Specter of last year's collapse returns

The memories still were fresh from that nightmare last December, when the Eagles inflicted a mortal blow on the Giants' season with a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback.

The damage was so complete from a 38-31 loss that Justin Tuck said it will haunt him forever. Up 31-10 in the fourth quarter and then walking off the field a loser to the division rival Eagles. In the time it took DeSean Jackson to return Matt Dodge's punt 65 yards for the winning touchdown with no time on the clock, the Giants' season essentially was over.

"That will stick with me the rest of my life," Tuck said.

Well, he might have to add another one. With the Giants' season again at a crossroads, the Eagles delivered yet another devastating blow Sunday night \, beating the Giants, 17-10, and dropping them into a first-place tie with the surging Cowboys.

With a brutal second-half schedule continuing next Monday night on the road against the Saints, then at home against the unbeaten Packers and at Dallas in a crucial divisional game, the Giants might be seeing their season unravel again.

Losers of two straight, the Giants once again are in danger of free-falling out of the NFC East race. If it happens, Tom Coughlin could pay the price after getting his team to 6-2 again in advance of a second-half collapse.

"That's as big a disappointment as we've had around here in a long time,'' Coughlin said.

His overriding theme this year has been dedicated to repenting the sins of last Dec. 19. He has talked constantly of the need to finish games and avoid another calamitous fold. That word "finish" has been hammered into his players' skulls, and they did a mostly creditable job of obeying that command through the first half of the season.

But Sunday night, they failed to finish for the second week in a row, following a road loss to the 49ers with a dispiriting loss to an injury-ravaged team without Michael Vick, Jeremy Maclin and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

The Giants knew they had to beat the 3-6 Eagles to maintain sole possession of first place. Dallas already had survived a 27-24 overtime scare at Washington to improve to 6-4.

The Cowboys are the Giants' biggest threat, and the teams will meet Dec. 11 and Jan. 1, the final day of the regular season.

As big as the stakes were, the Giants failed to seize the opportunity. The Eagles took a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter after another brilliant punt return from Jackson, followed by a touchdown catch by former Giant Steve Smith.

The Giants made it 10-3 on a 48-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes on the final play of the half and tied it on a terrific five-play, 73-yard drive early in the fourth quarter, with Eli Manning throwing a 24-yard TD pass to Victor Cruz.

But the Eagles responded with an 18-play, 80-yard drive that consumed nearly nine minutes. When Young hit Riley Cooper for an 8-yard score, that made the Eagles 6-for-6 on third-down conversions on the drive.

Although he completed a 47-yard pass to Cruz that put the ball at the 21 with 1:25 remaining, for the second straight week, Manning failed to reach the end zone on his final drive. After throwing an incomplete pass on fourth down from the 49ers' 10 in a 27-20 loss to San Francisco, he was sacked and fumbled against the Eagles. Philadelphia recovered and ran out the clock.

"We've got six games left,'' Manning said. "We've got a tough schedule. Every game is tough. We have to rally and play better football.

"Every game is important now. Every game is big. We've got to have a little rally here.''

The Giants' margin of error is perilously thin now that Dallas appears to have hit its stride, and the schedule is a beast. Coughlin remains steadfast in his attempt to keep his team in the race, but fears of another collapse now are as real as they were late last year.

Six games to go, and the Giants' hope is to finish . . . not to be finished.