Halftime: Eagles 17 Giants 16
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (CBS) — The Eagles started well, tapered off, but rallied to score a last-second field goal to take a 17-16 lead at halftime on Sunday against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
The Eagles' porous secondary carousel did continue in the first half against the Giants, this week enabling Rueben Randle to look like Jerry Rice. Randle caught five passes for a career-best 134 yards in one half.
Mark Sanchez was 13-for-21 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. But the Eagles made a lot of mistakes. They were penalized five times for 35 yards. Sanchez threw another interception, and with the ball sitting at the Giants' 9, they were hit with a delay-of-game penalty when they couldn't get a play off in the waning seconds of the half and had to settle for a Cody Parkey 32-yard field goal.
Late in the second quarter, Cary Williams missed an interception in the end zone that was thrown right into his hands—and dropped. The Williams drop allowed Josh Brown to kick his third field goal in the half for a 16-14 Giants' lead.
The Giants used a mere 2:49 and six plays with the opening kickoff to take an early lead. Eli Manning made mincemeat of the maligned Eagles' secondary, needing just four passes to go 80 yards—the big reception a Manning-to-Randle 43-yard connection between Nolan Carroll III and Nate Allen, who both never looked back to see where the ball was—a recurring problem all season with the Eagles' secondary.
The following play Manning went right back to Randle for an 18-yard reception to the Eagles' 1. Andre Williams bulled into the end zone for a touchdown and it was 7-0 in a blink.
Just when it looked like it would be one of those days—another case of the Eagles lying down in a meaningless game—the Eagles responded.
The Eagles scored on consecutive drives to take a 14-10 lead after one quarter. At the outset, Sanchez looked good, completing four of his first five passes. On the Eagles first drive, Sanchez saw Jordan Matthews over the middle with a play-action pass. Matthews averted one Giant defender and ran by what seemed to be two disinterested Giants down the sideline for a 44-yard touchdown. On the following drive, Sanchez then connected with Brent Celek for a 1-yard TD pass. That score was made possible thanks to a 41-yard pass interference call—and a Sanchez pass that landed in the hands of New York's Stevie Brown.
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