You never want games to come down to instant replay decisions, but unfortunately it’s unavoidable in the NFL. And hey, at least the NFL has instant replay to insure that the correct calls are made.
The Giants got the benefit of two back-to-back challenges in their 36-31 win over the Eagles on Sunday night. The first was when Eli Manning appeared to have crossed the line of scrimmage on an attempted pass on a 3rd and 10 from the Philadelphia 20 yard line early in the third quarter. Manning completed the pass for a first down, but the refs had ruled he had crossed the line of scrimmage, which led to a loss of down. But Tom Coughlin wisely challenged the play and the call was reversed because replay (kind of sort of) showed that Manning’s right heel was still behind the line of scrimmage.
The Giants were awarded a first down and after a dropped touchdown reception by Kevin Boss, Brandon Jacobs scored on a three-yard touchdown run. Of course Jacobs fumbled, but refs said he had broken the plane. Andy Reid challenged, but replay showed that the ball did (kind of sort of) crossed the end zone while Jacobs still had the ball. With the touchdown, New York took a 27-24 lead and never trailed from that point.
The calls were close, but it appeared that the refs got them both right. Regardless, both of these teams are better than what they showed Sunday night. They each combined for four turnovers and while Donovan McNabb threw three touchdown passes, he wasn’t particularly sharp. Of course the Giants had a lot to do with that, taking away Philly’s running game and forcing McNabb to throw into tight passing windows.
The key in this game was that the Eagles couldn’t stop Jacobs and the rest of the Giants’ plethora of running backs. New York owned the line of scrimmage and have found an emerging red zone threat in tight end Kevin Boss, who is cheaper than Jeremy Shockey and less disruptive.
With the win, the Giants are now 7-1 in the division. But that NFC East is going to be a dogfight until the end.
