Eagles versus Giants playoff history: Four unforgettable postseason games

January 7th, 2001: Special teams and defense help the Giants pull off another playoff win over the Eagles.

Following that 27-21 loss to New York, The next postseason meeting between these two wouldn’t occur until 20 years later when Andy Reid brought his Donovan McNabb-led offense to Giants Stadium for a Divisional Round clash on January 7th of 2001.

As was the case in the first meeting, the game got off to a much better start for New York than it did for Philadelphia. Ron Dixon returned the opening kickoff for 97 yards for a touchdown to give the Giants a 7-0 lead just 16 seconds into the ball game.

If you’re a fan of offensive fireworks, this wasn’t the game to watch as Philly found themselves on the wrong end of a 10-0 score. Jason Sehorn would add insult to injury, intercepting McNabb and taking one the other way. His 32-yard return was Big Blue’s third forced turnover and gave his team what seemed like an unsurmountable 17-0 edge.

Philadelphia would finally get on the board with a David Akers field goal in the last seconds of the second quarter. Philadelphia’s defense did all that it could to keep Philly in the game during the second half. Only three points were allowed, but Philly just couldn’t get anything going offensively.

McNabb was harassed for the entirety of the game. He was sacked six times. His lone TD pass of the contest came on a meaningless garbage time toss to wide receiver Torrance Small. That cut the deficit to ten points (20-10) but failed to do much in the way of making one of the ugliest losses in Eagles postseason history less painful.