Join the Inquirer's Ashley Fox for a live Eagles chat Tuesday at noon.

Update: Monster game from David Akers. He just kicked a 52-yard field goal to pull the Eagles to 20-16 with under 5 minutes to play. Earlier in the game, Akers made a 45-yarder and a 48-yarder. He's made the difficult look routine.

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Update: This is why the Cowboys love Miles Austin. He is a YAC machine. On a crucial third-and-14 play from the Eagles' 49-yard line, Austin blew past Sheldon Brown, caught a perfect pass from Tony Romo, and cruised away from three trailing Eagles defenders for the go-ahead touchdown. It was Austin's first catch of the game, and it couldn't have come at a bigger time. Prior to that play, the Cowboys had converted just five of 12 third-down attempts. They lead 20-13.

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Update: Huge review call by the official, who took a second look at the spot after Donovan McNabb's attempted sneak on fourth-and-1 with less than 11 minutes to play. The official upheld the ruling on the field that McNabb didn't get the first down. It cost the Eagles their third, and final, timeout, which very well could come back to haunt them in this 13-13 game.

One knock -- deserved or not -- on each of the starting quarterbacks in that they can't win the big game, can't lead their team from behind, can't win it in the stretch. Well, each has an opportunity to do just that in these final few minutes.

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Update: This is why Asante Samuel doesn't tackle. When he actually got credited with one on Felix Jones, Samuel ended up on his back for several minutes. Donovan McNabb, DeSean Jackson, Jason Avant and Andy Reid stood around Samuel as trainers worked on him. Now, he's out of the game.

Samuel probably wishes he did make one tackle earlier in the game. In the second quarter, Patrick Crayton caught a Romo pass, then stiff-armed Samuel on his way to a 64-yard gain. It was an embarrassing effort even for Samuel, who has great vision and quickly breaks on the ball but who either can't or won't ever tackle.

According to the Eagles, Samuel has a neck injury. He's sitting on the bench with his helmet on.

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Update: So Tony Romo's big streak came to an end. Never before had he gone three consecutive games without an interception. The Eagles wouldn't let him make it four. Sheldon Brown picked off Romo midway through the third quarter, ending Romo's streak at 143 consecutive passes without an interception.

Romo came into the game having played pretty well. In wins over Kansas City, Atlanta and Seattle, Romo had triple-digit passer ratings, with eight touchdowns in those three games. Tonight, he's made a few mistakes. After starting the game 8 of 13 for 94 yards, Romo has misfired on 6 of his last 11 passes.

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Update: DeSean Jackson has had a quiet night catching the ball -- McNabb has only thrown to him once -- but he played a part in the Eagles' touchdown drive. Jackson was singled up with Terence Newman, and drew a look from a Cowboys safety. McNabb threw a short pass to Jeremy Maclin, who sprinted down field and got a block from Jackson (of Newman) to get a couple extra yards. All told, Maclin's reception went for 45 yards, and two plays later the Eagles scored the go-ahead touchdown.

If Jackson goes without a catch tonight, it'll be interesting to see how he reacts afterward. After one low-production game earlier this season, Jackson left the locker room without talking to reporters, giving off the impression, true or not, that he was displeased. He's Hollywood for a reason, but the Eagles want Jackson to learn to be a team player. That block was a good example that Jackson is getting it.

Update: There was a firestorm in Dallas earlier in the week, when ESPNDallas.com made a big deal out of comments from Roy Williams about how he and Tony Romo aren't on the same page. Williams said that he was the Cowboys No. 1 receiver, but his production didn't match that.

Interestingly, on the Cowboys last drive of the first half, Williams wasn't even on the field on a crucial third down when Dallas had at least three receivers split wide. Romo completed a 17-yard pass to rookie Kevin Ogletree, who came into the game with one catch this season. Then Romo went to Williams on consecutive plays from the Eagles' 4-yard line. The first time, Romo's throw was well behind Williams. The second, Asante Samuel got away with a hold of Williams.

Dallas settled for a field goal and lead at halftime 10-6. 

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Update: Peters is back. He was on the field for the Eagles last 12-play drive that ended with a 48-yard David Akers field goal. That's good news for the Eagles, who had shifted Todd Herremans over to tackle and put Nick Cole in at guard during Peters' absense.

It's 7-6 Cowboys with 1:38 to play in the first half. Never would've imagined that the teams would combine for just 13 points at halftime. The Eagles put together a long drive, with eight running plays, but didn't get any big plays. Shockingly, after calling for passing plays on their two earlier third downs on the drive, Reid/Mornhinweg called for a LeSean McCoy run on third-and-four. He didn't convert.

