Game Preview – PHI at NYG

Posted: October 20th, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Game Preview – PHI at NYG

The Eagles take on the Giants on Sunday in what could be an interesting game. The Eagles are 3-2 and trying to prove they’re a good team. The Giants are 2-4 and want to get closer to .500. The Eagles have been disappointing so far this season. The Giants have played better than expected.

The Giants are 29th in scoring. They only have one game with more than 21 points. Daniel Jones is having an up and down season. He’s not making plays, but also isn’t turning the ball over like he did in the past. Jones will be getting back his key weapon, WR Malik Nabers. The star rookie missed several games, but will be back against the Eagles. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that LT Andrew Thomas is out for the rest of the season. He has been the Giants best OL this season. Without him up front, Jones is likely going to be under more pressure. Will Jones be able to protect the ball as effectively with the rush getting to him more?

The Giants will try to run the ball to help Jones and the OL. Devin Singletary and rookie Tyrone Tracy are playing pretty well so far this year. They aren’t delivering a lot of big plays, but they are solid, consistent runners. The X-factor in the run game is Jones. He is a good athlete and is able to make plays with his legs. He’s good on RPOs and scrambles.

Vic Fangio faced the Giants last year when he was the DC in Miami. Daniel Jones was sacked 6 times and left the game with an injury. The Giants struggled to run the ball. They lost 31-16, with the only TD coming on a pick-six. Fangio’s defense has struggled this year and the Giants offense is different with a playmaker like Nabers. Still, Fangio has an idea of how to handle the Giants.

The Eagles played well on defense last week. This would be a great time for them to make it two games in a row. The pass rush came alive against Cleveland and has a chance to build on that in New York. Josh Sweat has a sack in each of the past two games. Bryce Huff is starting to be disruptive. Jalen Carter can be a force up the middle. The Eagles rush was good against the Saints and Browns, but not the Bucs. If they show up in New York, that would make it 3 out of 4 games. If the rush struggles, there will be more questions.

The Giants scored 29 points against Seattle. They ran for 175 yards in that game. The Eagles need to play the run well to create the passing situations where the rush can go attack.

One of the interesting sub-plots in the game could be CB Quinyon Mitchell going against Nabers. Those two rookies look like stars in the making and could be battling each other for years to come. Who will win the battle on Sunday?

The Giants defense is 9th in points allowed and 10th in yards allowed. They have moved on from the blitz-happy attack of Wink Martindale. New DC Shane Bowen has them playing at a high level. The Giants lead the league in sacks, despite not blitzing nearly as much. Ends Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux  have combined for 5 sacks. Dexter Lawrence has been a force up the middle and has 7 sacks.

When they don’t pressure the passer, the Giants pass defense is vulnerable. Opposing QBs have a passer rating of 102. The Giants only have one INT. That’s a low total for a team that gets to the QB. Their run defense is middle of the pack. They gave up 215 rushing yards to Washington a few weeks back.

The Eagles offense is desperate to get off to a fast start. My advice is for them to focus on getting a first down and not a touchdown. Jalen Hurts threw some deep balls last week in the first couple of possessions. They didn’t work and the Eagles punted twice. Just focus on moving the chains and the points will come. Lane Johnson talked about the offense taking too long to snap the ball. It will be interesting to see if that changes this week, and if it helps.

Some people are talking about this as a revenge game for Saquon Barkley. I don’t think so. They drafted him second overall, made him the face of the franchise and paid him good money. He left in free agency because the Giants couldn’t quite come up with as much money as Barkley wanted. They didn’t cut him. No one from that franchise insulted him. The owner was crushed when Barkley left for the Eagles. This wasn’t an acrimonious divorce.

I’m sure Barkley wants to do well and win, but not necessarily as a form of revenge. He wants to be part of a good team.

Blitzing hurt the Eagles offense in the past two games. I’m sure Bowen saw that and will mix in his share of blitzes. Safety Jason Pinnock has 3 sacks this year so he’s a player to pay attention to. Kellen Moore needs to have a good plan for the blitz and Jalen Hurts needs to execute it well. One of the keys is that blitzing usually forces Barkley to stay in and block rather than going out as a receiver. That takes away a key weapon.

The Eagles will be missing LT Jordan Mailata. He went on IR this week. Fred Johnson took his place in practice this week. Johnson needs to play well. The coaches will give him help when they think he needs it. I’m curious to see how Dexter Lawrence does in this game. Jason Kelce was able to neturalize him more than most. I don’t think Cam Jurgens is at that level just yet. Jurgens needs to limit the damage Lawrence does.

Dallas Goedert is out this week. Grant Calcaterra is coming off the best game of his career. I’m sure he’ll be part of the gameplan, but the real key will be feeding the ball to Barkley and the star wideouts, AJ and DeVonta.

As much as I want to see the Eagles win this week, I want to see them play well. They only won two games by double-digits in 2023 (25-11 over Tampa and 31-17 over Miami). The Eagles wins this year are by 5, 3 and 4 points. We need this team to have a good game. To play well. To win by more than a couple of points. The Giants aren’t some lousy team that will lay down. They gave the Bengals a really tough game last week. This is more about the Eagles. If they play up to their potential, they can win by double-digits.

It would help if the defense could come up with a takeaway or two. A Bryce Huff strip sack might make for a fun Sunday. Sydney Brown will make his return to the lineup. He had an INT and 99-yard TD return last year. It will be good to get him on the field.

I’m sure Nick Sirianni is hoping for a good win so he won’t be under such scrutiny this week. Expect him to focus his emotions on his players and not the fans. A good win would take some pressure off Sirianni and the team.

Eagles-Giants is rarely boring. Let’s hope any weird/wild stuff benefits the Eagles in this one.

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