Detailed Game Review – NYG 15, PHI 7

Tough loss. The defense played well enough to win. The STs played well enough to win. The offense was bad. Really bad.

Michael Vick wasn’t ready to play and Matt Barkley wasn’t much better. The offense never could get on track. The defense was solid, but they couldn’t make that big play that got the whole team going. STs provided a spark with their late TD, but that was too little, too late. .

People are going to look for a lot of angles on why the team lost and who is at fault. Bottom line for me is that the Eagles didn’t execute well on offense and that hindered the whole team. The Giants were able to play with the lead, which let them do what they wanted. The Giants were able to take advantage of the wind since they could sustain drives.

Every time you thought something might go right, it didn’t. The Eagles couldn’t create their own breaks and they sure couldn’t catch one. A punt almost hit a Giant downfield, but missed him by inches. An Eagles fumble is inches away from the sideline but stops and is recovered by a Giant. And so on. Just a long, crappy day. If there is anything to be encouraged by it is the fact that as bad as the offense was, the team was in the game up until the end. Or maybe that just tells us how bad the Giants are.

“They suck less!” “They suck less!” “They suck less!”   

COACHING

Chip faced lots of questions in this game. First controversy came late in the 1st half. Matt Barkley had just come in the game and led the offense right down the field. Had 1st/GL at the 2 with 1:14 left. Kelly called timeout. Many felt he had the Giants on their heels and should have just kept attacking. Chip thought that was a critical situation and wanted a chance to talk to Barkley and settle him down. The Eagles desperately needed a TD.

That’s only part of the controversy. Kelly then called a pass play. Barkley held the ball too long and it resulted in a sack/fumble. Why have Barkley passing from the 2? Why no feed Shady? The other issue that we now know is that Barkley had not run the called play, despite that being an Eagles RZ staple. It is easy to fault Kelly. I can see both sides. It would help to know what Barkley said when the play was called. Did he have any reservations? Key point is that the play is supposed to be safe. Only a 2-man route. QB has limited choices. If he doesn’t see anyone wide open, throw the ball away. Matt didn’t do that.

Kelly drew criticism for trying a 50-yd FG. He tried a 60-yarder last week so it upset many to not go for the shorter one. Kelly explained that the wind was a major factor. Last week the wind was behind him on the long kick. Also, that was at the end of a half. If it missed, the defense would only be on the field for a couple of plays so the field position was less likely to hurt the team.

Kelly didn’t go for it on 4th down in the 4th Qtr. Instead, he punted away and relied on the defense. I didn’t like that decision. He felt that Donnie Jones could pin the Giants deep and the D could stop them. That would give the Eagles the ball in good field position. I preferred going for it. You have to take some chances when you’re down.

The final controversy came late in the game when Kelly went for an onside kick. The safe play was to kick deep and hope for good field position. Kelly had confidence that the team could execute the onside kick. That gave the Eagles 2 chances to get the ball. Kelly felt the risk was worth it. I preferred kicking deep in that situation.

Kelly’s decisions all had some logic to them. There was also good counter-logic to what he did. Kelly is open for criticism since his decisions failed.

You can also debate Kelly’s decision to start Vick, but that is a complex situation that requires lengthy discussion.

I had no issues with the offensive and defensive strategies.

OFFENSE

No points. 201 total yards. I think that says it all.

Last week was a disaster primarily due to a nightmare performance by Nick Foles. This week was more of a team effort. QBs, skill players and linemen all had a hand in this debacle. Total offensive letdown. On the bright side, it is great to see the guys working together so well.

I totally agree with Chip Kelly that Sunday’s struggles were more about execution than scheme or talent. There were some simple mistakes and some critical mistakes. When you do have the 3rd string QB in, you need the supporting cast to pick up their level of play. Help the young guy out. That didn’t happen at all. Think about it…were there any highlight plays? Did anyone make a great catch? Did the runners do anything special? Players struggled to do the average, let alone anything more.

I think Michael Vick’s early INT and Matt Barkley’s fumble both really hurt the team beyond being turnovers. The Vick INT was deflating because it sent an immediate signal that we weren’t going to see good Vick. The offense then got a spark when Barkley came in, but his fumble was crushing. A TD there cuts the score to 12-7 and gives the Eagles a ton of momentum. Instead, it felt like Lucy pulling the football out as Charlie Brown went to kick it. Foiled again.

