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PHILADELPHIA EAGLES -7

The 8-8 New York Giants have the distinction of being the only team in this year’s Tennessee Titans. The Eagles unfortunately had to play the Indianapolis Colts the following week, and lost to bring their record at the time to 5-6, and the entire city of Philly had these Eagles written off. But few knew that McNabb’s replacement had dusted off some rust in that Indy loss.

Quarterback Jeff Garcia, whom the world had forgotten about after he spent the last two years doing very little in Cleveland and Detroit, followed the Wild Card matchup.

The Eagles split the season contests with the Giants, although they should have won both. In Week 15, the boys from Philly went to New York and defeated them 36-22 with Garcia at the helm. But in Week 2 with McNabb in charge, he had them up 24-7 entering the fourth quarter but the bottom fell through and the G-Men scored 23 straight points, including a Plaxico Burress game-winning reception in OT to win the game 30-24. In spite of that, the pressure is clearly on the New York Giants, as they come into this game as huge underdogs after losing six of their final eight games of the regular season.

Everyone in New York who is not a Jet fan will watching Eli Manning, the inconsistent quarterback of the Giants, to see how he will do his second time around at the Wild Card helm, because the first time was a disaster. Last year, the Giants earned a Wild Card at home, and Eli Manning crumbled under the pressure in throwing three interceptions, losing a fumble and throwing for just over a hundred yards in a 23-0 embarrassment in front of their own fans to a strong Carolina Panthers team. There is a possibility that Manning will play better this time simply because he is not under the watchful eye of a booing New York crowd. But this game will not be an easy task by any means.

The Eagles will test Manning with a pass defense that ranked 9th in the NFL, as they joined Baltimore and Denver as the only teams in the NFL to have more than one secondary player selected to the Pro Bowl with the deserving selections of cornerback Lito Sheppard and safety Brian Dawkins. Dawkins, in particular, has an uncanny penchant for coming up with big plays in big games, and this has led to many believing that he is the best safety in the league. Manning will have to be aware of where he lines up every time he goes under center, and will also have to look him off before letting go of the football in order to not have Dawkins pick it off.

The Giants will be missing a major piece of their puzzle in defensive end Michael Strahan, a veteran leader on and off the field who was placed on the injured reserved list to end his season after aggravating a foot injury on Christmas Eve. But they will have at their disposal the offensive star of last week in the retiring Tiki Barber, who had a regular season sendoff for the ages with a Giants’ record 234 yards rushing off of 23 carries and he reached the endzone three times. Without question, though… the Eagles will be keying on Barber in this one, and will outright dare Manning to beat them with his erratic arm. Do not expect it to happen.

PREDICTION: Eagles to cover

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Anthony Oxley is a freelance columnist and regular contributor to the BetUS.com Locker room.