Eagles versus Giants playoff history: Four unforgettable postseason games

January 11th, 2009: Donovan McNabb leads the Eagles to a very satisfying and long-awaited upset victory over the Giants in the playoffs.

After seeing his season end with an injury during the latter stages of the 2006 NFL season, Donovan McNabb was robbed of his opportunity to avenge one of the worst losses of his career, the aforementioned 20-10 shellacking by the boys from Gotham in 2001. He finally earned his opportunity on January 11th of 2009 during a Divisional Round matchup that none of us will ever forget.

The Eagles walked into Giants Stadium to face the NFC’s top-seeded G-Men. They walked out with an upset victory. If you remember this one, you’ll recall that Birds fans everywhere knew all week that this would happen, but this one is still remembered as one of the biggest upset losses in New York Giants history.

McNabb didn’t have the perfect performance. There was that intentional grounding call in the endzone during the second quarter that resulted in a safety and two points for Big Blue. He only connected on 22 out of his 40 passes. He also threw two interceptions, but in typical Donovan McNabb fashion, Number 5 did enough.

He ran for a touchdown. He threw for another. The defense chipped in with three forced turnovers and kept the Giants’ offense out of the end zone. We were also treated to a kicker’s duel of sorts. Six field goals were converted in total, three by Jake Elliott and John Carney. The latter also missed a pair.

Akers’ 20-yard shot in the latter stages of the fourth quarter pushed the Birds to a 23-11 lead, put this one out of reach, and evened the all-time series at two postseason wins apiece. With that, we turn our attention to the coming clash.