Giants lose to the Eagles 38-7

"It was totally one-sided in the first half of this game, and the Giants were on the wrong side. The Eagles started off by scoring a touchdown on their opening drive. Daniel Jones got his guys down to the Eagles 35 yard line, and took a sack that brought up fourth down. I was surprised that head coach Brian Daboll decided to go for it, needing 8 yards for a first down at this point in the game. Jones took another sack, and the Eagles had the ball at their own 48 yard line. They soon scored another touchdown, and had a 14-0 lead.
What if I told you that drive where Jones took two sacks was the best Giants drive of the first half? They gained 28 yards on that drive on 8 plays, and the rest were three-and-out or less, because one was a two play drive that ended with an interception. Meanwhile the Eagles used up most of the time scoring two more touchdowns, and were up 28-0 at the end of the half.
The Giants were 3-and-out to start the third quarter, but it was encouraging to see our defense get the Eagles off the field just as fast right after. On top of that, Jones put together a 10 play drive that included a 39-yard run by Saquon Barkley. They went 88 yards ending things with a direct snap to Barkley, who handed the ball off to Matt Breida for an 8-yard touchdown!
The Giants were finally on board, but still trailing 28-7 with more than half the third quarter gone. The defense held again, but Jones took a sack on his turn, and when a 3rd-and-6 pass to Darius Slayton didn't work out, the Giants had to punt. The Eagles then ran the ball as much as they could, chewing up nearly eight minutes and two Giants timeouts, on their way to scoring a field goal to put them up 31-7.
There wasn't much hope with just over five minutes to play, and after Jones was sacked, he managed to overcome a 4th-and-16 with a pass to Marcus Johnson. Jones reward was to be sacked on the next play. Three plays later, an incompletion on another fourth down play ended the drive. The Eagles didn't have far to go and a few plays later, to make things even worse on the night, their running back broke free with a 35-yard touchdown run, and a 38-7 score.
With less than two minutes to go, the Giants managed to keep Jones sack free on two of his passes, and the other three plays were runs until time ran out. I was so hoping the Giants would be able to win this game, or at least look more respectable than they did losing this one. Nothing seemed to work very well, and it will be interesting to see how the Cowboys do tomorrow, and how far the Eagles can carry things in next week's playoffs."

"Jalen Hurts injured his shoulder, and the Eagles, a team that had just one loss on the season, lost the next two games without him. Hurts was back for the team's last game of the season with the Eagles needing a win to clinch the NFC East and home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Their task was made easier as the Giants had already locked up the No 6 seed in the playoffs, and the Giants fielded a mixed bag of players, including a quarterback who had never started a game, or even completed a pass in the NFL.
The Giants would have fought tooth and nail if they needed a win in that game, and the Eagles got what they wanted with a 22-16 win. The Giants got what they wanted as well. With their main starters rested, they were at their best traveling on to Minnesota, and were able to take down the Vikings in their first playoff game 31-24.
Going into this game, one of the included health issues was of course how Hurts would hold up. Even being used carefully in that last game, the Giants backups sacked him 3 times. The Eagles were looking to have right tackle Lane Johnson back, hopefully playing at full strength to help keep the Giants real starters at bay. On the Giants side, outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari had been dealing with a quad injury, and the thought was he would be limited in this game.
The way it played out, the Eagles showed what they can do when they go full force compared to their last game with the Giants, using a more cautious approach. By the end of the first half, the Giants offense had managed just three first downs, and the Eagles had touchdowns on four of their five drives. Their defense had an interception, 2 sacks, and limited the Giants to just 64 total yards.
There was no respite for the Giants in the second half. Even though they came up with a touchdown for the first score, that was it. The Eagles added a field goal and a touchdown, and the final score was an embarrassing 38-7 loss for the Giants. The Eagles made sure Darius Slayton was covered, and Jones was able to connect with him on 1 of 5 passes for 4 yards. Isaiah Hodgins was targeted for only 2 passes, and caught 1 for 3 yards.
Richie James was the leading receiver, with 7 catches on 10 targets for 51 yards. Jones completed 15 of his 27 passes for 135 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception. He took 5 sacks, and his 6 carries for 24 yards contributed to the team's total 118 rushing yards. Saquon Barkley had 9 carries for 61 yards, and caught 2 passes for 21 yards. Matt Breida scored the only touchdown for the Giants with an 8-yard run.
The Giants defense was a total letdown as evidenced by the score. They came up with only one sack on Hurts, and he threw two touchdowns. They allowed three rushing touchdowns, one by Hurts, and one each by running backs Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott. Miles Sanders carried the ball the most, and that running back trio, along with Hurts, totaled 268 rushing yards.
It was a tough loss for the Giants tonight, and they finished up with a 9-7-1 regular season record, and a 1-1 postseason record. It was a good season for the Giants, and now it's time to plan for the future. Player contracts will be on their minds for Jones and Barkley, and a number of other players."

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