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Big plays topped by bigger plays in victory

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- On the Eagles' last scheduled visit to this place, to the site of so many strange doings over the last three and a half decades, to Jimmy Hoffa's windswept sepulchre, it seemed as if bizarre was somehow preordained. Last night at Giants Stadium, it was as if history demanded it.

This is where Herman Edwards once committed a miracle, and where Randall Cunningham once punted a ball 91 yards. It is where Clyde Simmons once returned an Eagles field goal that had been blocked for a touchdown, and where Brian Westbrook once saved an Eagles season with an 84-yard punt return for the ages.

Now it is a place where the Eagles blew a 30-17 halftime lead to the Giants and still won, 45-38, in the highest scoring game in the history of the rivalry.

It is a place where big plays were topped bigger plays. A place where strange whistles were topped by stranger whistles. A place where the only certainty was gained when the clock finally ran out, with the Giants the losers, with the Eagles the victors, with a 9-4 record and first place in the NFC East now in their back pockets with three games remaining in the season.

To reach that perch, the Eagles had to walk through a circus constructed in a minefield. They needed Sheldon Brown to return a fumble 60 yards for one touchdown and they needed DeSean Jackson to continue to build on his historic, outrageous resume, with a magnificent 72-yard punt return for one touchdown and a 60-yard reception for another.

They needed all of that and more. It would take too much time to document it, no less understand it.