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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Famous for his "guarantee" New York Giants coach Jim Fassel appears to be as good as gold against the Philadelphia Eagles. Fassel puts an 8-0 record against NFC East rival Philadelphia on the line on Sunday in the divisional playoffs. But despite suffering a 33-18 loss in Week Two in Philadelphia and a 24-7 defeat here on October 29, the Eagles appear to relish the challenge. "We love being the underdogs," Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said. "We love when people say we can't win. It's more of a challenge." "Whatever it is they have on us, we've got to get our mojo going and correct the problem," Eagles Pro Bowl defensive end Hugh Douglas said. Fassel himself isn't putting much stock in his team's dominance of the Eagles. "The results of the two regular season games with them don't mean anything now," Fassel said. "They are a much better team now." As the top seed in the NFC, the Giants have not been regarded as a Super Bowl favorite although they have the second-ranked defense in the conference. Jacksonville Jaguars star running back Fred Taylor said the Giants did not possess the defensive talent of teams such as Baltimore and Tennessee. And Eagles running back Brian Mitchell agrees. "Against the Giants, if you pick up their blitz you can beat them," Mitchell said. "When I was with the Redskins last year, they blitzed us, we picked it up and we ended up scoring 51 points." Mitchell also created some controversy when he urged his teammates to go after wounded Giants running back Tiki Barber, who has a broken bone in his arm. "He's got a fractured arm, you start pounding on that arm," Mitchell said. "Eventually, it's (the ball) going to come out. We gotta pound him." The winner of Sunday's game will play the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship game. The Vikings posted a 34-16 win over the New Orleans Saints on Saturday in the divisional playoffs. Since losing back-to-back home games to St. Louis and Detroit, Fassel guaranteed the Giants would make the playoffs and they reeled off five straight wins to clinch the NFC East title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Philadelphia garnered just eight first downs and was outgained, 384-192 in its loss here in October. The Giants also dominated time of possession, holding the ball for more than 43 minutes. Giants rookie Ron Dayne rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Kerry Collins passed for 253 yards and a score. McNabb completed just 10-of-31 passes for 129 yards and one touchdown with an interception. Since losing to the Giants here, the Eagles won six of their last seven games and rolled to a 21-3 triumph over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round. Douglas turned around the game with a sack that resulted in a fumble and McNabb passed for two touchdowns and ran for another score to lead the Eagles. In his first playoff game, McNabb completed 24-of-33 passes for 161 yards with an interception and rushed for 32 yards on eight carries. The Eagles stuffed Tampa Bay leading rusher Warrick Dunn and hounded quarterback Shaun King. Dunn had one yard on eight carries while King threw for 171 yards and was sacked four times. The Giants lead the all-time series, 75-58-2.
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