Giants lose to the Eagles 22-16

"You always want to see the Giants win, but no one was expecting to see that happening today. I knew the Giants had things wrapped up as far as the playoffs went, but I figured the main starters might play for the first quarter or two. Then it became known that they weren't. Davis Webb was making the first start of his career. It was good to see him enjoy the opportunity, and some the offensive linemen didn't start, as well as Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley.
The offense did not get very far, and by the end of the first quarter the Giants were down 10-0, and then 16-0 at the end of the half. The Giants could have had 3 points, but decided to line up for a field goal and then tried to pass for a first down. Punter Jamie Gillan was sacked for an 11 yard loss, and Brian Daboll should make a note to himself 'Don't try this in the playoffs'.
The Giants defense had also sidelined players, and with the offense not being productive, they were out there for most of the time. Except for one touchdown, they held the Eagles starters to field goals. Trick plays look really bad when they don't work, and when the Giants attempted an onside kick to start off the third quarter, the defense was again under the gun as the Eagles recovered, and now had the ball just past midfield.
It was great to see the Giants defense then come up with an interception in the endzone to kill the Eagles chances of getting to relax in this game. The Giants offense still couldn't get anything going, and the Eagles added a field goal. It still wasn't enough for the Eagles to feel comfortable, especially when Davis Webb made some nice completions, and Matt Breida and Gary Brightwell had two long runs.
They soon had a first down on the Eagles 8-yard line, but couldn't cash in after back to back delay of game penalties. On fourth down, Graham Gano kicked a field goal, and the Giants were on the board for the first time in the game. The inspired defense got the Eagles three-and-out. Webb had to overcome a 4th-and-1 on this drive, and he did so with a pass to Lawrence Cager.
After that there was no stopping Webb, and I mean that in every way you can take it. Webb was passing the ball, running with it, and ended up blowing through the Eagles defense with a 14-yard run for a touchdown. It was really something to see. The two point conversion attempt failed, but the score was now 19-9 with about 10 minutes left to play. The defense held the Eagles to a field goal, but they chewed up a lot of clock time.
There was no quit for these Giants, and Brightwell took his kickoff return up to the 46-yard line. Webb got past another 4th-and-1, this time running with the ball, and he ended this drive off with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Golladay in the endzone. There was just about a minute and a half left, and Giants had used all their timeouts. When their onside kick didn't work, that was it. It sure would have been interesting if they had pulled it off. The Giants put up a good fight today, and though it was a 22-16 loss, the bright side is they are still headed to the playoffs next week!"

"The Eagles knew that the Giants were going to be resting starters, but they couldn't take too much of a chance at blowing this game. They had just needed to win one of their last three games to secure the No 1 spot in the NFC, which would give them a bye week, and home field advantage during the playoffs. They failed to do that, working without starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, and this was their last chance.
The Giants final games had them winning a tough one in Washington, and then losing the next to the playoff bound Minnesota Vikings, who needed a 61-yard last play of the game field goal to seal the deal. In the Giants next game with the Indianapolis Colts, the Giants scored the most points, and gave up the least in any one game this season.
The Eagles were lucky that the Giants won that game, putting them into the playoffs as the No 6 seed. The Giants would have fought tooth and nail if they needed a win today to do that. Instead the Eagles got to play a sort of preseason mixed version of the Giants, fielding a quarterback who had never started a game, or even completed a pass in the NFL.
Hurts was coming off a sprained right shoulder, and you weren't expecting to see him take off on any designed running plays. Hurts ability to do so, still had to be respected by the Giants defense. If they let up on him too much, Hurts might decide to take advantage of an easy path to breeze by them for a first down or break off a big run before ducking out of bounds.
Things went as expected from the start, with the Eagles taking a lead and protecting it as the game moved along. They didn't want to see any of their players, especially Hurts, get banged up. The Giants did sack Hurts 3 times, and he scrambled 9 times for 13 yards. The Giants also came up with one big endzone interception right at the start of the third quarter. If it was completed, the score would have been 23-0, and with that lead, Hurts might have been allowed to step aside.
Instead, before things were over the Eagles had to deal with a feisty Giants team that came up with a field goal, and two touchdowns. The Eagles got what they wanted, a 22-16 win which clinched a No 1 seed, and they avoided injuries. Davis Webb had the quarterback spotlight on him, and came up with a passing and a rushing touchdown. Seven of Webb's passes were thrown at Kenny Golladay, more than he'd seen in any other game.
Golladay had only been targeted 10 times before that in 5 games.
On Webb's last toss of the day Golladay made a spectacular catch for a touchdown. It was almost as if to say 'see what happens when you throw me the ball more than once or twice a game'. The Giants did a decent job in this last game of the regular season. The starters rested, no one was hurt, and the backups got a chance to flex their muscles a bit. They got some preparation for next week's playoff matchup in Minnesota if they need to be called on when things really count."

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