PHILADELPHIA – Brandon Jacobs following yesterday’s 16-13 Giants victory over the Eagles was asked about his two lost fumbles.
“THE fumble,” Jacobs corrected.
He was charged with two in his first game back after missing two games with a strained hamstring. He wholeheartedly disputed the first.
Jacobs early in the third quarter on a screen pass was hit immediately by linebacker Omar Gaither, the ball came loose and was recovered by defensive tackle Mike Patterson, who returned it to the Giants 8-yard line. Tom Coughlin immediately challenged the ruling on the field and replays seemed to show that Jacobs never had a handle on the ball before it came loose. Referee Ron Winter determined Jacobs had two feet on the ground and turned his body up field before he lost the ball, making it a catch.
“The first one was a bogus call,” Jacobs said. “I didn’t catch the ball. It was coming toward me, and I put my hands up to get it and I turned around before I got it. I never really had possession. I’m running a screen, for crying out loud, I’m going to have two feet on the ground. They [the officials] were terrible.”
Jacobs, who rushed 22 times for 70 yards, with 5:51 left broke free for a 21-yard gain and, struggling to get into the end zone, had the ball stripped away by defensive end Juqua Thomas, who also recovered the fumble.
“The last one was all on me, I was stumbling and wasn’t paying attention, trying to get in the end zone, thought no one was around, it came away from my chest and it came out,” Jacobs said.
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The Giants played with two rookies, Craig Dahl and Michael Johnson, starting at safety in place of injured Gibril Wilson and James Butler. Each was credited with five tackles. “Quite an accomplishment by those young guys,” Tom Coughlin said. With 1:03 remaining, Jeff Feagles on his sixth punt of the game saw for the first time that dangerous Brian Westbrook was back as he return man. Four years ago, Westbrook brought back a Feagles punt for a game-winning touchdown. This time, Feagles punted the ball to 3-yard line, angled to the right sideline, and Westbrook returned it eight yards.
“I tried not to think about 2003 running out on the field,” Feagles said. “I tried to get it out of bounds. You don’t want to put the ball in his hands. He had to have caught that thing a foot from the sideline. I didn’t come through on that.”
Westbrook’s fumble midway through the third quarter – the ball was stripped by DE Justin Tuck and recovered by CB Sam Madison – was the first turnover forced by the Giants in three games. . . .
DT Barry Cofield got his first sack of the season and rookie DT Jay Alford notched the first sack of his career.
“We’re leading the league in sacks, and I didn’t have any,” Cofield said. “I wasn’t happy about it.”