Giants recall Eagles' season-changing play

There were 119 plays from scrimmage when the Giants faced the Eagles in November. Most have faded into the blurred boxscore of history. Some can be recalled with effort. A few - such as the Eli Manning fumble when he mis-slid on a fourth-down run that would have picked up the first down, or the touchdown pass from Manning to Derek Hagan that gave the Giants the lead - stand out as memorable.

But there is one that rises above all the others.

Fourth-and-1. Four and a half minutes left. With the world anticipating a quarterback sneak, Michael Vick tossed the ball outside left to LeSean McCoy, who ran 50 yards for the winning touchdown.

"That's the play, man," Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said. "That is by far the one. That is definitely the play of the game."

It may be the play of the season up to this point, too. Think about it. If the Giants stop the Eagles there, they likely win that Nov. 21 game. They are in control of the division heading into today's rematch. Instead, the two teams have 9-4 records, but the Eagles have the decided advantage.

A win by Philadelphia at New Meadowlands Stadium Sunday would all but lock up the NFC East title for them. A Giants win - although the calculus shows it could clinch a playoff spot - still would leave the division within the grasp of the Eagles.

"It didn't start going through my mind until we started watching film on it again," Tuck said of the ill-fated snap. "You forget about it, you move on, you have another team coming in the next week trying to beat your head in, too. But now, with everybody refreshing my memory . . . "

SEE PHOTOSTop 10 Giants of all time

It was a simple play, but one dense with twists and turns, each of which could have changed the direction of the play, the game, the season.

First, leading up to it, rookie Jason Pierre-Paul jumped offside on a third-and-6 that was more like third-and-51/2. That gave the Eagles third-and-1, and Vick threw an incomplete pass to Jeremy Maclin.

The Eagles, trailing 17-16 after the Hagan touchdown, decided to go for the first down. They earlier had converted a fourth-and-1 on a quarterback sneak, and most expected Vick to try it again.

The Giants crowded the line of scrimmage. Outside linebacker Michael Boley was inside tight end Brent Celek, cheating up to push the pile backward. Safety Antrel Rolle came toward the line of scrimmage to try and stuff a short dive.

Taking the ball from under center, Vick bobbled it. Rolle saw the bobble and tried to dive over the line and recover a fumble. But Vick hung on to it. He spun and flipped the ball toward McCoy with defensive end Osi Umenyiora right there in his way. Somehow, by fractions of an inch, the ball sailed past the swat of Umenyiora.

McCoy caught it. Boley, the outermost player on the line of scrimmage, was sucked inside by Celek. Safety Deon Grant, the closest to the point of attack, was kicked out by tackle Jason Peters. Safety Kenny Phillips came up to stop the run but was plowed over by guard Todd Herremans. McCoy ran untouched for 50 yards and the lead.

"There was nobody around," McCoy said this past week, recalling the play. "It was a great call, and it was one of those things you're guessing . . . It was definitely surprising to see nobody anywhere close."

There should have been, of course.

"With the play called, we were supposed to have somebody right there," Tuck said. "I was like, 'Yeah, that's a tackle for a loss!' But it wasn't there."

Was it Rolle, who abandoned his responsibility on the running back when he saw the bobble? Was it Boley, who was drawn into the scrum? Was it Grant, who was trounced by someone almost twice his size? No one on the Giants said exactly who the culprit was.

"Somebody was supposed to be there," said cornerback Terrell Thomas, who was on the other side of the field away from the run. "Regardless if he was there or not, they would have gotten the first down. The biggest disappointment was that we didn't stop them and they scored that touchdown."

"It was a play that as a defense we didn't bust up properly, and they made a big play," Boley said. "We just didn't make it happen. We missed a couple of tackles, didn't fit it up properly, and you saw the result."

It was a touchdown. A season-changing touchdown. It has haunted some players for the last month.

Sunday, they finally get a chance to exorcise it.