Giants, Eagles find winning, losing is contagious

When Eli Manning had the ball in his hands late in last Sunday's game against the 49ers, everyone on the Giants knew he was going to lead them to a touchdown. The fact that he didn't is almost immaterial. The Giants believed.

It's been that kind of a season for this team. Five of their wins have come in games in which they either trailed or were tied in the fourth quarter. Two of their losses have come when they were on the cusp of securing a win or tie late in the fourth.

"What's that quote Vince Lombardi had? 'Winning is a habit,' " Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty said this past week before finishing the Bartlett's entry. " 'Unfortunately, so is losing.' "

The Eagles would know about that part. While the Giants have flourished late in games, including their first comeback win of the season in Philadelphia in Week 3, the Eagles have crumbled. They've lost the lead in five of their six losses and been outscored 60-3 in those five fourth quarters. The latest fizzle came last week against the Cardinals.

"I think it's a lack of concentration," Eagles running back LeSean McCoy said. "Some games we will come out fired up and we will play the whole game out well. In the majority of the games, we haven't."

The Giants and the Eagles will play Sunday night at MetLife Stadium in a game that, unfortunately for the Eagles, is scheduled to go four quarters. It's easy to imagine that if the Eagles have a late lead and the Giants have the ball, both teams will be using the same words.

Here we go again! the Giants will shout excitedly as they march toward the victory they believe awaits them.

Here we go again, the Eagles will sigh, expecting yet another win to slip from their grip.

"You don't want to give them life and make them start to feel like they can finish in the fourth quarter if they're that type of team," Giants safety Deon Grant said. "If they're the type of team that keeps blowing it in the fourth quarter, we want to make sure that they continue to blow it in the fourth quarter."

When they met the last time, neither team had carved out a fourth-quarter identity. The Eagles had a 16-14 lead but the Giants forced a turnover on downs and went on to a 29-16 win. Giants coach Tom Coughlin had been preaching his mantra about finishing since the start of training camp, and that was the first time it materialized.

"I don't know if we recognized it at the time, but it was a big building block for this team to be able to have faith in us coming from behind and doing whatever needs to be done to get the win," linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said.

It also might have been a turning point for the Eagles. Ironically, it was their comeback win over the Giants almost a year ago that focused Coughlin on the importance of the finish. He's pounded that idea into the Giants. Now it's up to the Giants to pound it into the Eagles.

Coughlin and his players have spoken openly about the confidence that the comebacks have inspired. Even to the point that the failed ones -- such as last week's -- seem almost like victories.

Surely, though, the opposite can be true. If reinforced success can buoy a team's psyche, would it not stand to reason that continuous failure can be just as detrimental to the mind-set?

"You'd have to ask other teams," Coughlin said.

Apparently, the Giants don't know. Fortunately for them, they're playing a team Sunday night that probably does.