Feathers in their caps

Soaring Eagles KO the defending champion Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Start with this: It's hard to win in this league if you can't get into the end zone.

"I'll put our defense up against anybody," declared Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid.

"It's a good defense," confirmed Jim Johnson, the veteran Philly defensive coordinator. "We've got a few more games to go, but right now they're playing at a high level. The defense has done everything we've asked."

Consigned to the trash bin of recent NFL history only a few weeks ago, the Eagles instead will be heading to Glendale, Ariz., next Sunday to play in their fifth NFC Championship game in the last 10 years. Forgotten is the wacky tie with woeful Cincinnati. Forgotten is a 36-7 loss to Baltimore. That stuff didn't matter once the Eagles took care of the defending champion Giants by a 23-11 score, right in Giants Stadium.

There are no secrets when the Giants play the Eagles. How could there be? So it came down to execution, pure and simple. The Philly defense held the Giants to three John Carney field goals, while the Donovan McNabb-directed offense worked around the potentially damaging fact that there was no running game to augment three David Akers field goals with a pair of touchdowns, one of which was set up, naturally, by an Asante Samuel interception.

"It was a knockdown, drag-out, NFC East struggle," said Reid.

The game changed irrevocably on the final possession of the first half, when McNabb took his team from his 25 to the Giants 7 with 10 seconds remaining. He took one shot into the end zone before Akers knocked home the 25-yard field goal that gave Philly a 10-8 halftime lead.

Something had clicked.

"I think that played a major role for us as far as knowing what we needed to do to turn things around," McNabb said. "I thought what we did provided us with the confidence we felt we needed to come out and throw the ball against them."

Of course, it would have been reasonable to ask why the Eagles had any doubts about what they needed to do offensively. It's not as if they ever ran the ball with any effectiveness. Included in their 28 rushing attempts for a puny 59 yards were 12 carries for 2 yards or fewer, including five negative tries and two no-gains.

So it was up to McNabb and his receivers to figure something out. The QB played no favorites, completing four passes each to DeSean Jackson, Jason Avant, and Kevin Curtis and three apiece to Correll Buckhalter and tight end Brent Celek. This was all made easier by the fact that, for the third time in three games with the former champs this season, the Giants were unable to sack McNabb.

"No sacks is a tribute to the offensive line, of course," Reid said. "That's a really good defensive line. But it's also a tribute to the help. Donovan getting rid of the ball. The receivers getting open."

This would be a good place to mention the safety. Though the Giants did not sack McNabb, they did force him into a quite evident second-quarter intentional grounding in his end zone. So there's your New York scoring: three field goals (in five attempts) and a safety.

A tipped interception featuring a surprisingly shifty run by 317-pound defensive tackle Fred Robbins led to a 36-yard Carney field goal and an 11-10 Giants third-quarter lead. But the Eagles responded with another impressive drive, a 12-play, 58-yarder culminating in a 35-yard go-ahead Akers field goal.

In this drive a scrambling McNabb hit Avant for a 21-yard completion on third and 20 from his 15, and found Buckhalter for a 19-yard catch on third and 10 from the New York 41. He also salvaged a potentially damaging circumstance with Curtis, who dropped a big-gain opportunity at the New York 25.

Rather than abandoning Curtis, he told him to "forget it" and then McNabb hit the wideout for a key gain of 15 two plays later. Curtis later made a difficult catch on a drive that led to a 1-yard scoring pass from McNabb to Celek on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Keeping the Giants from sacking McNabb was a blow to New York's defensive manhood. Just to show they were equal opportunity mind-messers, the Eagles assaulted the New York offensive pride by twice stopping the Giants on fourth and inches in the final quarter.

"The middle of the defense," Reid said. "That's where it starts."

"I just know we got a great surge on those fourth-down plays," added Johnson.

Finally, was this a case of "Plaxico's Revenge?"

"There's no question it's different with him not in there, especially in the red zone," Johnson acknowledged. "He always seemed like the guy who came up with the big play."

Maybe they score a touchdown or two with Plaxico Burress in there, or maybe they don't. Anyway, it will give Giants fans something to talk about while they await training camp, when the New York Giants no longer will be the defending Super Bowl champs.

Bob Ryan can be reached at ryan@globe.com.