Circumstances didn’t help. The Eagles only had one drive start beyond the 40 yards line (Eagles 41). 8 drives started at the 21 or worse. A pair of drives started inside the 10-yard line. The offense wasn’t able to move the chains and sustain drives. 5 of 11 drives were 3 plays or less. There were no explosive plays to make up for that. The Eagles only had one play of more than 20 yards (Avant – 25). Think about this for a minute. LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson combined for 27 touches and they had just one play that gained more than 10 yards. I thought that was literally impossible.

Sadly, I was wrong.

Poor field position + only one sustained drive + only one big play = no offensive points. Ugh.

Plays

* 2nd/10. Maehl and Casey were out far left…with Lane Johnson. Vick fired the ball to Casey, who then had Maehl and Johnson block for him on a screen. Got 11 yds. We saw the OTs lining up out wide this summer. Don’t think we’ve seen it so far this year.

* 1st/GL. Kelly decided to throw for TD late in the half. Called a simple play with only 2 men out. Ertz runs a drag from the backside. DJax runs quick play on the front side. Play action goes right and QB moves left. Receivers didn’t appear to be open. Barkley hesitated rather than just throwing the ball away. Got strip-sacked and the Giants made a great recovery on the sideline, inches from being out of bounds. Disaster.

* 4th/10. Barkley got another errant snap. Couldn’t catch it. Had to bend down and grab it. Got the ball and re-set his feet. Threw the ball quickly. Had some pressure so he couldn’t make normal reads. Actually chose the right receiver, Avant, but the pass was over his head.

* 3rd/8. Late 3rd Qtr. DJax caught a pass over the middle. Was closing in on the 1st down line and a defender came up. DJax didn’t go for the line. Instead of going upfield, he flattened his angle and ran parallel to the LOS. Failed to get a 1st down and forced the team to punt. Critical mistake. Had an easy 1st down if he just stayed upfield. Really infuriated me.

MISC

* 0-1 in the Red Zone.

* Only 6 plays of 10 yds or more. Shocking.

* 3-12 on 3rd downs.

Players

QB 

VICK – Bad game. Wasn’t right physically and that affected him mentally. You could see from the first pass play of the game that Vick was shaky. Wasn’t comfortable running. So he stood in the pocket and threw a ball over the middle, hoping for a completion. I literally don’t know what Vick was thinking. Celek had given no indication of turning back to the inside. The QB cannot hope a receiver just does something. You can’t throw that ball over the middle like that and hope. Vick had Casey wide open in the flat to start the 2nd series. Decided to look downfield instead and ended up taking a sack. Called for intentional grounding on the 3rd series. Vick got pressure up the middle. Had room to run, but his hammy had just gotten re-aggravated so Vick couldn’t run. Threw the ball away, but wasn’t outside the tackle box.

6-9-31. Completed 2 passes to DeSean, 1 to Casey, 2 to Shady and 1 to Brown. Made a good throw to Ertz on 3rd/5, but the Giants LB made a good play to break it up.

BARKLEY – Another week and another chance to come off the bench. Came into the game with 2:24 left in the half. First snap was off to the left. Barkley didn’t panic. Got control of the ball, looked up and found Celek for a 9-yd gain. Hit DJax on an out route for a gain of 13. Threw that from the far hash to the sideline. Wasn’t a rocket, but showed an NFL arm. Tried to hit Shady on a wheel route. Put some air under the ball so Shady could get to it. LB hit Shady as he went for the ball so there was a flag. Had interesting play late in the half. Dropped back. Clean pocket. For some reason, drifted to his right. That gave good rush angle to DE and he got to Barkley quickly. Matt stayed focused downfield and hit Avant with a good throw. Loved the focus and poise, but needs to stay in a clean pocket. Did a poor job on 3rd down on opening drive of the 2nd half. Had Riley wide open on drag route. Didn’t see him til late and took a sack. Had at least 4 seconds to throw the ball, but never got it out.

