For Eagles and Giants, controlling clock will mean victory

WHEN YOU settle down in front of the TV Sunday afternoon to watch the Eagles play the Giants in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, don't forget your stopwatch.

The Giants and Eagles played two games this season that were very different in outcome, but alike in at least one respect - one team dominated the clock each time, and that team won.

Maybe that sounds simplistic, like, the team that scored more points won the game. It isn't. In fact, last weekend, the Minnesota Vikings had the ball 4 minutes and 12 seconds longer than the Eagles, and still managed to trail for the final 37:29 and lose by 12 points. The Eagles scored a pair of one-punch TDs, Asante Samuel's 44-yard interception return and Brian Westbrook's 71-yard screen-pass ramble, plus they got a field goal set up by a 62-yard DeSean Jackson punt return.

Back in October, the Eagles lost the battle of the clock at San Francisco, yet won the game handily. Twice this season, the first Dallas game and the Chicago loss, the Eagles won time of possession and still were defeated. Odds are, this week won't be like any of those games.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin made the point earlier in the week that despite the closeness of the scores, he felt New York dominated the first meeting, a 36-31 win at Lincoln Financial Field on Nov. 9, and the Eagles dominated the rematch, a 20-14 Birds victory at the Meadowlands on Dec. 7. Here's why Coughlin felt that way: His team had the ball 39:10 at the Linc, to the Eagles' 20:50. At Giants Stadium, the Birds' advantage wasn't quite so pronounced - 34:54 to 25:06 - but it was the Giants' lowest possession figure of the season, and in the second half the Eagles had the ball a decisive 20:36 to the Giants' 9:24.

"They're tops in the league in terms of time of possession,'' Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson noted yesterday. "That's part of that [No. 1-ranked] running game, is ball control. They've been that for a while, too. They do a great job of controlling that ball, especially if they get ahead. You want to get ahead of this team.''

And though Johnson didn't want to cast any aspersions on his team's offense, the fact is, if you're going three-and-out a lot against the Giants, even a really good defense is going to get worn down. The Eagles' offense has to be thinking ball control, too, as it was last month when it converted 11 rushing first downs against New York.

"I thought the last time we played them, our offense did a great job of controlling the ball in the third quarter against the wind,'' Johnson said.

Of course, Eagles coach Andy Reid, not one to embrace any idea that seems to hint that running might be important, parried when asked about that this week.

"We'll see how it all works out. It could go either way. Maybe it goes a different way. Who knows?'' Reid revealed.

"I think both defenses can make great, great plays, and both offenses, I think are pretty good,'' offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. "I'm not sure that it's the time of possession, it's the number of plays usually that's a little bit bigger factor there. And so if the one team has 10, 12, 15 more plays, that usually means they are ahead, first. And then second, you had an extra series or two there. Some of it's predicated on turnovers and some of it's predicated on kick returns and all those things. There are a lot of issues that go into time of possession, or number of plays.''

Eagles strong safety Quintin Mikell didn't shy away from pointing out what the defense needs from the offense on Sunday.

"You're controlling the field position and you're keeping your defense rested,'' when the offense puts drives together, Mikell said. "That's the main thing, especially in the playoffs. You've got to let your defense rest.''

It might be fair to say time of possession becomes a bigger deal when two teams are evenly matched, as these teams seem to be in many statistical categories, even though the Giants are the NFC's top seed and the Eagles are sixth and last. The Giants' offense ranked seventh in the NFL this year; the Eagles ranked ninth. The Giants' defense ranked fifth; the Eagles ranked third. Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and Giants quarterback Eli Manning compiled identical passer ratings of 86.4. The Giants scored an average of 26.7 points per game, the Eagles averaged 26.0. The Eagles allowed 18.1 points per game, the Giants 18.4.

There's a larger backdrop, as well. The Eagles and the Giants are the only NFC East teams to make it to the Super Bowl or even to play in the NFC title game in the past decade.

"For some reason, every time we play the Giants, no matter what, it's always going to come down to the end, and [time of possession] is a big thing,'' Mikell said. "I don't know why. That's a good question.''

Somebody asked the longest-tenured Eagle, 13th-year free safety Brian Dawkins, this week when the rivalry with the Giants turned into the biggest for him.

"It was never a 'turn into' thing, it's always been that way for me,'' Dawkins said. "I've always respected this team; we'll always respect this team - the players, the coaching staff, I've always had respect for them. I'm not cushy with them, but I've always respected this team . . . Every once in a [while] it's been a blowout, but for the most part it's usually some grind-out, close defensive battle with this team.''

"It makes a difference, there's no question about it,'' Johnson said. "We'll still mix up our coverages and fronts, but it makes a difference without Plaxico. The biggest thing with Plaxico was trying to get a good matchup. We didn't have anybody we really could match up. We feel like we have a guy who can match up against [replacement Domenik] Hixon a little bit, but Plaxico was so tall that it was hard to match up sometimes.''

One would assume Johnson is talking about Samuel matching up on Hixon, but Samuel would not confirm or deny that yesterday.

In New York, much is being made of the fact that Jacobs gained 52 yards on 10 carries in that December loss to the Eagles, even though he left in the third quarter with a knee injury. But 23 of those yards came on one second-quarter run; his other nine carries accounted for 29 yards, which is the kind of average the Eagles can win with.

Mikell said the Birds can't just target Jacobs (or running mate Derrick Ward) and stop New York, the way Giants defensive coordinator (and former Johnson assistant) Steve Spagnuolo tells his defenders to do with Brian Westbrook; Spagnuolo preaches "22 eyes on 36.''

"They've got guys they can get deep, guys who can make great plays. [Burress' absence] doesn't mean we can load the box up,'' Mikell said. *

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.