The late-season hot streak of the Philadelphia Eagles has sparked recent comparisons to last year's New York Giants, who coincidentally they face in Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game. The Giants, of course, rode their wave of prosperity to a Super Bowl XLII championship, and the Eagles hope to have similar success this year. But getting by the defending champs isn't going to be easy, especially on the their home field.

The Eagles won four of their final five regular-season games, including a complete throttling of the division rival Dallas Cowboys in the season finale. Their late run was just barely enough to get them into the playoffs, but here they are in the second round just a step away from the NFC championship game.

To continue that success, the Eagles are going to have to continue to ride with what got them into the postseason; a revitalized defense and a motivated Donovan McNabb. Defensive coordinator Jimmy Johnson's unit has been on fire of late, holding their last five opponents to 14 points or less, including this Giants' squad, which they beat during week 14. McNabb has been equally hot since being benched against the Ravens during week 12, playing as if he has something to prove. Since that time he has thrown 10 touchdown passes to just two interceptions.

Equally important to the Eagles success Sunday, though, will be the performance of running back Brian Westbrook, who rushed for 131 yards and caught six passes for 72 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter for the winning score of last week's win over the Minnesota Vikings.

The Giants defense relies heavily on pressuring the quarterback and the key to this game just may be getting to McNabb, which is something they didn't do in either meeting earlier in the season. A concern, however, is the health of New York's top defensive end, Justin Tuck. He's expected to play, but he sat out of practice earlier in the week with an injury and is not 100%, so there's a question as to just how effective he will be.

Another injury concern, and it's a big one, is that of running back Brandon Jacobs. When he is rolling, he can wear down a defense almost single-handedly. And he takes a ton of pressure off of quarterback Eli Manning, which is a good thing considering he is missing his top weapon in Plaxico Burress.

The Giants did stumble a little down the stretch, but after a much-needed week off, they should be ready to go. And they should be ready to avenge their week 14 loss. Expect this to be your typical NFC East slugfest that goes down to the wire. But I believe the Giants will feed off the way much of the media is touting the Eagles as this year's Cinderella, and use that as motivation to show why they are division champs.

Prediction: New York 24, Philadelphia 23