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| The Giants celebrate after Matt Bryant's overtime field goal put New York in the playoffs. |
Heading into the final week of the 2002 regular season, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants both had reasons to play for in their matchup in the Meadowlands.
For the Eagles, a win would give them home field advantage through the playoffs while the Giants needed one more win to clinch a spot in the playoffs.
The Giants came into the game with a 9-6 record under head coach Jim Fassel who following a 17-3 loss to the Eagles in Week 8 took over the playcalling duties from offensive coordinator Sean Payton after a 3-4 start which New York averaged 12.7 points per game.
With Fassel calling the plays for an offense that featured quarterback Kerry Collins, running back Tiki Barber, wide receiver Amani Toomer, and rookie tight end Jeremy Shockey, the Giants' offense averaged 27.7 points per game as New York won six of their next eight games to put the Giants on the brink of a playoff berth.
While the Giants were trying to get into the playoffs, the Eagles were already in as they came into the game with New York with a 12-3 record, which was remarkable considering the fact Philadelphia had lost their top two quarterbacks to injury.
In a week 11 win over the Arizona Cardinals, quarterback Donovan McNabb threw four touchdown plays despite suffering a broken right fibula on the third play of the game.
McNabb would be out for the rest of the regular season and was initially replaced by Koy Detmer, who threw for 226 yards and two touchdown passes in the Eagles' 38-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers until he dislocated his left elbow late in the third quarter.
Detmer would be replaced by A.J. Feeley, who helped lead the Eagles to four straight wins to put the Eagles one win away from the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs as Philadelphia hoped to return to the NFC Championship Game after losing to the St.Louis Rams 29-24 in the NFC title game the year before.
The Eagles got the ball first as they began their initial possession of the game at their 33-yard-line with running back Duce Staley being dropped for three yards and a false start penalty to push Philadelphia back to its 25-yard-line.
Facing 2nd & 18, Feeley connected with tight end Jeff Thomason for 20 yards and a 1st down at the Philadelphia 45-yard-line when Feely threw a screen pass to Staley who turned the play into a 35-yard gain to put the Eagles at the New York 20-yard-line.
That is when Feely handed the ball off to wide receiver Freddie Mitchell, who then handed it off to wide receiver James Thrash on a double reverse as Thrash would run it in for the 20-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead just 2:24 into the game.
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| Eagles quarterback A.J. Feeley completed 13 of 25 passes for 150 yards. |
Following a 38-yard return by Delvin Joyce on the ensuing kickoff, the Giants had the ball at their 48-yard-line as Collins found Shockey for 22 yards to start the drive which was followed by a 22-yard run by Barber to give New York a 1st & goal at the Eagles' eight-yard-line,
Barber would run for two yards to set up 2nd & goal from the six-yard-line when Collins was intercepted in the end zone by Eagles defensive back Michael Lewis on a pass intended for Shockey to end the drive and give the ball back to the Eagles.
The two teams would trade punts until midway through the second quarter when the Giants got the ball at their 29-yard-line and drove to the Eagles' six-yard-line as Collins completed passes of 13 yards to Barber, 24 yards to Toomer, and 24 yards to Shockey.
On 2nd & goal, Collins had an apparent touchdown pass as he found fullback Charles Stackhouse for a six-yard touchdown only to have it nullified because of a holding penalty which pushed the Giants back 10 yards to the Eagles' 16-yard-line.
An illegal contact penalty on the Eagles would give New York a fresh set of downs from the 11-yard-line as Collins hit Daryl Jones for eight yards to set up 2nd & 2 when Barber lost the football after a tackle by Eagles linebacker Levon Kirkland leading to a recovery by defensive end Brandon Whiting at the three-yard-line with 3:34 left in the first half.
Both teams would have one more possession before halftime but neither team could mount a scoring threat as the Eagles went into the locker room with a 7-0 lead.
The Giants would get the ball to start the second half as they drove from their nine-yard-line to their 41-yard-line when Barber had an eight-yard run until he fumbled the football again as Kirkland would make the recovery at the 50-yard-line.
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| Tiki Barber would run for 203 yards on 32 carries and catch eight passes for 73 yards, but had three fumbles. |
The Eagles would drive to the Giants' 32-yard-line when on 3rd & 7 Feeley connected with Thrash for a 20-yard completion, only to have it wiped out because of an offensive pass interference penalty to push the Eagles back 10 yards to the New York 42-yard-line as Feeley would throw an incomplete pass on 3rd & 17 to force another Philadelphia punt.
