At 4:30 p.m. Sunday the New York Giants will visit the NFC East Champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Who would of thought that the Eagles, after losing Donovan McNabb, would win the NFC East and be one of the hotter NFC teams going into the playoffs? Back in July, I posted my Philadelphia Eagles 2006 Preview. I expected the Eagles would be improved and here they are.

How about the New York Giants? They finished 8-8 this season and have a habit of self-imploding. Will Eli Manning win his first playoff game? This could be the last game for running back Tiki Barber.

The Eagles are ridding a five-game win streak and are red hot. Looking at the Giants defense, it’s hard to imagine much changing. If the Giants are to win Sunday, they must get an above-average performance out of Tiki Barber and they must control the clock.

I’m picking the Philadelphia Eagles in this one. They are the better team overall. I think the Giants will put up good fight, but as soon as things don’t go their way, that will be that.

The Philadelphia Eagles are a 6-point favorite as of this writing. That’s a bit much for my liking. It’s a playoff game against two division rivals. I think we can throw out last year’s performance by the Giants. Even though I like the Eagles to win, I’d bet the Giants if the line was on the key number of 7.