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Giants (2-7) Philadelphia (3-4-1)
The Philadelphia Eagles are coming off a bye
week. The last game they played was a 23-9 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
The
Giants got their second win of the season on Sunday. They traveled and defeated
the Washington Football Team 23-20. Philadelphia
Eagles
The
last time the Giants and Eagles faced off, the Cowboys were leading the division
with a 2-4 record, and the 1-4-1 Eagles were in second place. They won in their
game with the Giants and went on to beat the Cowboys. Those last two wins were
big for them. No other team in the NFC East has more than 2 wins, and the Eagles
at 3-4-1 are currently leading in this very weak division. All four teams have
combined for just 9 wins (9-24-1), and 7 of those wins came from playing each
other. With all these teams playing so poorly this season, can the Eagles sustain
winning after having a bye, and break away from the rest? Eagles
Offense
The Eagles offensive line has been dealing with injuries all season long. Starting
center Jason Kelce is the only offensive lineman who has been in all the games
while the rest switch in and out. Aside from that, Carson Wentz has not been playing
very well to say the least. Even in Philadelphia's last win over the Cowboys right
before the bye, Wentz committed four turnovers - two interceptions and two fumbles.
It had Wentz leading the league in turnovers with 16 - (twelve interceptions and
four fumbles lost). Wentz also took four sacks in that game, making him the leader
in sacks (32) as well.
A better running game would help Wentz out. This run
offense is currently ranked 18th in the league. Running back Miles Sanders did
not play against the Giants last time, but is back for this game. Sanders was
the leading rusher last season, but due to injuries he's missed games, and so
far has had only 71 carries. Boston Scott and Corey Clement have been doing the
job, but it's hard to match Sanders, who's averaged 6.1 yards per carry. Sanders
was also Philadelphia's third leading receiver last year. They will also have
Alshon Jeffery on the field for the first time this season. Jeffery was their
fourth leading receiver last year. Eagles
Defense
The
strength of this defense is against the pass. They are ranked in the top five,
allowing less than 210 yards per game. They're also high on sacks, ranking 3rd
in the league with 28 sacks. Last time out with the Giants they focused on the
Daniel Jones to Darius Slayton connection. Slayton had just two receptions for
23 yards. Washington's plan was the same last week. Jones was able to target Slayton
only once for a six yard catch. In both those games Jones leaned heavily on Evan
Engram and Sterling Shepard, who were targeted on more than half his passes.
Engram dropped a perfect pass from Jones that could have led to the Giants winning
over the Eagles by running out the clock or adding more points. They'd like to
improve on the run defense. Philadelphia is allowing an average 4.4 yards a carry,
and they rank 24th in the NFL with 130.8 rushing yards allowed per game. Defensive
tackle Fletcher Cox did not practice on Friday due to an illness, but looks set
to go, and is joined by tackle Malik Jackson, who has missed two games. Giants
Offense
Daniel Jones played as you hoped
he would in his last game against Washington. He completed 23 passes for 212 yards
and 1 touchdown, and most of all - had no turnovers. Jones didn't even have to
run for 80 yards (as he did in his game with the Eagles) to get the ground game
going. Jones left that mostly to running backs Wayne Gallman and Alfred Morris.
They combined for 23 carries for 135 yards and 1 touchdown. With the help of a
few others, the Giants finished up with 166 yards on the ground, which was their
best in any game to date.
The offensive line looks to be improving, and Jones
is coming off his highest completion percentage of the season - 67.6. Things are
starting to click for rookie tackle Andrew Thomas. He has allowed just one sack
in the last four weeks. Nick Gates is playing well at center, and the Giants plan
of rotating tackles and guards is working out for them. They
placed running back Devonta Freeman on injured reserve this week, so we'll see
more of Morris, who averaged 7.4 yards a carry last week. Giants
Defense
They played well last week, coming
up with 3 interceptions, and they held running backs Antonio Gibson and JD McKissic
to 37 total yards on the ground. The run defense is ranked ranked sixth in the
NFL allowing only 94.8 yards per game. Last week against Washington, they gave
up just 36 yards on the ground. Eagles running back Miles Sanders will put that
to the test. Leonard Williams, Dalvin Tomlinson and Dexter Lawrence will also
have to deal with Boston Scott, who was the workhorse against them in their last
game.
Carson Wentz likes Travis Fulgham
who has played in only five games with him. Last time the Giants held him to 5
catches on 11 targets and no touchdowns. Fulgham had one touchdown catch in all
his other games. Wentz has shown a mindset
at times for freelancing and going for a big play when he scrambles instead of
settling for some smaller safer gain. When it hasn't worked it has led to sacks
and turnovers. It would be interesting if the Giants, having seen this tendency,
have any plans to bait him this game. Overall
The Eagles are on a hot streak. They are coming
off back to back wins, and no other team in their division has been able to put
two wins together. In fact, the teams that trail the Eagles, Washington, Cowboys,
and Giants in that order, each have just two wins and the rest losses. Will one
of these teams break out and leave the rest in the dust? Quarterbacks could be
the deciding factor in all this.
The Washington Football Team and the Cowboys
are working with substitutes, either by choice or injury. That should give the
edge to the Giants and Eagles. However, even though Carson Wentz and Daniel Jones
are more secure in their positions, they tend to make poor decisions and turn
the ball over on a regular basis. Look for their gameplay to be the deciding factor
in this game on Sunday. NFC
East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Eagles (3-4-1)
at Giants (2-7).
Sunday at 1:00pm Washington (2-6) at Detroit (3-5).
The
Eagles are the only NFC East team favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Notes.
Golden
Tate played 10 games with the Eagles in the 2018 season before signing on with
the Giants. Giants have lost to the
Eagles in the last eight games they've played, with
five of the eight decided by a touchdown or less.
Next Games
Nov 29 Giants at Cincinnati
Dec
6 Giants at Seattle |
