| Giants
(3-13) Philadelphia (13-3)
Last
week the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys were tied 7-7 at the end of the
first quarter. After that, the Eagles ran away with the game, and had a 41-7 win
over the Cowboys.
The Giants scored big in their game with the Indianapolis
Colts. Once they took the lead in the first quarter, they never let go, and finished
with a 45-33 win over the Colts. Philadelphia
Eagles
In 2017 head coach Doug Pederson
led the team to a Super Bowl LII win over the Patriots. There were two more playoff
appearances with Pederson, but he was gone after a 2020, 4-11-1 season. Nick Sirianni
took over, and the team improved to 9-8, which got them a wild card appearance.
In 2022 Philadelphia took the NFC East title after winning the most games in their
history. A 14-3 record had them skipping wild card games, and they rolled over
the Giants and 49ers in the Divisional and Conference games.
After that, the
Eagles met up with Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs for Super Bowl LVII and
ended up with a 38-35 loss. Last year the Eagles were back on track with an impressive
10-1 start. They went on to lose 5 of their next 6 games, ended up second in the
division, and were one and done in the playoffs. This year the Eagles have won
the division title, and have locked up the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Philadelphia
Eagles Offense
They
had a strong game last week against the Dallas Cowboys even though they were playing
without starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has been ruled out this week as
well. Backup quarterback Kenny Pickett started that game, and when he was injured
in the third quarter Tanner McKee came in to replace him. Without Hurts, Philadelphia
relied heavily on the run, and the quarterbacks threw the ball only 19 times.
They combined for 13 completions for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns. There were 42
running plays, and Saquon Barkley carried the load, with 31 carries for 167 yards.
DeVonta Smith made good use of his time on the field, catching 6 of 7 passes from
the backup quarterbacks for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns. A.J. Brown also had one
touchdown catch, and all the touchdown catches went for 20 yards and more. It's
unclear which players will be involved in this next game with the Giants. Philadelphia
has good reason to rest some players, with nothing to gain from the results. Pickett
has missed practice this week, is listed as doubtful, and McKee will likely get
the start. Philadelphia
Eagles Defense
The
Eagles defensive unit has shown a big improvement over last year. They have maintained
their top ten ranked run defense, and greatly improved their passing defense from
next to last in the NFL to the top spot, allowing just 176.4 passing yards a game.
That was key to moving up in an area that counts the most, which is points. Philadelphia
was ranked 30th last year, and are currently third, giving up just 18.1 points
a game. That doesn't sound good for the Giants who are under that mark, but once
again it all matters on who is actually playing in this game.
The last time
the Eagles played the Giants, they held them to just 3 points, and sacked Daniel
Jones 7 times, and Drew Lock once. Granted that the Giants were playing without
their top offensive tackle Andrew Thomas protecting the blind side for the first
time, and have made adjustments since. The Eagles have 41 sacks on the year, about
where they were last season, but with starters sitting out, they'll likely be
more concerned with their pass coverage. The Eagles can't leave themselves too
open in the secondary with backups playing. Giants
Offense
The offensive line gave Drew Lock
some good protection last week, and he took full advantage of it. In the 45-33
win over the Indianapolis Colts, Lock threw for 309 yards and 4 touchdowns. Lock
also had one rushing touchdown, and with the offensive line doing their job, there
were no sacks and no turnovers. Malik Nabers caught seven of his eight targets
for 171 yards and two touchdowns, and he could be the biggest problem for the
Eagles if they go too far resting the regulars. Their secondary will also be tested
by Wan'Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton, who each had one touchdown catch last
week.
The Giants didn't do as well against the Colts with their rushing attack.
Tyrone Tracy had 20 carries for 59 yards, but you wouldn't want to subtract his
40 yard run on one of them from the total. Devin Singletary carried the ball 5
times for 21 yards. In this game the Eagles may be content allowing the Giants
to have more success on the ground to use up game time, and then switch things
up when they get to the red zone. Giants
Defense
The way it looks now, is that rookie
Tanner McKee will be the starting quarterback for the Eagles, and Kenny Pickett
may not play. Philadelphia is looking ahead, and they'd like to have Pickett,
who is dealing with a rib injury, available at full strength backing up Jalen
Hurts in next week's playoff game. McKee was drafted by the Eagles in the sixth
round of the 2023 draft. What can the Giants defense expect to see from McKee,
who has thrown the ball only four times, all in last week's game filling in for
Pickett?
Two of McKee's passes were long touchdown throws to DeVonta Smith
and A.J. Brown, but the Eagles two top receivers might not be involved at all
this week. In any event, there will be a lot of pressure on McKee making the first
start of his career with limited resources. Philadelphia will be inclined to see
how far they can get with their rushing attack, and have chosen to do it without
Saquon Barkley. The Giants haven't defended well against the run, and even though
they've improved over the last few games, they are next to last in that area.
Of course, with Barkley out of the mix things will be easier. After Barkley and
Hurts, Kenneth Gainwell is the teams third leading rusher, averaging 4 carries
a game over the season for 276 yards and one touchdown. The Giants have to be
aware that Gainwell can be a good outlet for McKee, and that top tight end Dallas
Goedert might see some limited action to prepare him for the playoffs after missing
games while being on IR. No matter what team or who they'll play this week, the
Giants have to do a better job cleaning up their own mistakes. There have been
too many big plays with numerous missed tackles The defense has been penalized
106 times, and they're giving up 24.7 points a game. Overall
The
Philadelphia Eagles have said that they will be resting players. Most on their
minds is winning the following week in the playoffs. Going one and done as they
did the previous year, would be very disappointing. The Giants showed last week
that they are in these games to win them. They haven't had much luck with that
this season, but the Giants would like to end things on a high note. NFC
East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Giants (3-13)
at Eagles (13-3)
Sunday at 1:00pm Commanders (11-5) at Cowboys (7-9)
The
Eagles and Commanders are the NFC East teams favored to win in these games.
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