The Giants spent 28 minutes knocking the Eagles around Lincoln Financial Field in a way that led some of the team’s fans to boo them off the field after another offensive drive that went nowhere.
And then Michael Vick left the game with a recurrence of his hamstring injury and it looked for a brief moment like the moribund Eagles offense might find some life. Matt Barkley completed a few passes, the Giants handed over some more yards with penalties and the Eagles had the ball on the Giants’ two-yard line with a little more than a minute to go in the half.
That’s when Terrell Thomas stripped Barkley on a sack and linebacker Jacquian Williams recovered to end the first good drive of the day for the Eagles. It was the Giants’ second takeaway of the game -- Vick was intercepted on the first Eagles possession -- and it assured that they’d head into the half with a 12-0 lead.
All the points have come on Josh Brown field goals as the Giants offense has fallen apart every time the end zone has come into sight, providing a reminder that teams that lose their first six games rarely fix everything all at once. There have been drops, bad throws and dumb penalties, although the sum total of all of them hasn’t been enough for the Eagles to capitalize.
With a huge edge in yards (229-72) and time of possession (22 minutes for the Giants), the lead should be bigger. Given the way the Eagles offense has looked on Sunday, any lead may just do the trick.