Giants 20, Eagles 10

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) â€” The New York Giants played the kind of offensive game that's usually fatal in the NFL playoffs. <br><br>They lost three fumbles, had a punt blocked that led to a Philadelphia

Monday, January 8th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) â€” The New York Giants played the kind of offensive game that's usually fatal in the NFL playoffs.

They lost three fumbles, had a punt blocked that led to a Philadelphia touchdown, averaged 2.6 yards per rush and passed for just 125 yards.

``We were sloppy with the ball, and that's the kind of thing that loses a game for you,'' quarterback Kerry Collins said after the Giants defeated the Eagles 20-10 Sunday to advance to the NFC championship game next Sunday against Minnesota. ``But we got touchdowns from the other phases, so we were able to fight through it.''

Those ``other phases'' are special teams and defense, and the Giants won those two in a runaway.

Ron Dixon ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown â€” a first in the team's playoff history that started in 1934 â€” and Jason Sehorn returned an acrobatic interception for another score, giving the Giants a 17-0 lead.

Donovan McNabb, second in the NFL MVP voting, once again couldn't solve the Giants. In three losses to them this season, the Eagles (12-6) never led.

``He's a great young quarterback, but this defense caused him problems for three games,'' linebacker Jessie Armstead said. ``He spent 12 games killing other teams, but not us.''

McNabb completed 20 of 41 passes for 181 yards, with one interception and one late, meaningless touchdown with less than two minutes left after the Eagles blocked the punt. More importantly, the Giants sacked one of the NFL's best running quarterbacks six times for 41 yards in losses, and he scrambled for just 17 yards.

``If you can make him throw before he's ready, you're going to have some success,'' said defensive end Michael Strahan, who had two of the sacks.

As coach Jim Fassell explained before the game, ``You don't have to try to kill the guy. You have to capture him.''

The Giants (13-4) have won six straight since Fassel guaranteed they would make the playoffs, and they seem uncertain whether they want to be taken seriously. After all, they are one game from reaching the Super Bowl with nearly everyone taking them for granted.

``We're not trying to please anyone,'' linebacker Micheal Barrow said. ``Forget what anyone says, forget how many we have in the Pro Bowl. We just win.''

For the record, the Vikings have seven Pro Bowl Players and the Giants two (Armstead and guard Ron Stone), and despite Barrow's protest, they are likely to be reminded of that during the next week.

``We're just fortunate that everybody plays badly when we play them, because we're not a very good football team,'' Sehorn said sarcastically.

Sehorn and Dixon made backbreaking plays in the first half for the Giants, who will make their first NFC title game appearance since 1990.

Dixon was barely touched on his 97-yard return of the opening kickoff, with kicker David Akers managing to scrape Dixon's shoulder pads as he ran by.

The Giants made it 10-0 on Brad Daluiso's 37-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter, but both offenses had trouble moving the ball.

After Tiki Barber fumbled away a scoring chance, McNabb's short pass into the flat late in the first half had little chance of being caught.

But Sehorn turned the likely incomplete pass into a spectacular touchdown. After diving for the ball, he tipped it into the air to keep it from hitting the ground as he rolled over, jumped to his feet as he gathered the ball into his body and romped 32 yards for the touchdown.

``I was just laying on the ground, and just saw it there, so your instinct is to just bat it,'' Sehorn said. ``You don't want it to hit the ground. Just do something.''

The Eagles came back with their only long scoring drive of the game, and Akers kicked a 28-yard field goal with 26 seconds left for a 17-3 halftime deficit. The Eagles didn't score again until after the late blocked punt.

``Those two big plays that they had were really the difference in the game,'' Eagles cornerback Al Harris said. ``I think the Giants are extremely underrated.''

McNabb, while disappointed with the loss, said the Eagles need to focus on improving from being a 5-11 team.

``Bouncing back to 12-6 shows a lot of heart and a lot of character,'' he said.

The Giants get another chance to test their mettle against the Vikings, who are seeded behind New York in the NFC playoffs after losing their final three regular-season games. But they rediscovered their explosive offense in an easy playoff victory over New Orleans on Saturday.

Six of those seven Pro Bowl players are on offense, including quarterback Daunte Culpepper, receivers Randy Moss and Cris Carter and running back Robert Smith.

``We've never faced a guy as big as Culpepper at quarterback,'' Armstead said, ``and he's got two Pro Bowl receivers to throw to. When Donovan McNabb gets two Pro Bowl receivers, he'll do a lot better.''