One issue that I noticed is that Barkley’s footwork can get sloppy when he’s pressured. That led to some off-target throws. Quarterbacks must be able to throw from a variety of platforms. They can’t count on a clean pocket. You want the quarterback to use proper mechanics most of the time, but there will be occasions when he needs to be able to make good throws while off-balance or leaning in one direction or twisting to avoid rushers. This is something for Barkley to work on. He missed open receivers with erratic throws in these situations. There was pressure, but good NFL QBs know how to deal with pressure and still get the ball to their guy.

More than a few reporters asked about Barkley and the read-option. Barkley didn’t run the ball and some have speculated that Barkley wasn’t making good reads. Chip Kelly said in his PC that there was only one mistake, on a play where Barkley was running the read-option with Bryce Brown. Kelly has said a few times that just because a play looks like the read-option doesn’t mean it is. Some are a straight hand-off. Others might involve the option to throw a quick screen.

Barkley finished 17-26-158 in the air. No TDs and one INT. I thought he showed some good things. Arm was once again solid. Generally dealt with pressure well. Read his progressions. Found the open guy most of the time, which shows good field vision. Made the one critical disaster late in the 1st half when he failed to throw the ball away. My biggest complaint with Matt is typical of young QBs. Sometimes is slow to find the right guy. Other times is just slow to get the ball out. Just throwing the ball away on the sack/fumble disaster would have made a huge difference. Sometimes giving up on a play is the smart decision.

Aside from the fumble, there was only one play from Barkley that upset me. He dropped back on a 3rd/5 play. Riley Cooper ran a shallow cross and was wide open. Barkley should have hit him for an easy first down. For some reason, Barkley didn’t see him in time and the offense wasn’t able to move the chains. Gotta pull that trigger and get the ball out.

I’m no closer to knowing what to make of his NFL future. Shows some good skills, but has played almost 3 Qtrs and has yet to produce one single point. That’s not good.

RB

SHADY – Shut down by the Giants. And partially himself. 15-48 on the ground. 4-18 as a receiver. Made some poor decisions. The offensive struggles had Shady trying to hit home runs. Too often he ran into trouble when the team just needed him to get upfield and maximize his carries. That’s the heaven and hell of a runner like McCoy. You can’t totally change him. You must let him freelance. You just hope he shows good situational awareness and knows there are games when every yard is precious and moving the chains is more important than trying for big plays. Drove me nuts with run in the mid-3rd Qtr. Was 2nd/7. Took ball and headed left. Was able to turn upfield. Had room in front of him. Needed to run off Todd’s backside (was trying to block 2nd level defender). Easy 1st down. Instead, Shady stops and tries a cutback move, with defenders right in that area. Went right to them. 3rd down run got stuffed. Punt. Made good blitz pickup of Beason on 3rd/5 in the mid-2nd Qtr. Gave Vick a clean pocket.

B BROWN – Caught screen on 3rd series. Had defenders on him quickly so there was just a minimal gain. Quiet day as a runner, but did have one impressive run. Got the ball on 3rd/1. Outside zone play. Went wide and ran through arm tackle. Turned upfield and powered through 3 tacklers to get 1.5 yards. Very good effort. Finished with 3 carries for -1 yd.

TE

CELEK – Pretty good game as a blocker. Only 2-17 as a receiver. Helped to seal the right side on 3rd/1 run where Shady got a couple of yards. Good block on 3rd Qtr run to the right side where Shady went for 9 yds. Did a good job of blocking DEs on 3rd Qtr runs.

ERTZ – Had early 3rd/5 pass come his way. Wasn’t able to make that grab because the LB trailing him reached around and hit the ball. That was good defense. Barkley tried to hit him on crossing route late in the half. DL tipped the ball and Ertz wasn’t able to get it after that. Still came close, but trajectory had changed and his hands were under the ball. Would have been a gain of 15 to 20 yds. Had solid in-line block of 94 on 3rd Qtr run play. Showing some progress in that area. Did have 1 catch for 5 yds.

CASEY – Got mixed into the offense on the 2nd and 3rd series. Would line up in the backfield mostly and then release into a pass route. Lined up out wide and caught a quick screen. Got upfield for a gain of 11. It was good to see Casey mixed in more than usual.

