We can now officially put away the glow we’ve been reveling in since the Phils’ magical run to a World Series title.

The Eagles played a very important prime-time game against their arch-rival and NFC East neighbor the Giants last night. It was not pretty.

Spare me all the complaints about Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid.

Yes, it looked like Donovan was winded and was on the verge of a repeat of his Super Bowl on-field regurgitation.

And yes, the Eagles continue to be unable to convert in short-yardage situations. Last night it was a fourth-and-one with the game in the balance under a minute left in the fourth quarter. Gee, what a surprise. The Eagles don’t run all game, start off the game by ignoring their best weapon, Brian Westbrook, then expect to be able to convert at crunch time. This team is not built for short yardage. Hell, Reid did not even think it important enough to have a legitimate fullback on his squad.

And Coach Andy certainly seems to be puzzled as to when to offer a challenge. He did it twice last night and came up snake-eyes, costing his team two very important time outs. Contrast that with Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who correctly challenged a call against his QB Eli Manning when it seemed certain that he had gone past the line of scrimmage before completing a key pass.

None of the above is what bothered me most about last night’s game. Here’s what is stuck in my craw: The Eagles defense is a fraud.

Did they stop anyone last night? They built some stats against lousy teams and those who do not attempt to run the ball. But when a team decides to attack them head-on (can you say the Redskins’ Clinton Portis?) they get blow out.

Last night it was the Giants running the ball down the Eagles’ throats.

That’s the way you win in the NFC East. Always has been, always will be. When it comes to smash-mouth football, the Eagles have become the smash-ee.

They simply got physically dominated at the line of scrimmage.

Now they find themselves in a serious hole. Winning the NFC East seems like a reach. At this point, just winning a Wild Card spot would seem to be a tall order for this squad.

One other thing we can count on. How long at Reid’s post-mortem today before he trots out the fact that this is his responsibility and he has to put players in a better position to make plays.

Try starting with finding a real fullback so that when you pin you ears back on fourth-and-one, you have a chance of actually getting it.