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.