Promising step for Birds, but ...

November 2, 3:50 AMPhiladelphia Eagles ExaminerGordie Jones

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Beating the Giants Sunday was no small step for the Eagles. The 40-17 beat-down was easily their best game of the season, and almost as impressive as the 44-6 rout of Dallas in Week 17 last year.

They finally beat Eli Manning in Lincoln Financial Field, something they had not been able to do in the four previous games the Giants’ quarterback had started there. (And they made him look skittish and uncertain in the process. He’s supposed to be beyond such things at this stage of his career. And while he’s struggling on a bad foot, that doesn’t explain away his performance.)

They again put all their weapons on display, while unveiling some new ones. (Leonard Weaver, come on down.) DeSean Jackson would appear to be Pro Bowl-bound; he had another long touchdown. Brent Celek made a nice catch for a TD. So did Jeremy Maclin. Oh, and that mini-slump Donovan McNabb was in? Never mind.

What the Birds did, more than anything else, was clear the stench of the Oakland loss with a big NFC East victory, while taking another step toward their first .500-or-better finish within the division since they went 5-1 in 2006. They are 2-0 in such games this year, after going 2-4 each of the last two seasons.

But the thing to remember about divisional play is, there’s always another ambush waiting around the next corner. (This scheduling reminder  – Dallas visits the Linc next Sunday night.)

The other thing to remember is, one meeting between two teams very seldom is indicative of how a second meeting will go.

Case in point: The Cowboys held off the Eagles 41-37 in Dallas early last season. As for what happened the second time around, see above.

Case in point No. 2: Eli and the gang bulldozed the Birds in their first 2008 meeting. The Eagles not only won the rematch in the Meadowlands; they beat the Giants in a playoff game up there as well.

Case in point No. 3: The Eagles lost in agonizing fashion to the Redskins at home early in ‘08, and went to Landover needing a victory to buffet their playoff chances the next-to-last week of the season. Instead, they laid an egg.

So Sunday, while a positive step, was not necessarily indicative of what’s down the road.

One would suspect the Eagles would rather this than the alternative, though.