Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Game Review – PHI 28, NYG 3

Posted October 24th, 2024 | 1 Comment »

If Will Shipley almost has the same number of carries as Jalen Hurts does completions, the game has either gone very right or very wrong. Luckily for Nick Sirianni and his Eagles, this game went very right.

The Eagles ran for 269 yards. The defense had 8 sacks and only allowed 119 total yards. This was the kind of game we’ve been waiting to see from the Eagles for a while. They haven’t won a game by 25 points since beating the Giants 38-7 in the playoffs following the 2022 season. It wasn’t a perfect performance of course, but this is the best game the Eagles have played in a long time. Some might argue that the Giants are a bad team, but good teams are supposed to dominate bad teams. And the Eagles did have a dominant performance.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni pushed the right buttons before and during the game. The Eagles didn’t score early, but they always had control of the game. There was a lot of negative talk about the team during the week. Sirianni kept his players focused and had them locked in for the game itself. There weren’t a lot of key strategic decisions during the game. The Eagles were 3 for 3 on 4th downs. All of them made sense.

Kellen Moore did some interesting things with the offense. Hurts only attempted 14 passes. The Eagles ran 45 times. This wasn’t just a case of handing the ball off and running simple plays. Moore got creative. The Eagles ran to the outside with Cam Jurgens as the lead blocker. They ran to the outside on a counter play. They ran from 11, 12 and even 22 personnel. 22 means a RB and a FB. The Eagles used under center runs very effectively.

The passing game was erratic and still leaves a bit to be desired. Luckily it wasn’t needed as the Eagles ran up and down the field.

Vic Fangio had a terrific gameplan. He played a lot of zone and forced the Giants to try to play small-ball. The front got good pressure. The back seven covered well and tackled well. Fangio used some creative blitzes. I never saw more than four rushers on a play. Fangio just kept them guessing as to which four rushers. He also used his front creatively. Seeing Brandon Graham covering a slot receiver made for a funny image. But the strategy worked. Playing base personnel confused Daniel Jones at times and helped the Eagles shut down the Giants offense.

OFFENSE

Jalen Hurts had a couple of key runs. He had a blitzer come free up the middle. I’m still shocked that Hurts got away from him and ran for a gain of 16. CB Deonte Banks had a chance to make the tackle down the field, but was loafing on the play and seemed to really tick off the Giants coaches. Hurts had a good run near the goal line. He got hit so hard that it stopped him dead in his tracks. Watching live I thought he fumbled the ball. Nope. He just took the hit and stopped.

Hurts was up and down as a passer. The highlight play was his 41-yard TD to AJ Brown on 4th and 3. Hurts stayed in the pocket and made a great throw down the field for the TD. Hurts failed to see open receivers on some other plays. This wasn’t his best decision-making.

Saquon Barkley was the star of the game, going 17-176-1 on the ground and 2-11 as a receiver. Barkley used his speed to break off long runs. He used his strength and power to move the chains. He had good runs outside and inside. He set the tone for the game on an early 3rd down when he caught a short pass and ran over a DB. Barkley didn’t get the 1st down, but he let the Giants know it was going to be a long, hard day.

Barkley had runs of 38, 41 and 55 yards. You could see what a truly special player he is. The Giants had no answer for him. Barkley sat out most of the 4th quarter or he could have posted some gaudy numbers. Kenny Gainwell had a good game, going 13-56. He had runs of 12 and 14 yards. Will Shipley was 8-15 on the ground. The Giants loaded the box and the Eagles had some backup OL in so there wasn’t much room to run.

AJ Brown went 5-89-1. He was outstanding. The Giants struggled to tackle him. The long TD was impressive. He ran by the CB and then had a subtle push-off to create more separation. DeVonta Smith had a quiet day, going 1 for -2 yards. He was open other times, but Hurts wasn’t seeing him or getting the ball out quickly enough. No other WR caught a pass. The receivers did block well.

The TEs were mainly blockers in this one. Jack Stoll had a good down block that sprung a RB. Grant Calcaterra did better than ususal, but still missed his block on the WR screen where Smitty was tackled for the loss.

