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| E-GIANTS By
DAVE KLEIN The Giants did not officially clinch a playoff berth Sunday, nor can they do that even if New Orleans loses Monday night. They'll have to wait until next week when they play the Washington Redskins (correction here -- it's on the NBC network, which most everybody gets) next Sunday night, not the NFL Network which almost nobody gets. Or wants. But they are 9-4 and will almost certainly in the playoffs as a wild card entry. They cannot win the NFC East, absolutely and categorically, since the best they can finish is 12-4 and the worst the Cowboys can finish is 12-4 -- and Dallas owns the tie-breaker based on twin victories in the home-and-home series this year. But there is still going to be a lot of football for the Giants, healthy or not, division champions or not, and from the way they played Sunday in Philadelphia there might be a lot of exciting and emotional football as well. Take middle linebacker Antonio Pierce, for example. In 2005 he suffered a "high ankle sprain" against these same Eagles. He missed the final three games plus the playoff game, a 23-0 embarrassment to Carolina. Sunday, he wasn't sure if he would be able to play. He had another sprained ankle. "About two hours before the game I decided I would be able to make it," he said. "The guys kept asking me if I was going to play or not. I did what I needed to do to play in this game. You know, it's hard to look your teammates in the eye and tell them you aren't playing. I play for those guys, and that's all that matters to me." Asked how he got through the pain and played the entire game, he smiled. "A lot of special help," he said somewhat cryptically. "A lot of little medicine." Head coach Tom Coughlin, grateful for Pierce's participation and, perhaps even more, his leadership and inspiration, just shook his head. "He's a warrior," he said. "If he got it into his head to play, he was going to play. This morning he was better, he said, and I know that if he can go, he'll go." There were heroes aplenty in this 16-13 victory, not counting the 57-yard field goal attempt that soared high into the dark skies and came down just in time to clang against the right upright and fall back onto the field. There was quarterback Eli Manning, who seems incapable of pleasing many Giant fans no matter what he does. He had three terrible quarters last Sunday in Chicago and then a gifted one that won the game. He was on-and-off yesterday in Philadelphia, then came alive in time to steer the Giants to yet another victory, their third in four games. "It was a huge win for us," he said. "We knew going into this game that every time you play Philly it's likely to come down to the last play. It's always the fourth quarter or overtime. But I don't care whether it's a pretty win or an ugly win, they all count the same." Someone asked Manning to compare this team with last year's edition, the one that finished 8-8 and lost to the Eagles in the wild-card round. "This year we are just finding ways to win games," he said. "Last year we were in games, just not making plays and doing the things to win. This year, right now, we are doing those things. That's all you can ask for now and we are doing some things to put us into situations where we can win, and then finding the plays we need." Manning was 17 for 31 Sunday, gaining 219 yards and throwing one touchdown. He did not throw an interceptions, and now has 18 touchdown passes and 17 picks for the season. It was a workmanlike effort, not one that will get him into the headlines but one that provided the Giants with another victory. "He had a good feel for the pressure their defense applied," said Coughlin. "I think it was a strong game, a very heady game. And so he played, well, tremendous. I don't care about the Eagles' record, that's a very good team, a very strong defensive team, and they gave us all we could handle." Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb offered indirect praise to the Giants' defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, who spent eight years with the Eagles prior to joining the Giants this season. "My compliments to their defense," he said. "They knew when to run the blitz and when to get into 'cover-2' and it kept us a little off-balance. I guess that's Spags, right?" EXTRA POINTS -- The Giants played with two rookie safeties, Michael Johnson at strong, Craig Dahl at weak. ... "I thought their safeties did pretty good," said Eagles' head coach Andy Reid. "Of course we knew they were going to be out there, and we couldn't get anything big." Both starters, James Butler and Gibril Wilson, were on the Game Inactive list, along with rookie wide receiver Steve Smith. ... It was thought that Smith might actually play, which would have been his first action since the second game of the season, but his hamstring tightened up and he was not available. Running back Brandon Jacobs carried 22 times for 70 yards after missing the last two games (hamstring) but he fumbled twice and lost both. ... His replacement, Reuben Droughns, carried three times for 34 yards (and had a long gain of 35), but his diminished speed cost him a touchdown. ... He was stopped on the Eagles' 1-yard line and in four plays from there the Giants came away with no more than a field goal. ... Speaking of field goals, Lawrence Tynes was three-for-three, but they were all of the painfully short-distance variety (a 19-yarders and a pair of 23-yarders). Wide receiver Plaxico Burress had seven catches for 136 yards and the Giants' only touchdown, a 20-yarder.… He also had a 41-yard long-gain. ... Weakside linebacker Kawika Mitchell led the Giants with 10 tackles while defensive end Osi Umenyiora, defensive tackle Barry Cofield and rookie defensive end Jay Alford (the first of his career) registered sacks. ... Of note is the fact that Donovan McNabb was sacked 15 times this season by the Giants in their two meetings -- 12 in the first game Sept. 30, a 16-3 Giants' victory.... Umenyiora now has seven sacks against the Eagles and five against the rest of the schedule. Check
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