Umenyiora, Giants sack Eagles in record fashion

01.10.2007 06:00 Sport and Travel - Source: USA Today

The Giants Defense sacked McNabb 12 times, tying an NFL record shared by four other teams and breaking the club record of 11 set in 1964. Coming into the game, the Giants (2-2) had only four sacks in three games.

As the main McNabb antagonizer in the 16-3 victory, Osi Umenyiora had six sacks, as many as he had all last season. And Michael Strahan got the one sack he needed to surpass Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor — who was on the sideline — for most in Giants history. Strahan now has 133½ career sacks.

GAME REPORT: Giants 16, Eagles 3

Mathias Kiwanuka added three sacks and Justin Tuck had two.

"We've had some great players here, and to know I have the single-game record is amazing," said Umenyiora, who fell one sack short of the NFL single-game mark set by the Kansas City Chiefs' Derrick Thomas in 1990.

Umenyiora's career game came against second-year left tackle Winston Justice, who was filling in for an injured William Thomas.

"It was like a video game out there," Umenyiora said. "Winston Justice is a very good football player. Tonight was just one of those nights. He'll learn from that experience."

After allowing a league-worst 80 points in their first two games, both losses, the Giants have played stout defense since the second half of a 24-17 win last week against the Washington Redskins.

New York's second win in a row against an NFC East rival included a defensive TD — a 17-yard fumble return by linebacker Kawika Mitchell in the third quarter. The Giants' other TD came on quarterback Eli Manning's 9-yard toss to Plaxico Burress just before halftime.

"The defense played outstanding, and that's big," Manning said. "But we can't always depend on them to play that well. We've got to give them more help."

McNabb threw for five TDs last week in a 56-21 victory against the Detroit Lions. Against the Giants he was 15-for-31 for 138 yards and could only get his team in position for a field goal.

"It's frustrating," said McNabb. "For an offense that has had so much success over the previous years, for us to come out and play the way we played today is embarrassing."

The Eagles sorely missed all-purpose running back Brian Westbrook, who sat out with an abdominal strain.

Besides the sacks, Philadelphia had 15 penalties for 132 yards, including a dreadful illegal forward pass against McNabb with 2:24 to play. It nullified a 20-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Brown and prevented the Eagles from drawing within 16-10.

The last team to register 12 sacks in a game was the Dallas Cowboys against the Houston Oilers on Sept. 29, 1985.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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