WR

D JACKSON – Strange game. 8-63. Mostly short catches. One for 10, one for 13. Lots of screens. Did okay on those plays. Got RAC yds, but failed to break loose and jump-start the offense with a big play. Had good block of DB in early 3rd Qtr and let Shady get wide for solid run. As I covered earlier, failure to move the chains on 3rd Qtr catch and run really upset me. 1st down was right there and DeSean didn’t sell out to get it.

AVANT – Good numbers at 3-54 for the day. Had a good day as a blocker, on runs and screens. Had some very good blocks on WR screens. Caught 14-yd pass late in the half. That put the Eagles down at the 2. Caught pass over the middle on 2nd/19. Got 25 yds on the play. Made one critical mistake. Called for OPI in the mid-4th. Legit call. Used hand to push DB down the field so he could come back to the ball. That was on a 4th down and it turned a conversion into 4th/very long.

COOPER – Caught pass in the late 3rd Qtr. Circled back to get away from defenders. Ended up losing almost 2 yards on the play. This was not the game to give away yards and try for big plays. Caught another short pass. Ended 2-13. Solid as a blocker, but didn’t have any standout moments that I saw.

D JOHNSON – Caught short pass over the middle in the early 4th.

MAEHL – No passes came his way, but was effective as a blocker.

OL

* Joseph got a sack when he split Todd and Lane Johnson. Both thought other guy had him. Not sure who was at fault.

PETERS – A bad omen on Sunday happened on the 2nd play of the game. Peters pulled to the inside and went to block the MLB. Jon Beason knocked Peters back. When 240 beats 340…not a good sign. Beason then tackled Shady and only gave up a yard. A better block and Shady gets at least 5 yds. Failed to get good block on JPP on 3rd Qtr run to his side. Let JPP go inside and that limited Brown to a yard. Peters did a good job in pass pro.

MATHIS – Pulled outside to the left on 3rd Qtr run and slammed Rolle to the ground. Loved seeing that. He and Kelce doubled the NT a lot and won that battle. Mathis had his usual impressive game.

KELCE – Strange game. Had several errant snaps. Low snap to Vick in the 2nd Qtr. Bad snap on Barkley’s first play. Got beat by Jenkins with a club move late in the half, but recovered and blocked him just enough to keep Matt clean. Called for false start in the early 3rd Qtr. I didn’t really see what drew the flag. Odd call. Pulled outside left on 3rd/1 in the 3rd Qtr and blocked Beason so Brown could move the chains. Did a good job as a blocker, but the errors hurt.

HERREMANS – Got driven back by Joseph on early pass play. That led to Vick’s grounding penalty. Got pushed back by Joseph a couple of times. Mostly Todd re-set his feet and anchored after giving up the initial ground. Also understand that Todd had him 1-on-1. Kelce and Mathis were doubling the NT. Picked up DE who was looping to the inside on a stunt. Gave Barkley a clean pocket. Pretty solid, with a few sloppy plays.

JOHNSON – Kiwanuka got free from his block to directly cause the grounding penalty, but Lane had done his job early on the play. As Vick drifted deeper in the pocket, Kiwi had an easy angle to get to him. Lane had blocked based on where he thought Vick would be and not where Vick drifted to. Beaten by Tuck for TFL on 2nd Qtr run play. Had some struggles with Tuck, who is a crafty veteran. Lined up way out right on screen pass to DJax late in the half. Wasn’t able to control JPP on 3rd/2 run to the right side. Shady got tackled for a loss. Not Johnson’s best day. Good news is that Tuck wasn’t physically overwhelming him. Tuck used some good moves and tricks to beat Johnson. As Lane gets experience, he’ll handle that stuff better. Also liked that Johnson didn’t panic when beaten. Came back ready to do his job on the next play. Some guys struggle with their confidence. Not Johnson.

BARBRE – DNP

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DEFENSE

Best game of the year. Limited the Giants to 325 yards and 15 points. Any time you hold your opponent to less than 17 points you’re doing a good job. The last time an Eagles opponent failed to scored a TD was the Jags in 2010.

