Sam Bradford continues to throw interceptions. He had three against the Giants and nine for the season. Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotography.com

The Eagles-Giants Monday Night Football matchup may have seemed somewhat patriotic if you think about it…there were flags everywhere but they were all yellow.

The teams combined for 21 penalties for 164 yards. In the end though, the Eagles mistakes – and there were many – didn’t impact the game nearly much as the 12 fouls called on Big Blue as the Birds marched into first place with a 27-7 win over their turnpike rivals and took a slim lead in the mediocre NFC East.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin was asked whether the penalties on the Giants kept the Eagles’ drives alive:

“Oh yeah. You can’t play like that,” said Coughlin whose team fell to 3-3 on the season, tied record-wise with the Eagles. “That’s bad football. Even the pass interference on Larry Donnell. I mean I don’t know what could have happened over there. I couldn’t see that side of the field. But that’s the thing that created an opportunity for us to have to punt the ball, even that late in the game. It certainly took a lot away from both sides. Both sides had, I don’t know what the numbers were, but both sides had a lot of penalties and turnovers, but they certainly did more with their opportunities than we did.”

The Giants marched down the field on their first possession in eight plays finishing with a pass to Odell Beckham, Jr.

After a three-and-out, the Birds answered with a seven-play, 78-yard drive that ended with Sam Bradford hitting Riley Cooper with a 32-yard touchdown pass. It was the second time this season Cooper – not known for his speed – got behind an opponent’s entire secondary to put six on the board.

The Giants ensuring drive ended with running play to Rashad Jennings and a two-yard loss at the Eagles 47-yard line.

Both teams committed bone-headed penalties.

NFC Player of the Week Fletcher Cox helped the Giants scoring drive in the first quarter with a neutral zone infraction with the ball at the Eagles 18-yard line. The next play was Beckham’s TD.

The Giants next drive appeared to be stalling and the Eagles had a chance to get off the field on a third-and-five at the Eagles 45 but Connor Barwin was offside and Big Blue’s drive continued.

But four plays later DeMeco Ryans wrestled the ball from tight end Larry Donnell for an interception that turned into the Cooper TD.

Not to be outdone, Giants Damontre Moore got called for a roughing-the-passer penalty that gave life to the Eagles offense that up to that point had been anemic.

Four plays later the Birds scored.

The Eagles continued to get in their own way with Byron Maxwell committing a defensive holding penalty but the Birds stopped the drive four plays later on downs.

The Giants defense held the Eagles to three-and-out, forcing the home team to punt. Donnie Jones hit 57-yard punt that was caught by Dwayne Harris at the Giants eight-yard line.

If that wasn’t a tough enough place to start, Big Blue’s special teams committed two penalties on the punt, pinning the Giants on the four-yard yard line.

Eli Manning’s first pass of the drive was incomplete, but a penalty on Maxwell moved the ball to the 18-yard line.
Manning’s next pass his next pass was picked off by Eagles defensive back Nolan Carroll at the 17 for an easy pick six and 14-7 Eagles lead.

The Eagles would not look back.

The Giants continued to make penalties the story of this game after stopping the Eagles on their second drive of the third quarter, but fullback Nikita Whitlock was called for running into the kicker.

The Eagles took advantage of the break and with Bradford in control, he would finish 24 of 38 for 280 yards, drove 72 yards and finished the drive with a 12-yard run by DeMarco Murray to make the score 24-7.

The Eagles defense continued to be the shining light so far this season.

The Giants were held to just 81 yards rushing on 23 carries as a team, Manning was just 24 of 38 for just 189 yards and was picked off twice. He ended with a quarterback rating of 62.3 and was sacked three times.

Granted the score was lopsided, but when you look at the Giants performance then take in the Eagles three fumbles (lost one), Bradford’s three interceptions, the nine penalties for 72 yards, the game was ugly…right?

“It was an ugly win?” Eagles defensive end Cedric Thornton queried when heard the game described as such. “You think 27-7 is an ugly win? I thought we played good. We started off slow, they scored seven points. We went on the sidelines and talked about it.

“DeMeco started something incredible with a pick he took away from a guy (Larry Donnell) and started a forest fire. And we just kept it going.”

Notes: Murray finished with 109 yards on 22 carries. Ryan Mathews rushed nine times for 40 yards. Jordan Matthews was targeted 11 times and caught six passes for 59 yards. Cooper finished with three catches for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Linebacker Jordan Hicks continues to impress. The rookie led both teams with 10 tackles including a tackle for loss.

Vinny Curry finished with two tackles and 1.5 sacks. Nolan Carroll had six tackles, two passes defended and the pick-six.