Eagles kill themselves on offense—Giants 15, Philly 7…

If suicide is painless, as the old theme song from M.A.S.H. suggested it should be, then why are we feeling so much pain about this sad excuse of an Eagles offense?

The Birds beat themselves again. Mike Vick had nothing to give as he was obviously suffering from a hamstring tear that never completely healed. Matt Barkley came in and did his best, but his periodic rookie mistakes killed any chances the Eagles had to take over the game and dictate the tempo or the pressure to the Giants.

The Eagles' defense showed up and held Eli Manning to 5 field goals worth of production. Anytime you hold Eli to zero TD's, you should win the game.

But this current edition of the Philadelphia Eagles is anything but a "should" team. It's more of a "what the heck will go wrong next?" team…

The good news is the rest of the NFC East is horrible, too. Dallas (4-4) lost to Detroit and the Redskins (2-6) got beat by Denver. Believe it or not, if the Eagles at 3-5 can get some quick fixes made on offense and somehow become competitive when the ball is in their hands, they will be right in the thick of the divisional race.

Pundits are now calling our division the "NFC Least"…

So times have changed…

I'm more concerned about how Chip Kelly's mystique (which temporarily transformed this team and its fan base into a high-scoring and optimistic bunch) has so suddenly and bitterly crashed over the past few weeks.

My God, there were times in yesterday's loss to the Giants and in the preceding loss to the Cowboys when Chip Kelly seemed to be the guy behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.  Key word— exposed.

The Chippah (whether accurate or not) looks naive, unprepared and inflexible on offense. I know the players have to execute their assignments, but there was stuff being called or not called by the sideline that defied logic.

At least the Eagles defense is showing some significant growth and continuity. I didn't see as many pressure calls by DC Bill Davis as I had hoped for, but for the most part the Eagles' back seven was in sync and very competent…and the defensive front line guys stopped the run when they had to in order to keep their team in the equation for a comeback.

I will reserve judgemental comments for Tuesday. Right now, I have to give you chapter and verse in ESPN fashion in order to get this game into the archives. Frustrating loss, tough day for our quarterbacks…

Josh Brown kicked a career-high five field goals, Eli Manning played error-free and the Giants beat Philadelphia 15-7 Sunday.

With Dallas losing to Detroit, the Giants (2-6) are just two games behind the Cowboys (4-4) in the NFL's weakest division. "We still believe," Manning said. "These last two weeks we've played our best football, together as a team, both sides, helping each other out, relying on each other. We've got to continue to build off that."

Michael Vick returned for the Eagles (3-5) after missing 2 1/2 games with a hamstring injury, but clearly wasn't healthy and was removed for rookie Matt Barkley late in the second quarter.

The Giants snapped an eight-game road losing streak while extending Philadelphia's home losing streak to 10 games. The Eagles' last win at the Linc was over the Giants on Sept. 30, 2012.

Chip Kelly's high-flying offense that racked up at least 425 yards in each of the first six games has been grounded. The Eagles followed a 17-3 loss to Dallas with another poor offensive performance. They had just 201 yards of offense and have totaled 479 the past two weeks. "We're instable at the quarterback spot. We haven't played well at quarterback and it's cost us the last two games," Kelly said.

LeSean McCoy, the NFL's leading rusher, was held to 48 yards on 15 carries. DeSean Jackson had 63 yards receiving on eight catches.

The Giants haven't allowed a touchdown on defense in the last 10 quarters. "We've simplified things," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "(Defensive coordinator) Perry Fewell has done a great job putting in game plans that have allowed athletes to be athletes."

The Eagles finally scored when Zak DeOssie's snap sailed over punter Steve Weatherford's head and Najee Goode picked it up and ran 2 yards for a touchdown with 4:11 left. "I don't think I've ever seen him do that before, not even on the practice field," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said of DeOssie.

Manning was 25 of 39 for 246 yards and didn't throw an interception for the second consecutive game after getting picked 15 times in the first six weeks.

Barkley finished 17 of 26 for 158 yards and one interception. "Matt has been thrown in twice into tough situations," Kelly said. "He gave us a little spark, a little energy."

Vick was reduced to being an immobile pocket passer. He completed 6 of 9 for 31 yards, threw an interception, was sacked and got called for intentional grounding. The Eagles managed 27 total yards in the four series Vick played.

Barkley came in and drove the Eagles 78 yards in just over a minute late in the second quarter. But on first down from the 2, Barkley unwisely rolled out to his off -throw side, got some major pressure and then failed to throw the ball away. He was sacked by Terrell Thomas and fumbled. Jacquian Williams recovered at the Giants 12. That pretty much destroyed the offensive momentum of the Eagles for the rest of the day.

Brown kicked field goals of 40, 44, 33 and 46 yards on four straight possessions in the first half to give the Giants a 12-0 lead.

Antrel Rolle haunted the Eagles yet again when he intercepted Vick's second pass and sacked him for a 12-yard loss inside the Eagles 10 on the next series.

The Giants moved the ball methodically throughout the game, but couldn't get it in the end zone. They had a first down at the 5 on the series they settled for Brown's 33-yarder.

This was the first time the Giants won without scoring a TD since a 9-6 victory over Seattle on Sept. 22, 2002. … With his second completion, Manning passed Phil Simms as the franchise's all-time leader in yards passing. Simms, who played 14 seasons with the Giants, finished his career with 33,462 yards in the air. Manning is also first in attempts, completions, and touchdown passes. … Over the past four games, the Giants have held McCoy (twice), Matt Forte and Adrian Peterson to  a combined 189 yards on 67 carries for an average of 2.8 yards per rush.

The Giants defense sent at least five rushers on 12-of-40 dropbacks on Sunday, and had success against both Michael Vick and Matt Barkley. The Eagles offense only completed four such passes, while New York disrupted (interception, sack or pass defended) six of Philadelphia's 12 dropbacks against added pressure.