A Big Finish Brings Down Giants, 21-19 : Cunningham, Contained Until the End, Leads Eagles on 81-Yard, Game-Winning Drive

Randall Cunningham proved Sunday that statistics lie.

Particularly when the game--and, perhaps, the Philadelphia Eagles’ season--are on the line.

Held by the New York Giants to just 47 passing yards for 54:01, Cunningham threw for 59 yards on an 81-yard drive that set up Anthony Toney’s two-yard run for the winning score with 2:18 remaining to give Philadelphia a 21-19 victory.

It was the first loss in five games for the Giants and left the Eagles, who had lost two straight, at 3-2.

A loss would have dropped Philadelphia three games behind New York in an NFC East race the Eagles won from the Giants on a tiebreaker last season.

“We needed a win bad,” Coach Buddy Ryan said, more than underscoring the point.

New York, which led almost the entire game, took a 19-14 lead on Raul Allegre’s fourth field goal of the game, a 24-yarder with 5:59 remaining. Allegre also hit from 25, 41 and 45 yards but missed a 39-yarder that could have been the difference.

Then Cunningham, who had run for Philadelphia’s first two touchdowns, both set up by pass interference calls, suddenly got hot after going missing four straight in the second half and seven for 19 for the game.

He passed 23 yards to Cris Carter and 21 yards to Mike Quick, then hit Gregg Garrity for 15 yards on third and eight to put the Eagles at the 15.

Then, on third and four, he scrambled seven yards to the two, setting up Toney’s winning score, which was sealed by William Frizzell’s interception of Phil Simms’ first pass after the kickoff.

Cunningham, who finished 10 of 24 for 106 yards and ran for 44 more, said that after the field goal he went over to tackle Ron Heller and said:

“When I look at you and the other guys, I feel like it’s time to go. When we get down to the nitty-gritty the guys have the confidence we’ll come back. That’s a feeling the whole team has.”

Simms, who had been quoted in Philadelphia earlier in the week as saying that a good high school quarterback could throw for 300 yards with proper protection against the Philadelphia defense, was 21 of 39 for 241 yards. Six of the completions for 89 yards went to rookie Dave Meggett.

Simms, who denied the quote, said:

“I’m not going to talk to you--write that down, then get away from me.”

The problem for Simms Sunday was that he didn’t always get the protection.

Philadelphia sacked him four times, hurried him numerous others, and Jerome Brown and Reggie White shut down the Giants’ running game, holding Ottis Anderson to just 25 yards in 13 carries.

“We did a pretty good job of pressuring him, making him throw the ball away,” White said. “We always play them more aggressively. Today we were more physical than them.”

More important, the Eagles kept the Giant offense out of the end zone--the only New York touchdown came on a 22-yard pass from holder Jeff Hostetler to linebacker Carl Banks on a fake field goal.

The first half, in fact, had two such plays.

After the Hostetler-Banks connection, the Eagles tried one of their own with punter John Teltschik, the holder, throwing for Quick. Terry Kinard intercepted for New York, but Sheldon White was called for interference at the five. Cunningham scrambled in two plays later.