Eagles and Wind Blow Away Giants, 24-17 : Philadelphia: It has weather on its side when it counts, while turnovers work against New York.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. â€”  Three years ago, the New York Giants won a coin toss and let a 40-m.p.h. wind blow them right into the Super Bowl.

The Philadelphia Eagles are now hoping that history repeats itself.

The Eagles forced five turnovers Sunday--four that led to all 24 of their points and a fifth that stopped the Giants at the five--to beat the Giants, 24-17, and take charge of the NFC East race.

But as it was for the Giants when they beat Washington in the 1986 NFC title game, it may have been the coin toss that gave the Eagles the win. It helped them jump to a quick 14-0 lead with the wind and also carried a Randall Cunningham punt 91 yards after the Giants had tied the score, 17-17.

That led to the final turnover--a fumble at the Giants’ six--and Keith Byars’ two-yard touchdown run with 10:50 left for the winning points.

“The wind was the most important factor in the game,� Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan said. “We made a decision to take the wind to start the game, then we made a decision to give it to them in the third quarter so we could have it in the fourth.�

Giant punter Sean Landeta said: “It was probably the worst wind since that NFC championship game. If we would have won the toss, we were going to kick.�

Whatever, it blew the Eagles into a tie with the Giants in the NFC East at 9-4, but gave them the edge in any tiebreaker because they also won the earlier meeting, 21-19, in Philadelphia.

In fact, they’ve now beaten the Giants four straight times, in large part because they force turnovers--they entered the game leading the league with 21 more recoveries than losses.

“They’ll win the division unless they screw up,� Giant Coach Bill Parcells said.

“If there’s any difference between us and the Giants, that’s it,� said safety Wes Hopkins, who had one of five sacks on Phil Simms, who fumbled twice and was intercepted twice.

It started early--with the wind of course.

On the third play from scrimmage, Simms was hit on his own 16 by Reggie White and fumbled. William Frizzell picked up the ball and took it to the three, where he lateraled to Andre Waters, who took it in for the score.

Eight minutes later, Simms threw under pressure, had the ball tipped by Jerome Brown into the hands of Clyde Simmons, who ran 60 yards for a touchdown.

Ironically, Simmons’ only other pro touchdown came here last year, when he picked up a field goal blocked by Lawrence Tayor of the Giants and took it in for the game-winning score in overtime.

Simms came back to hit Mark Ingram on a 41-yard touchdown pass play--into the wind--to cut it to 14-7, but Roger Ruzek hit a 35-yarder into the wind in the second quarter to make it 17-7.