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Giant Destruction

 

The Eagles took a Giants team (and a lot of their media) partying like Super Bowl winners after their first playoff win in a decade and physically and emotionally destroyed them 38-7.  The Giants had no chance from the 1st snap.  There was no turning point, no special deciding play.   The Eagles just owned the Giants starting right after the G-Men had their best play of the day... winning the coin flip. 

Enjoy laughing at New York's (and the press) pre-game euphoria.  Overconfidence does not begin to describe Big Apple insanity:

  • The Ringer’s podcaster Bill Simmons suggested NYG QB Danny Jones was the best QB in the NFC.  
  •  Fox Sports got on the Giant hype train, courtesy of Peter Schrager (Giants Super Bowl bound).
  • Sportsnaut 4 bold predictions:
    • Danny Jones rushing >100 (was 24). 
    • Giant D scoring 1 TD. (Nope, but their offense did... just 1!)
    • Evan Neal won’t yield a sack (He did not!  But he did "yield" 5 pressures as Danny Jones ran for his life all day… & the team gave up 5 sacks).
    • Graham Gano kicks a game winning FG (Didn’t try A FG at all, NY was down 31 at end).
  • 64% of Giant fans expected a NY win!
  • The Giants may not be able to play, but they sure can dance!
  • After last week’s win vs. the Vikes, Giants GM John Mara: “We’re back!”  After this week’s game against the Eagles, Giants GM John Mara: “No comment.”
  • The Eagles are now 15-3 this year.  Oh, since 2014, they are coincidentally also15-3 versus the Giants!

Danny “Dimes” Jones did not have his best game:

  • 53.8% passing rating, worst of his career.
  • 5 sacks, 5th most of his career.
  • 135 passing yards, 6th fewest of his career.
  • The Giants 7 points was their fewest this season.  But to Danny’s credit, they did score every trip to the red zone!
  • Jones managed to get the Giants across midfield twice Saturday night.  At half time they had 3 first downs.
  • Jones finished w/a Pro Football Focus grade of 46.7 for the game (lowest of all NY offensive players).
  • Jalen Hurts- 15-1 this year, an MVP candidate at QB.  The difference between great & (Jones) “OK” is significant!

The Eagle run game buried the Giants Saturday.  Laughing at their 190+ yard average the first 2 games vs. NY, The Birds managed 268 this time, including 90 for Miles Sanders (75 in the first half) and 112 for Kenny Gainwell in his first NFL 100+ yard game:

  • NY has given up 250+ rushing yards 6 times in 45 years. Of those 6 in 45 years, the Eagles have gone for 250+ rushing vs. NY twice IN THE LAST 7 WEEKS!
  • In the first half it was Miles (13 carries, 75 yards), in the 2nd half Kenny (9 carries, 90 yards).
  • Gainwell’s 112 was 4th most playoff rushing yards ever for an RB with 12 or fewer carries.
  • 268 rushing?  2nd most in Eagles franchise history (274 in ’49 championship vs. Rams).
  • The 268 is the most against a NY Giant playoff team in history (previously 246 by Detroit in 1935.  1935!)
  • Per Reuben Frank, the Eagles rushed for 656 yards and 8 TDs in 3 wins over NY this year, and they had a different leading rusher in each game – Sanders in the 48-22 win in December, Boston Scott two weeks ago, and Gainwell Saturday night.  Domination!
  • Perhaps a tweet by Ndamukong Suh on Sunday said it all!

The run game was superb because the entire Eagle OL played “lights out:”  

  • In last Saturdays game, 1 key matchup was All Pro Giant DT Dexter Lawrence facing future HOF Eagle center Jason Kelce.  This wasn’t the Vikes O-Line, Dexter.  He managed 6 tackles, a credit to his competence, but none for a loss, along with no QB hits.  And per Tommy Lawlor over at Eagle blitz: “When Lawrence needed a breather, Justin Ellis took his place. Kelce ate that dude alive.”
  • Hurts and Johnson fought thru injury and turned in very good performances.  Still a cause for concern for Lane playing with that torn abductor, but not noticeable in this game as he shut down the heralded top 5 ’22 Giant draft pick Kavon Thibodeaux.  The future Giant "anchor piece" was a total non-factor.  Credit potential future HOF Lane Johnson, the best right tackle in the NFL the last 8+ years, making Thibodeaux irrelevant.  
  • NY talked about the return of Leonard Williams at D-Tackle next to Dexter Lawrence, a very good player who had not played against the Eagles this year but was a clear difference maker vs. the Vikings.  Like his teammate, Williams was a non-factor.  Credit Guards Isaac Seumalo and Landon Dickerson working alongside their Hall-Of-Fame center to shut down the clear strength of this Giants team.
  • Boston Scott continued in his role as a Giant killer.  Their nemesis averaged nearly 6 yards a carry and scored another TD.  Amongst NFL runners historically, Scott is now tied with Zeke Elliot and Ricky Waters at 5th all time in TD’s versus the Giants (10).
  • Credit Shane Steichen and Jeff Stoutland for sticking with the run and coordinating amazing run game plans, respectively.  Wink Martindale is a good Defensive Coordinator for NY.  But his fine personnel on the D-Line were outclassed, and he was outcoached!  