So far this game, DeSean Jackson has been a non-factor. McNabb has gone to him just once. For Dallas, Miles Austin hasn't been a factor, either. He doesn't have a catch.

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Update: Jason Peters has made his way to the Eagles locker room. Trainer Rick Burkholder re-taped Jason Peters' left ankle/foot on the sideline, and as the first quarter ended, Peters was standing on the Eagles sideline. He didn't stand there long.

Peters suffered an injury when he got awkwardly caught underneath Cowboys nose tackle Jay Ratliff as Ratliff sacked McNabb late in the first quarter.

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Update: Wait long enough, and you'll get to see the Wildcat actually work. Except, it worked for the other team. Easily. On first and goal from the 2-yard line, the Cowboys called for a direct snap to running back Tashard Choice, who pretty much walked into the end zone. Dallas takes an early 7-0 lead.

See. It does work. Just like Andy Reid's been saying.

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The Eagles have announced their inactives, and Brian Westbrook is on the list. The team consequently released a statement, saying Westbrook started having symptoms of "a mild headache" on Friday, and that although he passed all of the subsequent tests and could play tonight, the Eagles think it's in his, and the team's, best interest to hold him out.

This was probably their feeling all along. Westbrook was knocked out cold by London Fletcher two weeks ago. He suffered a serious concussion. Sure, he practiced two days last week, but it was probably a smokescreen put up to give the Cowboys something else to think about as they prepared for tonight's game.

The Eagles made the right call. Westbrook shouldn't play until he's totally ready. Maybe five years ago he and the team would've happily rushed him back to play last week against the Giants. Not now.

Join the Inquirer's Ashley Fox for a live Eagles chat. She'll take your questions about the win over the Giants and Sunday  night's matchup against the Cowboys.

Update: Suffice it to say, the Eagles are pretty proud of themselves for the 40-17 beatdown they put on the Giants this afternoon. They really did play well in all three phases of the game. The Eagles put up 391 yards of offense, including 180 on the ground, their highest rushing output since the season-opener against Carolina. Against two of the best pass rushes in the league -- Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck -- the Eagles offensive line kept McNabb relatively upright, allowing just two sacks (one to Umenyiora, one to Bruce Johnson). The Eagles defense allowed the Giants to gain 356 yards, but 103 of those yards came in the fourth quarter, when the Birds had a healthy lead. And the Eagles got a big lift from three young skill-position players: DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin.

With the win, the Eagles improved to 5-2 and moved into a first-place tie with Dallas in the NFC East. The Eagles host the Cowboys next Sunday night.

Andy Reid said afterward that he had no explanation for why this same Eagles team lost to the pitiful Oakland Raiders two weeks ago but beat the Giants by 23 without Brian Westbrook. "I don't know," Reid said. "When I can explain those things, I"ll be undefeated. ... I think when you play these NFC East teams, you just prepare for a heavyweight fight."

That's what this was. The Eagles knocked the Giants down in the first, then knocked them out in the third. "That's the way our guys went about their business this week," Reid said.

"We proved to teams around the league that at some point we can be one of the greatest offenses out there," Brent Celek said.

That might be a little much, but it was an impressive win.

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Update: This will go down as Eli Manning's first regular-season loss at the Linc in five tries. He's come in here and had huge games in the past, but this wasn't one of them.

Sure, Manning was without several of his weapons. Mario Manningham was inactive, Domenik Hixon suffered a hip pointer, Kevin Boss hurt his ankle and Sinorice Moss is getting X-rays on his foot. But Manning has been indecisive and inaccurate, and he'll get a lot of the blame for this loss.

Remember: Eagles now lead the NFC East. Go figure.

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Update: The Phillies chants have started, so this one must be over. It is over, thanks to LeSean McCoy. McCoy took a handoff up the middle for 66 yards and a touchdown -- the second of his career -- to give the Eagles a 40-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.

McCoy made his third start today for the injured Brian Westbrook, and he wasn't lighting anything up -- 8 carries, 18 yards -- until that 66-yard run.

Things really can't get much worse for the Giants, who just missed a 47-yard field goal attempt that would've cut the Eagles' lead to 20 points. Like I said, this one is over. Bring on the Eagles backup quarterback, whoever that might be.

