Giants blow opportunity to take control of NFC East on sloppy Monday night

Hey, there’s a penalty flag. Oh, and a turnover. And another turnover. Yep, another penalty. Hey, a fumble, cool!

If you watched the Major League Baseball playoffs on Monday night, you didn’t miss much on “Monday Night Football.” But know this: The New York Giants absolutely gave away a chance to take control of the NFC East, as they flailed around in a brutal 27-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. There were 21 combined penalties and seven combined turnovers between the teams. Blech.

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The Giants started well, with a touchdown to Odell Beckham early in the first quarter, but that was really their last sign of life. Eli Manning had his worst game of the season, and threw a damaging pick-six. There were so many dumb penalties it’s hard to single out one, but a needless roughing the passer penalty in the first quarter, when Damontre Moore drove Eagles cornerback Sam Bradford into the turf on a third down, was notable. That kept the Eagles’ drive going and allowed Philadelphia to get its first touchdown.

Whether it was Manning holding the ball too long or the Giants flubbing tackles on DeMarco Murray’s third-quarter touchdown run that made the score 27-7 and practically sealed the game, the Giants were bad. The Giants didn’t get their second first down of the second half until less than eight minutes were left in the game. They had been pretty good before that, but they gave back some of those gains with this ugly performance.

The Eagles weren’t good, they just weren’t as bad as the Giants. But now the Eagles are 3-3 after a rocky start and tied with the Giants for first place in the NFC East. New York had a chance to go 4-2, push the Eagles to 2-4 and have a game-and-a-half lead on the Dallas Cowboys, who are slumping without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant. Instead, they’re tied with the Eagles and just a half-game up on the Cowboys, and you can easily talk yourself into Philadelphia or Dallas getting it going at some point this season.

It was a poor night for the Giants for sure. They’ll feel the effects in the standings for a while too.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab