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Giants - Philadelphia
Game 15 preview
Monday Dec 25, 4:30 PM - Giants at Philadelphia

Giants (5-9) Philadelphia (10-4)
The Philadelphia Eagles were hoping to take over the lead in the NFC East on Monday night, but a last minute comeback drive from the Seattle Seahawks handed them a 20-17 loss.
The Giants thoughts of continuing on their three game winning streak came to an end in New Orleans. Close at the start, the Saints continued to score points in the second half, and the Giants didn't, taking a 24-6 loss.

Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles won the NFC East Division last year, and continued winning to have a Super Bowl matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. In that game the Eagles held a ten point lead at halftime, but found themselves down by eight in the fourth quarter. A Jalen Hurts pass to DeVonta Smith for 45 yards got them to where Hurts was able to run the ball in for a touchdown. Hurts also ran with the ball for their two-point conversion, which tied the score. The Chiefs went on to use up most of the over five minutes left to score a field goal, which gave them the lead, and their subsequent 38-35 Super Bowl win.
Aside from losing some key players, the Eagles had to find replacements for both their offensive and defensive coordinators. Both moved on to become head coaches, OC Shane Steichen to the Indianapolis Colts, and DC Jonathan Gannon to the Arizona Cardinals. Last year the Eagles finished at 14-3, and do have 10 wins now, but the road to those wins hasn't been as easy. This season they've scored less points a game and given up more. Their total point differential has dropped for 133 to just 18 this season.

Philadelphia Eagles Offense
As mentioned, the team relies heavily on quarterback Jalen Hurts and what he can accomplish for them on the field. Aside from his passing skills, last year Hurts was the top quarterback with his 165 carries, and 13 rushing touchdowns. Even though the team has lost the last 3 games, coming off an impressive 10-1 start, Hurts gives it his all. Although he was a game time decision, traveling separately from the team last week to Seattle due to an illness, he ran for 82 yards, his most on the season, and had two rushing touchdowns.
His passing game took a hit though, and Hurts was able to complete only 54.8 percent of his passes and threw two interceptions. D’Andre Swift rushed for 74 yards on 18 carries, and he is the lead running back with 896 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. Swift, Hurts, and running back Kenneth Gainwell have accounted for 116 of the teams total 123 rushing first downs.
Hurts was able to connect well with DeVonta Smith last week, who caught all 5 passes for 50 yards, but he was off with A.J. Brown, and tight end Dallas Goedert. They connected on less than half the passes that came their way. Those top receivers and Swift have caught 16 of Hurts 19 passing touchdowns, but none last week. In their current three game losing streak, the Eagles have struggled to put points up on the board.

Philadelphia Eagles Defense
To correct some defensive issues that seemed to be growing, and after losing two straight games, head coach Nick Sirianni made a change. Defensive coordinator Sean Desai was moved up to the booth area, and Matt Patricia became the new defensive play caller on the sidelines. Patricia didn't have much time to implement many adjustments before the game last week with the Seahawks, and though the defense showed some improvements, they ended things by allowing backup quarterback Drew Lock a game-winning touchdown drive in the final two minutes. That ended Seattle's four game losing streak, and added another loss to Philadelphia's record.
In that game the Eagles held Seattle to 100 rushing yards, an improvement on their rushing defense which had slipped as opponents have now averaged more than 135 rushing yards in four of the last five games. Philadelphia's best edge rusher is Haason Reddick, who leads the team with 11 sacks. Defensive end Josh Sweat is next with 6.5 sacks. No one would expect the Eagles to come up with the 70 sacks they had last year, and they currently have 39 on the year. That aside, they are one of the top teams with their quarterback pressures.

Giants Offense
Any offensive unit would like to forget a game they lost scoring just 6 points on two field goals. Tommy DeVito was coming off a game against the Green Bay Packers, where aside from completing 17-of-21 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown, with no sacks or interceptions, he ran with the ball 10 times for 86 yards. DeVito was later named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts. They scored 24 points in that game, something they rarely do, and then things came crashing down last week in New Orleans.
In DeVito's past 5 games, he'd taken 6, 5, 9, 6, and 0 sacks, with the offensive line fielding the same configuration of players. It looked like the unit had turned a corner, holding Green Bay to zero sacks, but then they gave up 7 to the Saints. Aside from that, Saquon Barkley had no free space to run. At the end of the first half, Barkley had 6 carries for 8 yards, and DeVito was the lead rusher with 36 yards on 4 carries. The sad note is that DeVito ended up being the top rusher in that game with those 36 yards, even though he didn't have another carry.
The Giants have acknowledged that they took a step back, and need to see Barkley get the ball in his hands more in upcoming games. Last week his 11 total touches were his lowest of the year, and if the Eagles are indeed struggling of late with their run defense, the Giants should attack that. Darius Slayton is the leading receiver on the team, as he was last game with 4 receptions for 63 yards. Tight end Darren Waller worked his way back last week after missing the previous five games with a hamstring injury. Aside from Slayton and Waller, the Giants have a talented group of receivers for DeVito to throw to if the offensive line can do its job.

Giants Defense
When the Giants were on their three game winning streak, their opponents were held to 19, 7, and 22 points. They gave up 24 last week in the loss to the Saints. The biggest difference in those games was the lack of turnovers the defense came up with in the last one. While the defense did hold the Saints to just one touchdown in the first two quarters, they were ineffective after that. With their offense going nowhere, the Giants gave up three straight scoring drives to the Saints in the second half. Turnovers provide opportunities, and in the previous three games, the defense had forced 12 turnovers.
In their earlier games the Eagles were averaging 28 points per game, and that's slipped to an average 16 points a game during their three game losing streak. Jalen Hurts was off with his passing during that time, completing 60 percent of his passes, with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, but has been effective running with the ball for three touchdowns. Hurts is second on the team with 139 carries for 542 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 3.9 yards a carry. The Giants defense will have to deal with that, as well as containing running back DeVonta Smith, who has carried the ball 196 times for 896 yards and 4 touchdowns, averaging 4.6 yards a carry.

Overall
The Eagles have already clinched a playoff spot, but have been trending down in their efforts to obtain the No. 1 overall seed for the playoffs. That would give them a first round bye and home field advantage. Aside from playing the Rams, the Giants will be facing off with the heavily favored Eagles twice in these last three games. To be sure, a lot would have to fall into place for the Giants to make it to the playoffs, but their fans sure would like to see them upset the Eagles on Christmas day.

NFC East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Commanders (4-10) at Jets (5-9)
Sunday at 4:25pm Cowboys (10-4) at Dolphins (10-4)
Monday at 4:30pm Giants (5-9) at Eagles (10-4)
The Eagles are the only NFC East team favored to win in these games.
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Next Game
Jan 12/31 Rams at Giants
Jan 6 or 7 - TBD

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