The Giants did help the situation. They weren’t aggressive with the passing game. They ran the ball a lot, despite the fact it was marginally effective. They finished with 29 carries for 89 yards. That’s just over 3 yds per carry. The long run was only 9 yards. The Giants didn’t have the speed to run outside and the Eagles clogged the inside lanes for the most part.

I’m optimistic about the defense, but don’t want to make too much of a game. Eli Manning still had too much time to throw. He got pressured here and there, but didn’t take one really hard hit in the entire game. There was one sack and one grounding penalty. That’s just not good enough for a game when the QB drops back 40 times.

I thought the Eagles did a solid job of tackling. The Giants weren’t racking up RAC yards. The Eagles seemed well prepared. There weren’t receivers running wide open all over the place. The Eagles seemed to have a good idea of what to look for. The back seven has made great strides in terms of zone coverage and handling situations where they have to interact on the fly. The weak spot is rookie Earl Wolff. The veteran DBs are getting the hang of the system and generally get to the right spot. Wolff is still doing some guessing…and some of it is wrong.

At the least, this Eagles defense is playing with some confidence. People can still move the ball, but the defense isn’t making things easy on them. You don’t mind when good players beat you. You just don’t want them to do it easily or with no fear of getting hit. While the days of Waters and Dawkins are long gone, the current DBs are a major upgrade on the Charmin Brigade.

PLAYS

* 2nd/10. Eagles went Cover 0. Giants ran a WR screen. Cary Williams read the play and fired up the field to get the WR for a TFL. I liked the aggression of mixing in Cover 0 (all 11 players near the line…nobody deep).

* Great little moment in the game. 72 over RG, 91 over LT. Inside run. Both guys fought through blocks and hit the RB at the LOS. It feels very encouraging when the young DL overpower blockers at the same time. That gives you real hope for the future.

MISC

* Bill Davis has started to mix in double A-gap blitzes. This is an old JJ concept. Cool to see it being used again.

* Bear front with DL stunt. This is where the 3 DL line up side by side on blockers. The Eagles had one slant and the other loop around him. Old Buddy Ryan strategy.

* Fletcher slammed WR in the early 3rd. He and Nate Allen were trying to make a tackle. Was it roughing? Giants WRs had been tough to bring down all day. Bradley wrapped him up and then slammed Cruz to the ground. It wasn’t dirty at all. I didn’t think it warranted a penalty, but can see where Giants fans would disagree. My big point is that the officials weren’t quick with the whistle so Bradley had to make sure he got the guy down. What’s he supposed to do?

* Giants were 8 of 19 on 3rd downs. That’s solid for them.

* 0 for 2 in the RZ. Key to staying in the game.

* No takeaways.

PLAYERS

DL

COX – Good game. Stout early, but wasn’t directly involved in stops. That changed in the 2nd Qtr. Used good inside move in the 2nd Qtr to get by OG and flush Eli from the pocket. Slanted hard to the inside on play late in the 2nd Qtr. Stuffed an inside run. Drove Diehl back into Eli’s face on 3rd Qtr pass play. Looped to the inside on 3rd Qtr pass play and hurried Eli into a throw. Had lined up wide on blitz look. Showed his speed on that play. Stuffed 4th Qtr run. Couple of plays later fired off the ball and got a sack. Shed LG and stuffed run late in the game. Shed the LG and stopped RB on final drive. Credited with 4 tackles and a sack.

SOPOAGA – Might have played his best game. Giants used RB/FB/TE personnel for much of the game which meant the Eagles base defense was on the field a lot. I didn’t focus on Sope since he’s gone, but he did a solid job in clogging the middle.

THORNTON – LDE. Good game. Stout vs the run, but also active. Had 6 solo tackles. Made tackle on opening play. Went to right side of the OL, but was able to move laterally and get to other side of the blocker and grab the runner. Good play. Spun off block and grabbed RB who was headed up the middle. Nice play. Drove Diehl into the backfield and stuffed a 2nd Qtr run play. Had impressive stuff of a run play in the mid-4th.

