Eagles linebacker Najee Goode scores the only TD for either team in yesterday’s 15-7 loss to the Giants. Photo by Pete Lerro/contrastphotography.com

The Eagles – Giants game at Lincoln Financial Field yesterday started about the way you would expect from a 3-4 team taking on a 1-6 team at the end of October.

Ugly, sloppy and filled with turnovers and mistakes.

The Eagles lost 15-7 to the lowly Giants for the 10th consecutive time at Lincoln Financial Field where the Birds are now 49-41 since the Linc opened in 2003.

Philadelphia (3-5) has a better road record since then at 51-37-1.

Some people are talking curse.

Rather than the stadium, it seems the Eagles offense is cursed having not scored a touchdown in two consecutive games.

The Birds lone score came on a fourth-quarter scoop-and-score by linebacker Najee Goode when long snapper Zak DeOssie snapped the ball over the head of punter Steve Weatherford at the 37-yard line. The ball bounced to the two where Goode grabbed the ball and pushed his way in for the score.

Eagles head coach said not having a quarterback who can stay healthy has made it hard to have a good offense.

“Yeah, I think we’ve had some instability at the quarterback position,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve also got to step up. And it starts with me. I’m the play caller. I’m the guy calling plays. In the last two weeks I haven’t done a very good job of it. Until we can get that straightened out, the disappointing thing is I think our defense played a really, really good football game again today. They’ve really come along. But offensively we haven’t done what we need to do to win two football games and we need to get that fixed.”

The Giants (2-6) got the win but looked bad in earning it.

The Giants won the toss and promptly went three- and out.

The Eagles got the ball and Mike Vick promptly threw an interception.

The Giants next four possessions ended with stalled drives, but Big Blue did get a field goal each time.

The Eagles gave up a sack and were called for intentional grounding on their next two possessions.

Then after it was obvious that Vick could not go, Matt Barkley came and drove the Eagles brilliantly to the two-yard line with about minute and a half left in the first half and promptly coughed it up.

Giants led 12-0 at the half.

Kelly was asked about the play he called with the ball at the Giants two-yard line. Barkley had looked so good up to that point.

“Yeah, we called timeout. I just wanted to get Matt settled,” Kelly said. “We went and talked about it. It’s a play we’ve run. We’ve practiced continuously here six weeks or seven weeks since the beginning of the season in the red zone. It was just a naked one route with DeSean out wide and then tight end on a drag on the back side. If we didn’t have it, throw it away.”

Kelly was asked why not go with LeSean McCoy in that situation, he was the leading rusher in the NFL coming into the game and all that was needed was two yards.

“That was the play I called,” Kelly said. “You can go back. It didn’t work. So obviously it didn’t work. But we know in that situation we’re first and goal and we talked about it. If we don’t have it, let’s throw it away and we’ll go the next time.”

The Eagles defense held the Giants to just three points in the second half but the offense continued to struggle.

“Our guys gave a lot of effort, we just couldn’t get on the board today,” kicker Alex Henerey said after the game. “We just got to keep working at it and come back, the offense will figure it out and we’ll go from there.”

Henerey agreed that the offense just has to take the same position that basketball shooters take when they get in a slump and that is to keep shooting.

“Oh yeah, they’ll eventually get going,” said Henery, who did not attempt a field goal Sunday. “They’ve shown it early on in the first few games that they’re explosive. They’ve just got to get it going and we’ll be OK.”

Kelly praised his defense which held the high-scoring Dallas Cowboys to just 17 point last week and who kept the Giants out of the end zone Sunday,
“I just think they’re starting to really get the grasp and understanding of what our defensive coaches are doing,” Kelly said. “I think they’re in the right spots. They’re holding disguises a little bit longer. They can confuse the quarterback at times. There are a couple of delay of games there where I think they’re not exactly sure what was coming. If we were going to put pressure on them or if there was going to be pressure at all. They’re starting to understand the package. I think since day one they’re playing with great effort and doing a better job tackling right now. I think we defended some of the deep balls, some of the balls thrown in the end zone. They’ve done a really good job with that. They haven’t gotten the ball thrown over their head, and they’ve kept the ball in front of them. So I think we can build from where we are on the defensive side.”

Defensive coordinator Billy Davis talking about what it is like for him and the defense to play well and come up short.

“Fifteen points is a good number in the NFL,” Davis said. “We just have to continue to work and get better to where we can win the game.”

Davis was asked about giving up 21 or less points the last four games and whether he likes that consistency from the unit:

“The number one word you used is consistency, and that is what we are looking for,” Davis said. “Are we consistent? We have to be consistent on first downs. We have to get into third downs and then on third downs it wasn’t as good as it needed to be. But, the red zone picked up. Consistency in every phase and situation in the game is what we are looking for. We have to continue to grow and get better, until we can pull out the wins.”

Vick finished 6 of 9 for 31 yards and an interception and was sacked once before leaving the game with his hamstring injury.

Barkley was 17 of 26 for 158 yards, an interception and was sacked once. Obviously neither quarterback found the end zone.

“I thought I played alright,” Barkley said when asked to evaluate himself. “I thought I made some good throws. I made some poor decisions. I think it’s the little things that I have to hunker down on from here on out. Learning and getting game experience is under my belt, it’s just something to learn from. I will probably be thinking about a couple of those plays running through my head all night long. That last play of the half, I don’t know if I was thinking about last week, trying to do too much of forcing it in there so I was holding on to it, about to throw it away and they made a good play on it. I thought I played alright.”

Jackson was asked why the offense has struggled.

“It’s just really hard to win games, especially when the offense can’t score points and help the defense out,” said Jackson, who finished with eight catches for 63 yards. “That’s totally our fault and we take responsibility. The defense came out and played well. But we have to figure out how to score points and do what we have done in the past. Two straight weeks have been tough for us, it’s one of those things, as professional athletes, we have to figure out. Hopefully, we can figure out the way.

“It’s been two games since we scored a touchdown,” He continued. “As an offense, it’s frustrating to leave our defense out there, when they are doing a great job. Hopefully we can figure it out and come back, keep fighting. We can’t quit on ourselves, we are professional athletes and this is our job.”

LeSean McCoy had just 48 yards on 15 carries and was not a factor for the second consecutive week. He was asked why he thinks the offense hasn’t scored a touchdown in two games:

“It starts with me,” McCoy said. “I feel like, coming into the game, we want to establish the run. Teams know that. It starts with me. I have to get out there and get it going. It’s more just us. I missed some plays today. They made a few plays, but this offense has to do better, starting with myself.”

Eli Manning was 25 of 39 for 246 yards and did not throw an interception for the second consecutive week.

Peyton Hillis, signed off the street a week before the Giants game against Minnesota Monday night, carried the ball 20 times for 70 yards.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin as asked if he thought he could come to Philadelphia and win without scoring a touchdown.

“I just come, I tell them every year, I’ll take it two to nothing, three to nothing, five to three, whatever you want to do.”