If blowing fourth-quarter leads was an art form, the Eagles had been Vincent van Gogh this season. The self-proclaimed “Dream Team” had led in the final qu arter in every game but one, yet found away to underachieve their way to a nightmarish 3-6 record.
But after blowing another fourth-quarter lead last night against the Giants and facing a gutcheck, the Eagles finally came through. Riley Cooper’s late touchdown gave them a 17-10 win at MetLife Stadium, their fifth straight road win over the Giants and what they hope is a breakthrough performance.
“We needed it. We had to finish the game out. This whole year its either been turnovers or not finishing the games. This time we capitalized,’’ said running back LeSean McCoy, who had 23 carries for 113 yards.
PHOTOS: EAGLES BEAT GIANTS, 17-10
“It just shows you the fight. This week so much was being said, 3-6, dream team, so many things were being said. Us as a team, it was up to us to start coming together and fight for four quarters. … It feels good. It feels good to win.’’
McCoy had taken shots at Osi Umenyiora over the summer, calling him overrated. McCoy wouldn’t comment on the Giants defensive end last night, but when asked if he spoke to Umenyiora, he replied with a fair amount of snark, “He wasn’t really in the game that much, so I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him.’’
Asked if he had anything to say to him, McCoy responded, “We won the game.’’
That they did. Against Eli Manning — whose fourth-quarter rating this season coming into last night was a torrid 116.5, second best in the NFL — the Eagles held the Giants to 10 points.
And it was defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins that ignited that defense, with a ferocious second-quarter hit on D.J. Ware that left the Giants running back on the ground for several moments and knocked him out of the game with a concussion.
“I don’t know. I didn’t really see how it was, but it wasn’t dirty,’’ said Jenkins. “We feel like we had our backs to the wall. People taking all types of shots at us, talking about us bad. People still may continue to do it. Butwe’ve got tokeep playing more consistent, bring this energy. It’s a rivalry, division game; we’ve got to approach every game like this.’’
Receiver DeSean Jackson, who had six catches for 88 yards one game after being benched for skipping a team meeting, said, “It was great. This week we came in here 3-6 with all the people doubting us, but don’t think we can finish strong but [we did].’’
brian.lewis@nypost.com