The Eagle defense dominated.  Saquan Barkley did nothing till the score was meaningless (82 total yards, but 39 on one play when the game was decided).  Daniel Jones was pressured all game, getting sacked 5 times.  The receivers could not see the light of day.  In their first 5 possessions, the Giants turned the ball over on downs, suffered an interception by new ex-Giant nemesis James Bradberry, and had three 3-and-outs.  Hasson Reddick was the soul of the Eagle D here, with 5 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 3 QB hits.  Jonathan Gannon’s defense gave up 7 points and 227 total yards.  Gannon clearly answered the bell… and his critics (this week).  This author has, at times, asked Gannon to change his style.   But Gannon needs his props… #1 in pass defense, sacks (#3 ALL TIME THERE) and #1 in yards allowed per play. 15 yards from #1 overall defense (SF).  A bow to Mr. Gannon!

The Eagles have a lot of stars on defense, but Rookie safety Reid Blankenship deserves some recognition.  He is the first Eagle RFA to ever start a playoff game (per injury to Avonte Maddox, CJG moved into the slot for Avonte, and Blankenship started and actually got more defensive snaps than any Eagle Saturday).  Blankenship shows a lot of smarts, natural instinct and sound football in his play.  Both starting safeties, Marcus Epps and CJ Gardner-Johnson, are 2 of 20 free agents this off season.  It’ll be interesting to see what roster decisions the Eagles make at Safety given the play of Blankenship (K’von Wallace’s play has improved recently as well). 

Special teams… Jake Elliot is 12-12 in the playoffs on field goals, 4th best “perfect” record in NFL History.  And even punter Brett Kern, who has underperformed as a punter for the Eagles replacing Aaron Siposs, had his best game as an Eagle.  He averaged 43 yards on his punts with all 3 inside the 15.  Two of the punts were fair caught and the third had a return of negative 3 yards. 

Eagle franchise excellence to consider:

  • Per analyst Reuben Frank, “The Eagles are now 8-1 this year against winning teams, the best record by any NFL team since 2007, when the Patriots were 9-1.” Let’s see what happens vs. SF, of course. 
  • Birds are hosting their 2nd NFC Championship in 6 years with a different coach and QB, and only 5 players were on both teams.  That’s good management of player turnover!
  • The Eagles have reached 7 (NFC) Championship games this century, 2nd only to the Patriots.  That’s consistent entertainment, consistent excellence.  A real credit to the organization.  
  • For a great franchise, looking back at anniversaries is fun.  After a 38-7 beat down of the Giants, the Eagles can look back & say 5 years ago, we beat the Vikings in a championship game… 38-7.
  • 3 of the last 4 coaches Jeff Laurie has hired (Andy Reid, Doug Pederson, Nick Sirianni) have reached the NFC championship game by their 3rd year!  Laurie knows how to pick em!  (Even the failed Chip Kelly had two 10 win seasons in 3 years here).
  • The Eagles might have both the best offensive and defensive lines in the NFL, on full display vs. NY.   The Eagles dominated the trenches, a core philosophy the team has carried since the days of Andy Reid.   
  • Consider the Eagles had 8 pro bowlers (A.J. Brown, Landon Dickerson, Jalen Hurts, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Haason Reddick, Miles Sanders Darius Slay), 9 pro bowl alternates (many of whom should have been pro bowlers- Isaac Seumalo, Javon Hargrave, James Bradberry, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Jordan Mailata, Josh Sweat, DeVonta Smith, Rick Lovato) and 2 players that would have made the pro bowl had they not been disqualified for being on IR (CJ Gardner Johnson and Dallas Goedert).  Plus, TJ Edwards made the PFF All-Pro (not pro bowl, ALL PRO) team at LB.  He was a clear snub.  That’s 20 pro bowl caliber players on this team!  This may be the overall most talented version of the Eagles I will see in my lifetime (A legitimate argument can be made every Eagle offensive starter should be a pro-bowler)!   The Only unmentioned Eagle starters here are Avonte Maddox, Marcus Epps and Kyzir White… pretty good players too! And many of the Eagle role players are some of the best at their positions IN THE NFL… Defensive End Brandon Graham, Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh, Nose tackle Linval Joseph, Kicker Jake Elliott.  Top-to-bottom I cannot see how this is not the NFL's best 2022-2023 roster!?

Lesson Learned: Ruben Frank said it best this week… “Howie Roseman deserves so much credit for where this franchise is… (Many felt) It seemed crazy when Jeff Lurie restored him to the G.M. role when he fired Chip Kelly. But the Eagles are one of the NFL’s best teams since that day, winning one Super Bowl, reaching two NFC Championship Games, reaching the playoffs five times. Everything single thing you see out there has Howie Roseman’s fingerprints on it.”

 


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