Delvin Joyce |
5 |
107 |
0 |
21.4 |
30 |
0 |
|
3 |
21 |
2 |
7.0 |
20 |
0
|
| EAGLES |
ATT |
YDS |
FC |
AVG |
LNG |
TD |
|
ATT |
YDS |
FC |
AVG |
LNG |
TD |
|
Brian Mitchell |
18 |
462 |
0 |
25.7 |
47 |
0 |
|
22 |
250 |
2 |
11.4 |
49 |
0
|
Kicking
| GIANTS |
1-20 |
20-29 |
30-39 |
40-49 |
50+ |
TOT |
PCT |
AVG |
LNG |
XPM/A |
PTS |
|
Matt Bryant |
0/0 |
4/4 |
5/5 |
1/1 |
0/0 |
10/10 |
100.0 |
31.0 |
47 |
8/8 |
38 |
| EAGLES |
1-20 |
20-29 |
30-39 |
40-49 |
50+ |
TOT |
PCT |
AVG |
LNG |
XPM/A |
PTS |
|
David Akers |
0/0 |
3/3 |
5/5 |
3/3 |
1/1 |
12/12 |
100.0 |
33.0 |
51 |
19/19 |
55 |
Punting
| GIANTS |
PUNTS |
YDS |
AVG |
LNG |
TB |
IN20 |
NET |
|
Matt Allen |
24 |
977 |
40.7 |
65 |
1 |
7 |
36.6 |
| EAGLES |
PUNTS |
YDS |
AVG |
LNG |
TB |
IN20 |
NET |
|
Sean Landeta |
28 |
1266 |
45.2 |
63 |
5 |
11 |
37.7 |
Mike Diegnan is the Editor of ABC Sports Online and can be reached at michael.diegnan@abc.com.
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