CURRY – Quiet game. Mostly played Nickel. Giants OGs did a good job on him. Made good play vs the run late in the half. Got upfield, fought through block of pulling OL and got to the RB. Got pressure on 4th Qtr pass play. Scraped off the back of the DE who had slanted inside. Not sure if it was designed for Curry to go wide or if he just saw Eli drifting that way and chased him.

GEATHERS – Best game as an Eagle. Best game ever? Looked like he shot a gap on 2nd series and run went outside of him for good gain. Needed to 2-gap and not give up that much space. Very impressive play in the late 1st Qtr. Shed the RT and engulfed the RB. Played big, which is what you want from him. The next play was a run away from him. Geathers moved laterally along the LOS and got in on the tackle from behind. Good hustle, but also technically sound. Protected the backside. Shed block of RT and stuffed run play in the late 3rd. Shed OL and stuffed that came at him in the late 3rd. Best play came late in the game. Beat RG with inside move and hit RB for a TFL.

LOGAN – Played NT and DE. Chased play from backside and got RB near the LOS in the 3rd. Stuffed 4th Qtr run. Got lucky. Wasn’t set on the play so when the ball was snapped he was able to see the ball go to his left and made the play. Solid showing, but didn’t make many plays.

OLB

COLE – Too quiet. Didn’t even have one solo tackle. Giants seemed to go away from him a lot. Davis came up with an interesting twist and flopped Cole /Barwin. Lined up at LOLB on the 2nd series. Barwin flipped to his side. Was barely blocked on 1st Qtr pass play and got into backfield. Forced Eli to rush and make errant throw. Best chance for a sack. Made good stop vs run in the early 4th. Got pressure off the edge on 4th Qtr pass play in the Red Zone.

BARWIN – Good game. Only credited with 1 tackle, but deflected 3 passes. Covered well & set the edge well on run plays. Helped stuff run to weakside early in the game. Lined up over slot on early pass play. Looked like he wanted to jam the guy, but never made contract. Eli got the ball to that receiver for a solid gain over the middle. Disrupted early screen pass. Wasn’t blocked. Got into backfield quickly and forced errant throw. Did jam WR on 2nd Qtr pass play. Zone coverage. Hit the guy, released him to the corner and then went to the middle. Unblocked off the edge in the mid-3rd and forced Eli to throw the ball away. That drew a flag for grounding. Batted down pass in the mid-3rd.

GRAHAM – Got to play some LOLB (with Barwin on the right side). Mostly played RLB. Shed block of LT and helped to stuff a run. Nice play in the early 2nd Qtr. LT pulled outside to block Brandon. He hit the LT and knocked him backward, which forced the runner out wide. RB did get by Brandon, but only for short gain. Got pressure on 4th Qtr pass play.

ILB

KENDRICKS – Chip Kelly said he thought this was MK’s best game as run defender. Can’t disagree. Had 11 solo tackles and a TFL. Got TFL on 2nd play. Fought through Diehl’s block and hit RB in the backfield. Good vs FB on weakside runs. Stuffed run play late in the 1st half. Off-tackle run where he wasn’t blocked. Had chance for TFL in the late 3rd. Moved through traffic into the backfield. Was going full speed and went for RB, but cutback move kept him from making the stop. Burned on 3rd down pass play late in the game. TE pushed off, but Kendricks has to be more balanced so he can take that contact and not give up separation. Flew around the field and had a very active game.

RYANS – Had 6 total tackles and a PD. Shot A-gap on blitz and forced quick throw. Hustled out wide and tackled WR who started to get away from William. Absolutely leveled TE on pass play in the early 2nd Qtr when the guy tried to release upfield. DeMeco floored him. Close to the 5-yd mark, but no flag. Love when Ryans does that. Did a good job vs inside runs. Not special highlight tackles but got to the ball a lot.

MATTHEWS – Didn’t see him on defense.

GOODE – Didn’t see him on defense.