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Update: Illegal though it might have been, Fred Robbins' lateral -- okay, it was ruled a forward pass, but hang with me -- to Osi Umenyiora was a thing of beauty, and proved once and for all that defensive tackles are tackles for a reason. Robbins knew he was slower than Umenyiora. So did Umenyiora. After he picked up a McNabb fumble, Robbins rumbled a few yards then saw the more athletic Umenyiora to his right. Robbins lateralled to Umenyiora, who streaked untouched into the end zone for a touchdown.

Andy Reid challenged the play, which was overturned when the official determined that Robbins' threw a forward pass to Umenyiora. The Giants settled for a 42-yard field goal and trail the Eagles' 33-10. Nevertheless, it was a heads up play by Robbins.

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Update: For all the trash he talked last week, Steve Smith isn't really backing it up. He's got four catches for 35 yards, but he hasn't been able to slip behind any of the Eagles corners like he said he could. Expose them? Smith hasn't, at least not yet.

After essentially handing the Eagles three points to start the third quarter, the Giants put together a decent drive, moving to the Eagles 29 yard line. But on fourth-and-four from the 29, Smith couldn't deliver. He ran a post pattern with Joselio Hanson tightly covering him. Eli Manning threw toward Smith, who couldn't separate from Hanson. Quintin Demps floated over to help Hanson in coverage, although Hanson didn't need it.   

Update: Not to be a kill-joy, but the last time the Eagles scored 30 points in the first half was last year at Dallas. The Eagles led the Cowboys 30-24 at halftime, but lost the game 41-37. They have a 23-point lead today, but I'm just saying...

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Update: Say what you will about the passer rating -- some folks love it, some hate it -- it is a good reflection of what happened in the first half today. Donovan McNabb is perfect at 154.9. He's 11 of 15 for 201 yards, with three touchdowns and zero picks. Eli Manning is a sub-par 53.3. He's 8 of 16 for 105 yards, with one touchdown and two picks.

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Update: This is really a crazy league. The same team that struggled to score against Oakland and, in the second half, against Washington, has put up 30 points -- that's right, 3-0 -- on the New York Giants, and the first half isn't even over yet. Their last two scoring drives have been one play, and two plays. Talk about a big-strike offense today.

The first came when Mr. Open streaked 50-some yards on a go route and caught a perfect pass from Donovan McNabb. DeSean Jackson then walked into the end zone for his sixth touchdown of at least 50 yards this season (technically it was a 54-yard reception). He was so open because he's so fast; might be one of the most exciting players in the NFL this season, which is something. After a break-out rookie season a year ago, Jackson should be drawing all sorts of attention from defenders this season. They must not be able to keep up with him, because he's been open, open, and open again all year.

Then, after Eli Manning threw another pick, McNabb found Jeremy Maclin with a 23-yard strike in the end zone. Nice McNabb decided to spread the love among his two yound receivers. And nice that Maclin, the rook, didn't blow it.

So here we sit, 30-7 Eagles.

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Update: I think Sheldon Brown is still complaining about that holding call. The Giants just scored to make it 16-7 with less than two minutes to play in the first half, but Brown obviously thought that his interception midway through the Giants drive should've held up.

On third-and-four from the Eagles 22-yard line, Brown bumped Steve Smith, then stepped in front of him to pick off Manning. The call was holding, negating the Eagles' second pick of Manning today.

You'll probably recall that Smith was talking a little junk earlier in the week, about how it was easy to slip behind Asante Samuel and Brown in coverage. Well, Samuel has one pick, and Brown just about had another. Think Samuel and Brown didn't hear what Smith said? Think again.

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Update: Although we're not 100 percent on this, the consensus opinion here on press row is that Jeremiah Trotter has yet to get into the game, even though the Giants are running the ball a bunch. He's dressed, but stuck on the sideline.

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Update: The Eagles are giving Justin Tuck an inordinate amount of respect. Either that, or they feel the need to give Winston Justice an inordinate amount of help. On their third drive of the game -- which ended with a 30-yard David Akers field goal to give the Eagles a 16-0 lead with 14:51 to play in the first quarter -- the Eagles used a variety of offensive players to slow Tuck, the Giants left defensive end.

Tuck is primarily Justice's responsibility, but on their last 15-play drive, the Eagles used no fewer than four offensive players to help block Tuck. Tight end Brent Celek was on him as frequently as Justice; Leonard Weaver tried to cut Tuck's feet out from under him once, to no avail; Justice blocked Tuck into Stacey Andrews, who picked up the assignment. Tuck entered the game with 3 1/2 sacks this season. He has none yet today, although he did knock down a Donovan McNabb pass at the line of scrimmage on that last drive.