The OL had a really good day. Fred Robinson had some terrific run blocks.

Fred can be quite the bully when he gets the chance. His pass blocking was up and down. There were some plays where he was outstanding. There were some plays when he got driven back to Hurts. The Giants have good edge rushers, but hopefully Fred can improve on this for the next few games.

Landon Dickerson had some terrific down blocks. He opened a couple of massive holes. Cam Jurgens had a good day as well. He lost some battles to Dexter Lawrence, but there is no shame in that.

Mekhi Becton left with a concussion and Tyler Steen replaced him. I thought Steen had a really good showing. He was outstanding on combo blocks. Lane Johnson had an excellent game as well.

DEFENSE

Just about everyone on the DL played well. Jordan Davis only got a handful of snaps because the Giants went into passing mode, but Davis was good against the run early on. Jalen Carter had 2 sacks and was regularly disruptive. Milton Williams got into the backfield a few times. Moro Ojomo just missed a sack. Thomas Booker had 3 tackles and played with relentless effort, as usual.

The edge rushers were even better. Josh Sweat had a sack and deflected a pass. The sack came when he beat a TE and OT to get to the QB. Bryce Huff played his best game as an Eagle. He had 2 tackles, a sack and 2 QB hits. He also blew up a running play. Nolan Smith was really good. He had a sack and 2 TFLs. Huff and Smith both created sacks for other players as well. Rookie Jalyx Hunt had his first NFL sack. He also knocked the ball out, but the Eagles couldn’t recover it.

The best part of the pass rush was watching them collapse the pocket. Jones was sacked 8 times. He was pressured a lot more than that. This was a really impressive perfomance by the whole group.

Nakobe Dean played his best game as a pro. He led the team with 11 tackles. He had 2 sacks and 4 QB hits. Dean tackled well. He also had a good game in coverage. Zack Baun had 6 tackles. He was solid in coverage. No big plays.

Cooper DeJean has made a real impact on the defense. He covers well and tackles well. DeJean plays fast and aggressive. He covers a lot of ground. His speed and athleticism has helped the middle of the defense.

Quinyon Mitchell had a good game. He had 3 tackles, closing to the ball quickly and making physical tackles. He almost picked off a downfield throw. It would have been a tough over-the-shoulder catch. Darius Slay played his best game of the year. He had 4 tackles, 2 TFL and a PD. That was the version of Slay this defense needs. He was fast and aggressive.

The safeties were somewhat quiet. Reed Blankenship had 4 tackles, including a couple of nice plays against the run. CJGJ played deep a lot and only had 1 tackle.

ST

Braden Mann averaged 52 yards per punt.

Cooper DeJean averaged 15 yards per punt return. His long PR went for 28. He has good speed and runs hard. He isn’t overly elusive, but will break tackles and doesn’t go down on his own.

Sydney Brown had a tackle in coverage. He knocked the crap out of a player on the way downfield. It was fun to watch him out there running around and hitting people.

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One Comment on “Game Review – PHI 28, NYG 3”

  1. 1 The Linc - Return of the fullback in Philly - SportSourcio said at 12:07 PM on October 24th, 2024:

    […] Game Review – PHI 28, NYG 3 – Iggles BlitzJust about everyone on the DL played well. Jordan Davis only got a handful of snaps because the Giants went into passing mode, but Davis was good against the run early on. Jalen Carter had 2 sacks and was regularly disruptive. Milton Williams got into the backfield a few times. Moro Ojomo just missed a sack. Thomas Booker had 3 tackles and played with relentless effort, as usual. The edge rushers were even better. Josh Sweat had a sack and deflected a pass. The sack came when he beat a TE and OT to get to the QB. Bryce Huff played his best game as an Eagle. He had 2 tackles, a sack and 2 QB hits. He also blew up a running play. Nolan Smith was really good. He had a sack and 2 TFLs. Huff and Smith both created sacks for other players as well. Rookie Jalyx Hunt had his first NFL sack. He also knocked the ball out, but the Eagles couldn’t recover it. The best part of the pass rush was watching them collapse the pocket. Jones was sacked 8 times. He was pressured a lot more than that. This was a really impressive performance by the whole group. […]