S

ALLEN – Pretty good game. Was in on 5 tackles and had a PD. Barely got TE down after downfield catch. Had time. Just made sloppy tackle attempt and got the guy by his ankle. Very next play was a weakside run. Nate came down quickly and made a good tackle of Hillis for a short gain. Jumped in passing lane on the right side and forced Eli to throw left. Blitzed and got pressure on Eli sorta up the middle. Eli still made a perfect throw. Made good RZ play in the 2nd Qtr. Giants used bunch set. Nate’s guy ran crossing route. Ball went to him. Nate showed good acceleration. Receiver bobbled the ball and Nate hit him, knocking the ball loose and incomplete. Had the guy caught it cleanly, he’d have gained very little. Came up quickly and tackled WR on crossing route in the early 3rd. This came on 3rd down play and forced a punt. Sloppy tackle attempt vs TE in the RZ. Went low, but wasn’t able to secure the TE’s legs. Pursuit got there quickly.

CHUNG – DNP

WOLFF – Still looks like a rookie in some coverage situations. Had an early pass play where he guessed on the receiver’s route and was wrong. Ball went elsewhere. Tried to cover receiver in the endzone in the 2nd Qtr. Was in the right spot, but then froze and the receiver kept going. Could have been easy TD, but the receiver was sloppy and ran out of bounds. Made questionable decision on another pass play. Was underneath guy. Got close to WR and took him away, but gave up pass to RB. Looked like he should have stayed between them instead of committing to the WR so quickly. Not sure on that. Had another pass play after that where he made another mistake. Covered slot guy at the snap and let that guy go inside. Earl was then to widen out to outside receiver. Instead, he was caught looking at Eli and the ball went wide. Moved the chains. Got Cruz down after catch over the middle in the 4th Qtr. Had 4 solo tackles. Good vs run, but sloppy in coverage.

COLEMAN – Didn’t see him on defense.

CB

FLETCHER – Active game. Had 8 solo tackles. Made plays vs run and pass. Pursued well and hustled to the ball. Had very tight coverage on 3rd down throw to Nicks early in the game, but ball still got through. Missed it by inches. Did make the tackle. Eli tried to beat him with fade pass in the endzone, but Fletcher had solid coverage and the ball was overthrown. Called for PI late in the 1st half. Legit call. Hit Cruz’s arm/hand as he tried to go for the ball.

WILLIAMS – Solid game. Made tackle of WR after he got by Boykin. Good hustle. Forced punt. Had single coverage on 3rd/10. Read route well and stuck with WR into the endzone. Forced the WR out of bounds so pass fell incomplete. Bit of contact. Pretty good coverage. Had good coverage of Nicks on downfield pass late in the half. Came up quickly to knock the RB out of bound on opening series in the 3rd Qtr. Short gain. Had good coverage on 4th Qtr pass into the endzone. Pass was incomplete.

BOYKIN – Wasn’t nearly as good as his showing in the first Giants game. Had solid coverage on initial 3rd down. Couldn’t totally secure the WR after the catch though. Got lucky that teammate came over and finished the tackle as the WR slipped away from Boykin. Got lucky on 3rd down play when Cruz fell down. Brandon tried to jam him and basically missed. Cruz was open over the middle, but slipped and fell. Went Cover 0 on a 3rd down and Boykin had Cruz 1-on-1. Gave up good gain on corner route. Solid coverage, but great pass over the top. Executed blitz perfectly late in the half. Cole, Cox lined up outside right. They attacked blockers. Boykin fired in after them and went unblocked. Got to Eli, but couldn’t bring him down. Missed tackle of RB on 3rd down pass play late in the half. Moved the chains. Broke up pass to Nicks in the 4th.

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ST’s

JONES – Averaged 44.3 per punt. Downed 2 inside the 20.

HENERY – Quiet day. No FGs. 2 KOs. One was a touchback, the other an onside kick. Hit that ball too hard. Had good height, but went too far. Giants recovered it.

– MISC –

KOR – Damaris averaged 28 per KOR.

PR – Had PR of 16 yds.

* Illegal snap on the Giants. TV speculation about drawing Eagles off, but was 4th/GL. Didn’t make sense to me why the LS would try to draw the Eagles off. Think it was just odd.

* The Eagles only TD of the game came on bad snap. Went way over the Punter’s head. Boykin flew upfield and hit the P. Goode was able to hustle and scoop the ball up and then get into the endzone.

* Boykin and Roc Carmichael are good gunners for the punt team.

GAMEBOOK

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