The Giants would take over at their 12-yard-line as Barber got his hands on the football on three of the next four plays as he ran it twice for 13 yards and caught an eight-yard pass to put New York at its 40-yard-line when Barber exploded for 39-yard run to give the Giants a 1st down at the Eagles' 21-yard-line.
A delay of game penalty and two incomplete passes would force the Giants to settle for a 36-yard field goal attempt by Matt Bryant which sailed wide right and no good to keep the score at 7-0 with 3:42 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles would drive to the New York45-yard-line until they punted the ball back to the Giants, who took over at their 20-yard-line as Collins completed a four-yard pass to Dan Campbell to end the third quarter with the Giants still trailing 7-0.
Collins would complete passes of four yards to Barber and five yards to Shockey to give New York a 1st down at its 33-yard-line when an clipping penalty pushed the Giants back 15 yards to their 18-yard-line where they faced a 1st & 25.
New York would get most of the yardage back when Collins connected with Shockey for 20 yards to set up 2nd & 5 when Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas was called for an illegal use of hands to draw a five-yard penalty which was added to a two-yard run by Barber to give the Giants a 1st down at their 45-yard-line.
After the next three plays picked up 12 yards, the Giants had a 1st down at the Eagles' 43-yard-line when Collins connected with Toomer for a 43-yard touchdown only to have it wiped out because of a holding penalty which pushed the Giants back to their 47-yard-line where they would face 1st & 20.
That is when Collins hit running back Ron Dayne for eight yards which was followed by a 19-yard pass to Barber to give New York a fresh set of downs at the Eagles' 26-yard-line.
Two runs by Barber for 17 yards gave the Giants a 1st & goal at the Eagles' nine-yard-line as Dayne got the carry on 1st down and picked up two yards to set up 2nd down when Collins lofted a pass toward the left corner of the end zone for Shockey, who snatched the ball away from Eagles free safety Brian Dawkins for the seven-yard touchdown.
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| Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey catches what would be the game-tying touchdown. |
Bryant would come on to kick the game-tying extra point to end the 14-play, 80-yard drive as the Giants had tied the game at 7 with 8:15 left in the fourth quarter.
Following another Philadelphia punt, the Giants got the ball at their seven-yard-line as Collins completed an eight-yard pass to Barber on 1st down which was followed by a handoff to Barber who for nine yards until he was hit by Dawkins to force another fumble that Lewis recovered to give the Eagles the ball at the New York 26-yard-line.
Six consecutive runs by Staley would set up a 35-yard field goal attempt by David Akers would give the Eagles a 10-7 lead but the kick would sail wide right and no good to keep the game tied with 1:12 left in regulation.
The Giants could not mount a drive to set up a potential game-winning field goal, forcing the game to go into overtime with the two teams deadlocked at 7.
The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to receive to start the extra quarter as Brian Mitchell would return the overtime kickoff 32 yards to the Philadelphia 45-yard-line.
A quarterback sack by defensive end Kenny Holmes followed by a 11-yard pass from Feely to Freddie Mitchell set up 3rd & 5 when Feeley was picked off by Giants strong safety Shaun Williams at the New York 37-yard-line giving the Giants a chance to drive down for the winning field goal.
A seven-yard run by Barber would became a 22-yard play as Eagles cornerback Troy Vincent was called for a late hit to give the Giants a 1st down at the Philadelphia as Barber got the ball on the next three plays, running for 21 yards to put New York at the Eagles' 20-yard-line.
That is when disaster nearly stuck as Collins botched the handoff to Barber which the running back recovered at the Eagles' 23-yard-line as the Giants would run one more play as Barber ran for one yard before Fassel called on Bryant to try and win the game.
Bryant would atone for his miss in the third quarter by calmly making the 39-yard field goal to end the game with the Giants on top 10-7 to clinch a spot in the NFC playoffs.
Despite the loss, the Eagles would still get the #1 seed in the NFC thanks to a loss by the Packers to the New York Jets as Philadelphia would knock off the Atlanta Falcons 20-6 in the Divisional Round to earn a second straight trip to the NFC Championship Game where the Eagles would fall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-10.
As for the Giants, their season would came to an devasting end as they would blow a 24-point lead and lose to the San Francisco 49ers 39-38 in the Wild Card round.
Fassel would coach the Giants for one more season as New York would end the 2003 season on an eight-game losing streak to finish the season with a 4-12 record leading to Fassel's dismissal after seven seasons in New York.
