The Eagles have overcome every obstacle they’ve faced this year and there has been plenty of them. Injuries to Jordan Hicks and Jason Peters headline the setbacks handed to the Eagles, but they don’t negate the loss of Ronald Darby for the first half of the season, the injuries to Darren Sproles and special teams ace Chris Maragos, or most recently, Carson Wentz. Depth and character has been tested at every turn but the Eagles have stayed true to their path and have secured the NFC East title as a result. The job isn’t over yet however. There are three games remaining on the schedule that stand between the Eagles and a home-field advantage in the playoffs. The first of whom is a team in complete disarray, the New York Giants.
The firing of Ben McAdoo that came just days after Geno Smith vindicated every single piece of backlash surrounding the benching of Eli Manning has thrown any sense of direction out of the window. Steve Spagnuolo has taken the reins for now and with pride on the line, the Giants will have victory on their minds.
From the perspective of the New York Giants, pride is all that’s left to play for. The Eagles have defeated them once already but now face them under very different circumstances. Nick Foles will face the G-Men for the first time since 2014 with a wobbling offensive front ahead of him and a defense that has struggled against the Seahawks and Rams as re-enforcements. The Giants are just as banged up, if not more so…but they don’t have the postseason to worry about. They don’t have longevity, stamina or durability to be concerned with and they certainly don’t have to worry about a decision to pull starters to preserve their health.
The Giants may be on the edge of collapse, but Eli Manning has stunningly had one of his most accurate years yet. If his completion percentage of 63% stands by the end of the season, it will be his second highest in his career. Inside the red zone, the loss of Odell Beckham Jr hasn’t hurt as much as expected. Manning has thrown 12 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, boasting the best record when inside the 20 of any quarterback this season.
Since the arrival of Jim Schwartz in Philadelphia, the Giants have completely changed their offense in order to cater for a relentless pass rush. Forced to get the ball out quicker, the Giants have thrived on shorter routes and intermediate plays in order to water down the pass rush as best as possible. Manning has thrown for 300 yards in both of his last meetings with the Eagles and with Evan Engram poised to be just as dangerous as Zach Ertz, the Eagles sudden dip in tackling form is a major concern. To make that challenge even tougher, Sterling Shepard’s 3 touchdowns against the Eagles are his most against any NFL team. The Eagles need to be ready for another dogfight.
“The last couple games it hasn’t been up to par.” Jim Schwartz told reporters this week. “There were a couple things in that game, first, the Rams had made a lot of big plays on play-actions deep down the field and one of our objectives in that game was to prevent those kind of things.
We actually did a pretty good job preventing the big plays from deep-down-the-field stuff. But we countered that by missing some tackles in the run game and on some short passes, and they still got those explosive plays..
…Our style of play dictates that we must be good tacklers, and if we don’t, we’re going to give up yards and give up points, and those are obviously points we don’t want to give up.”
The Eagles may be focused on the postseason and what lies ahead, but the immediate challenge is ensuring that the Giants don’t rise back up to dig a dagger into the side of those hopes. New York has pulled off impressive wins this year, but as Dallas proved, once the going gets tough, they struggle to get going. The Birds would be wise to avoid resting starters for now and make their home field advantage pay dividends by extending their record to 12 wins and putting the final nail in the coffin of the Giants season.
Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
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