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Update: Even in their best-case scenario, the Eagles never could've dreamed they'd be up 13-0 less than five minutes into their game against the Giants, but that's where we are. After Weaver got the Birds on the board, Eli Manning threw an interception on his first pass of the game (and the Giants third play from scrimmage). Asante Samuel might not be the NFL's best tackler, but he read Manning's eyes all the way, and stepped in front of a pass intended for backup tight end Travis Beckum. Samuel sprinted 37 yards to the Giants' 10 yard line.

A Jason Peters holding call negated a touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb to Brent Celek, but two plays later, McNabb went back to Celek in the middle of the end zone for a touchdown. The Giants blocked David Akers' PAT; Eagles lead 13-0.

Just to update what my colleague Jeff McLane was reporting over at Birds Eye View -- it looks like just about everybody has made it to their seats at the Linc. For whatever reason, it was a later-than-usual arriving crowd, but it looks like, with a few exceptions, that most seats are filled now with 11 minutes, 10 seconds to play in the first.

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Update: We're less than two minutes into the game and the Eagles are on the board. In just his fifth carry of the season, Leonard Weaver burst out of the backfield past a slew of Giants defenders at the line and ran 41 yards into the end zone for a touchdown on the Eagles third play of the game.

New York entered the game with the 15th-ranked rushing D in the league, giving up an average of 103.6 yards per game. But that was way too easy for a team that isn't exactly known as a power rushing team. And the run came on Winston Justice's side of the line. He's going against Justin Tuck today.

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Here we are pre-game before the 153rd meeting between the Eagles and New York Giants. It's overcast outside as the Eagles just left the field for the last time before kickoff. Fans are trickling in. It seems to be a slow-arriving crowd; folks are probably still bleary-eyed after that late Phillies-Yankees game last night.

As expected, Brian Westbrook is out today because of the concussion he suffered against the Redskins last Monday night. That means Shady McCoy will get the bulk of the carries. Needless to say, it's a huge loss for the Birds, who need every offensive weapon at their disposal.

After losing back-to-back games to New Orleans and Arizona, the Giants are suffering a bit of an identity crisis of their own right now. Opposing defenses have tried to take away the Giants running game and make Eli Manning beat them -- an old Eagles strategy -- and it's work. Look for the Eagles to put eight in the box, and to aggressively blitz from all over the field. New York wide receiver Steve Smith said that the Giants should have opportunities on the outside; we'll see.

Kickoff in about 30 minutes. We'll be back.

So the Eagles will move to 4-2, 1-0 in the NFC East. It's a nice start to a tough stretch of three straight division games.

Not to discount this eventual win, but the Eagles will have a tougher task on Sunday when they host the Giants, even though the Giants have lost two consecutive games. New York is 5-2, 2-0 in the division. Dallas is 4-2, 0-1 in the East. The Birds have an opportunity to move atop the division, but it's been hard to predict which Eagles team will show up. This win aside, they have major issues on the offensive line, in the middle of the D, and possibly at running back. Can't imagine after suffering a concussion tonight that Westbrook will play on Sunday, even though I'm sure he'll want to. Andy Reid has done a good job over the years piecing together successful teams down the stretch, despite injuries. With an offense this explosive, he'll have a shot at doing it again.

It should be a fun week. All New York, all the time.

With all the issues the Redskins have, they didn't need to lose one of their biggest weapons. They miss tight end Chris Cooley, who left the game earlier with an injury. Fred Davis, a second-year guy out of USC, isn't Cooley. And aren't the Eagles happy about that.

With all the turnover at middle linebacker, the Eagles have had trouble with tight ends all season. But tonight isn't one of those times. Cooley had caught 27 passes for 311 yards in six games this season. He had two catches for 21 yards before leaving the game.

So much for being unable to convert on third-and-long. Seventeen times this season the Eagles had faced third and at least 10 yards. Seventeen times they'd been unable to get a first down. Until now. And go figure, it was another bomb to DeSean Jackson.

On a play the Eagles had tried for Jeremy Maclin earlier in the game, McNabb dropped back, pump faked while Jackson put a double move on Redskins safety Chris Horton and launched a beautiful pass to Jackson for a 57-yard touchdown. It was the 200th touchdown pass of McNabb's career and put him over the 30,000 passing yards mark. He's the 28th quarterback in NFL history with that many TD passes and the 30th with that many yards. 

And it must be said: McNabb had all day to throw the ball. It was good protection for a line that has been reshuffled because of so many injuries. 

The Eagles head to the locker room with a 27-10 lead.