If the Giants had showed up with some killer instinct, they would have put the Eagles out of their misery in the first half.

Manning had been quickly asked to prove his unflappability. He looked to his right, cocked his arm, brought the ball down, tried to hit Boss over the middle and Mike Patterson made a leaping interception and 21-yard return, to the Giants' 9, after Manning muffed the tackle, and soon it was 7-0.

Manning answered by directing a 10-play, 80-yard drive that culminated in a third-and-9, 17-yard TD pass to Plaxico Burress.

He found Boss at the end of another 10-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard TD pass that made it 17-7 seconds into the second quarter.

Manning was winning his chess match with Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.

McNabb was losing his chess match with Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

The Giants were in complete control.

Until Jacobs, at the end of a 10-yard run at his 44, decided to go airborne over Chris Gocong, and wound up fumbling away a touchdown when McNabb hit Jason Avant with a 10-yard TD slant.

Three times Manning & Co. settled for field goals when touchdowns could have buried the Eagles.

"We gotta find a way to dominate not only on the stat sheet but on the scoreboard," Amani Toomer said.

They'll be Supermen again once they do.

Philadelphia Eagles News News » Sometimes you have to get a little lucky
Sometimes you have to get a little lucky
PHILADELPHIA - With these Road Warrior Giants, football is a game of bone-crunching yards on the ground that saps the will of the enemy, and sometimes, when your quarterback has poise and presence of mind and feet and a heads-up head coach who listens to his troops, it can be a game of inches. Eli Manning walked a tightrope last night and lived to tell about it. The whole damn team did. NFL Week 10 Sherman: Peavy heading for... Vecsey: No 'Dyess' in Denver Blezow: Fly like an Eagle More from The New York Post