"We have no excuses," Tom Coughlin said approximately three seconds after taking the postgame podium, heading off questions about what was euphemistically termed "the events of the week" in the dozens of queries fired at the players.

"That's the media's job to worry about that. We're not worrying about that," linebacker Antonio Pierce said of any connection between the distractions that followed the accidental shooting by, felony charges against and virtual dismissal from the team of Plaxico Burress.

"Obviously, everybody is going to use that as an excuse. It's not an excuse. The Philadelphia Eagles came ready to play and they made more plays than the New York Giants ."

To the tune of a 20-14 win over the Giants, who entered the game as the hands-down best team in Football but seemed incapable of doing anything but blocking field goals against their NFC East rival.

The Giants managed only 211 yards, their low since 142 against the Saints on Dec. 24, 2006. They let Brian Westbrook run for 131 yards - the first time a back has hit 100 against them in the regular season since Clinton Portis last December - and allowed the Eagles to convert 12 of 13 third downs in one stretch.

"It's a great story," Mathias Kiwanuka said of the off-the-field saga. "I'm glad you can use it, but it's a dead issue with us."

At least one player was willing to suggest that there might be a connection. Amani Toomer noted that the craziest week of the season preceded their worst performance of the year. "You put two and two together ..." he said before trailing off without finishing the arithmetic.

When the Steelers beat the Cowboys, the Giants clinched the NFC East crown for the first time since 2005. A win over the Eagles also would have given them a first-round bye, which still eludes them. But the accomplishment came with more bitter than sweet.

"We wanted to be able to win the division, but we didn't play well enough to deserve that title," Chris Snee said. "It'll be an angry team coming in here [today]. We have bigger goals than just backing in."

Despite a pitiful first half, the Giants headed to the locker room with some momentum. After the Eagles drove to the Giants' 14, they lined up for a 32-yard field-goal try, but Justin Tuck squeezed through an inside gap and blocked the kick with his right hand. Kevin Dockery picked the ball up, quickly shook off Todd Herremans' tackle attempt and ran 71 yards for a touchdown.

Not only did that play make it 10-7, it allowed the Giants to avoid their first first-half shutout in four years. "I think we were kind of banking on the fact that that momentum-changing play would be something that we would try to build on going into the third quarter," Tuck said.

Like most banking these days, it flopped. With the wind at their backs in the third quarter, the Giants managed only one six-play possession and passed only once during it. The Eagles churned for two drives and had the ball for 11:42 of the 15 minutes. They converted five of six third downs in the quarter, and although they didn't score in the period - three plays into the fourth, the Eagles scored on a 40-yard pass from Donovan McNabb to Westbrook - their game control frustrated the Giants.

"That's a situation we're used to seeing our offensive line put people in where you just pound the ball every single snap and they're running the same play almost every time," Barry Cofield said. "We just weren't able to quite make the play that we needed to get off the field."

Even when they could, the offense flunked, too. Domenik Hixon dropped a long pass from Eli Manning that could have produced an 85-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, one of three drops by Giants receivers. And the running game, slowed by a third-quarter knee injury to Brandon Jacobs, produced only 88 yards.

"We didn't stop them," Coughlin said, "and we didn't do anything with the ball when we had it."

The 40-yard pass to Westbrook made it 17-7 as he beat Pierce in man coverage on - what else? - a third down. Westbrook had scored a 30-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter.

The Eagles added a field goal with 2:09 left in the game to make it 20-7, so when Manning hit Darcy Johnson with a 1-yard TD pass with 15 seconds to go, hopes of a comeback already had been extinguished.

So what happened? How was the best team in Football reduced to such ineptitude? Had to be the distraction, right?

"It's tough to say," Eagles tight end L.J. Smith said. "That's one of those 'How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll [questions].' Who knows if the distractions hurt them and helped us? I don't know."

Dramatic turnaround

The Giants' offense moved the ball at will in their first game against the Eagles this season, a 36-31 win in Philadelphia Nov. 9. Yesterday was a different story

NOV. 9

Offensive TDs 4

First downs 26

Total yards 401

Brandon Jacobs rushing yards 126

Total rushing yards 219

Rushing attempts 45

Time of possession 39:10

YESTERDAY

Offensive TDs 1

First downs 14

Total yards 211

Brandon Jacobs rushing yards 52

Total rushing yards 88

Rushing attempts24

Time of possession 25:06

Sunday

Giants at Cowboys

8:15 p.m.

TV: Ch. 4

Radio: WFAN (660)