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The last time...

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.

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.