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Giants (4-11) Eagles (8-7)
The Philadelphia Eagles have been chasing the
Dallas Cowboys all season long. They had caught up, and then pulled ahead last
week with a 17-9 home game win at Lincoln Financial Field.
Last Sunday the
Giants scored their most points in any one game this season. Still, they needed
an overtime period to finally come away with a 41-35 win over the Washington Redskins. Philadelphia
Eagles
In
2017 the Eagles won the NFC East division with a 13-3 record and went on to become
the Super Bowl Champions. In 2018 they were in the playoffs as a 9-7 wild card
team, and they beat Chicago before losing out to New Orleans the following week.
Right now, the Eagles are leading the division with an 8-7 record. The Eagles
were at 5-7 when they last faced the Giants, hoping to end a 3 game losing streak
that had them trailing the Cowboys.
They were able to do that, and after winning
at Washington, they went on to beat the Cowboys, who are now in second place with
a 7-8 record. If the Eagles beat the Giants in this final game at MetLife stadium,
they will win the division title. If they lose and the Cowboys win their game
with Washington, the Cowboys will have taken the NFC East title, and they will
move on to the playoffs. Philadelphia
Eagles Offense
Carson
Wentz has had his ups and downs during the season, and some were not his fault,
as the team dealt with injuries to a number of offensive starters. Despite that,
Wentz has thrown a touchdown pass in every game this season. He's also currently
on a streak of guiding the team to either a touchdown or a field goal 28 straight
times once they've reached the red zone area. Wentz's main target all year has
been Zach Ertz. He led his team with 70 catches for 736 yards, and had 3 touchdowns
going into that last game with the Giants, where he
torched them with 9 catches and 2 touchdowns, including the winning one in overtime.
Ertz added one more since then and he leads the team in that area with 6.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, injuries have caught up with him, and Ertz will
miss this game. Tight end Dallas Goedert is second on the team with 54 catches
and 5 touchdowns. Rookie running back Miles Sanders is third with 47 catches and
3 touchdowns, and his 10.9 average yards per catch is the highest of any receiver
currently available to Wentz. Running back Jordan Howard looks to be back for
this game. Howard was the team's leading rusher before getting hurt, and he has
missed the last 6 games. Sanders moved into the top spot, but it was actually
Boston Scott who did the most damage in the second half of that last Giants game,
both running and catching, including one 25-yard run in overtime. Philadelphia
Eagles Defense
They
had studied up on Daniel Jones, expecting to face him in the last game, but Jones
was dealing with a high ankle sprain injury, and Eli Manning stepped back in after
sitting out 10 games. Manning threw 2 touchdown passes in the first half, but
the Eagles defense really buckled down after that and allowed just 29 total offensive
yards and no scoring in the second, enabling the team to win the game in overtime.
They went on to win the next two with Washington's rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins
having one of his best games of the season, and then holding the Cowboys Dak Prescott
to one of his worst.
You don't know what you'll get from the Eagles passing
defense, though over the season they've played much better at home than on the
road. You do know what to expect from their ground defense. The Eagles allow an
average of 88 yards per game, ranking them 3rd in the NFL. Last season Saquon
Barkley had over 100 rushing yards against them and also caught 16 of 20 passes
in those two games. The Eagles were able to hold Barkley to 66 yards on 17 carries
three weeks ago, but he may not have been totally over his injury then. Giants
Offense
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley
had their best games of the season last week in Washington. Jones, who had missed
the last two games with a sprained ankle, completed 28-of-42 passes for a career
high 352 yards, and a career best 5 touchdowns. Jones had thrown 4 going into
overtime, and finished his 66-yard drive with a touchdown pass to tight end Kaden
Smith to seal the win. It was Smith's second touchdown of the day. It's good for
the Giants that the undrafted rookie can handle the spot, because tight ends Scott
Simonson and Rhett Ellison were both placed on injured reserve this week.
Saquon
Barkley was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week after rushing 22 times
for 189 yards, and catching 4 passes for 90 yards. Barkley scored 2 touchdowns,
one rushing and one catching. He looks to be playing better than the last time
he came up against the Eagles, where he rushed for 66 yards on 17 carries. Barkley
has rushed for 301 yards and 3 touchdowns in the two games since then. Sterling
Shepard caught all 6 passes last week for 76 yards and one touchdown, and Golden
Tate was the top receiver with 6 catches for 96 yards. Giants
Defense
While the offensive unit put on
quite a show last week in Washington, the defense failed to show up. They allowed
the Redskins to score 5 touchdowns, including a 99-yard drive on their last possession
of the game. It was lucky for the Giants that they got the ball first in overtime,
and that they were able to score a touchdown instead of a field goal, which would
have given the Redskins one more shot. Last week, Markus Golden picked up his
10th sack of the season, and the whole unit upfront will be trying to get to Carson
Wentz as he tries to find available receivers.
Wentz leaned heavily on Dallas
Goedert last week with 12 passes, and he caught 9 for 91 yards and 1 touchdown.
The Eagles running backs could cause problems, as they are all capable of being
reliable outlets for Wentz when they are not running with the ball. Overall, the
Eagles are ranked 2nd in third-down offense, and the Giants defense will have
to play much better than they did last week. They cannot allow the Eagles offense
to control the ball as they did in the second half of their last encounter.
Overall
The Eagles are leading the division and are
in control of their own destiny. They had broken a three game losing streak in
their last game with the Giants, and went on to win their next two games as well.
The Eagles are favored to win in this game with the Giants, and that would seal
the deal for them.
The Cowboys will be rooting for the Giants, as a loss by
the Eagles, coupled with them beating Washington, is the the only way they can
steal the division title. The Eagles will be facing Daniel Jones for the first
time, and he's coming off the best game of his career. We'll have to see how that
all works out. NFC East
Games
Sunday at 4:25pm Eagles (8-7) at
Giants (4-11).
Sunday at 4:25pm Redskins (3-12) at Cowboys (7-8).
The Eagles
and Cowboys are the NFC East teams favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Notes.
Saquon
Barkley's 279 scrimmage yards last week were the highest by a player in a game
this season. Saquon Barkley needs 89
rushing yards to reach 1,000. Giants
have lost the last 6 games, and 10 of the last 11 to the Eagles.
Next Game
Next Year.
Giants
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