Giants lose to the Eagles 38-20

"I was hoping the Giants could pull off two straight wins over the Eagles, but that didn't happen. The Eagles had the ball first, and the Giants let Saquon Barkley break free for a 65-yard touchdown run on the second snap of the game. The Giants responded by losing one yard on three plays. With our defense and offense playing so poorly, the Eagles next attempted kicking a 58-yard field goal, knowing we'd have good field position if they missed. Well they got what they deserved.
I enjoyed hearing the ball bounce off the uprights, and Jaxson Dart finished off the next Giants drive with 19-yard completion to Darius Slayton, and an 18-yard touchdown pass to Cam Skattebo. I felt better with the score tied at 7-7, but once again the Eagles risked giving up good field position, this time going for it on a 4-and-3. Jalen Hurts scrambled for five yards, and five plays later they were on the Giants 11-yard line. On a 4th-and-1 push play, Hurts reached out and fumbled the ball.
That was great, except the refs made an obvious bad call about forward progress negating that, and Brian Daboll's challenge didn't work. The Eagles went on to score a touchdown, to take a 14-7 lead. I thought that was bad, but then the worst thing in this game happened next. Skattebo was hit trying to make catch on a 2nd-and-16 pass play, and he had to be carted off the field. After an incompletion, the defense looked inspired to make something happen.
They got the Eagles off the field with a 3-and-out, after sacking Hurts with a 7-yard sack. On the Giants turn, Tyrone Tracy started off with some nice runs, and Dart hit Daniel Bellinger with a 21-yard pass to get them in field goal range. The drive ended with Graham Gano kicking a 47-yard field goal, but the Eagles took the field, and basically closed out the half when Hurts threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Goedert to make the score 21-10.
The Eagles scored first in the third quarter with a field goal, and the Giants did the same. Both were long drives, and the Eagles added a touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it 31-13. You kind of knew this game was over, especially the way that drive went. Barkley started it off with a 28 yard run, and looked hurt leaving the field. Then, even though Brian Burns sacked Hurts for a 16 yard loss, their backup runner Tank Bigsby, carried the ball 29 yards for a first down.
Dart took two sacks on the Giants next 3-and-out, and the Eagles added another touchdown. The Giants used up half of the six minutes left and scored a touchdown to make it a 38-20 game. The Eagles used up the rest of the clock without Hurts on the field, and that was it. The way things went today I, and I'm sure many other fans, were glad this game was over. I hope things aren't as bad for Skattebo as it looked, and we'll see what happens next week."

"We said in the preview that Saquon Barkley has gotten off to fast starts in games before teams seem to realize they have to buckle down and commit. Barkley did the same to the Giants In their last game, where he was on the way to his first 100 yard plus game of the season in the first half, before the Giants slowed him down in the second. Today was a repeat performance with Barkley doubling down, securing all he needed, running 10 times for 107 yards, and with one touchdown running and another receiving in the first half. Barkley had 4 more carries in the second half to finish with 150 on the day.
The Giants defense also let running back Tank Bigsby come up with 104 yards on his 9 carries. Jalen Hurts ran 4 times, all in the first half for 22 yards, and that was it. There was no need for the Eagles to put their quarterback at risk the way this game was going. The defense did sack Hurts 4 times, but he still completed 15 of his 20 passes and 4 were touchdowns. This was while working without their top receiver A.J. Brown. Tight end Dallas Goedert did more than enough, catching all three passes and two were touchdowns. Clearly the Giants can't win games with the defense playing as it has been. Poor tackling has to be fixed.
On offense, Jaxson Dart made some really nice throws. He completed 14 of his 24 passes for 194 yards, which included a touchdown pass to Cam Skattebo. Dart also had 1 rushing touchdown. Losing Skattebo on the Giants third possession of the game, certainly had a big impact on the offense. He had carried the ball only three times up to that point, and last time against the Eagles Skattebo ran the ball 19 times for 98 yards and 3 touchdowns. The offensive line played well, and some of Dart's five sacks were on him trying to make plays work.
Theo Johnson dropped a third down pass that would have given the team a first-and-goal in the second quarter, and they had to settle for a field goal. The refs didn't help the Giants in their efforts to score points. It sure looked like Darius Slayton had a 68-yard touchdown catch, but the refs took it away, calling offensive pass interference on Slayton. There were a few other calls that seemed questionable. The Giants will have to regroup and figure their best offensive plans working without Skattebo, when they host the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday."

[Back to Team Giants] Click on the Team Giants logo to be informed of all Giants game previews, reviews and off season football news. Stop in and visit "Mike's Keys to the Internet" at  MikesKeys.com