Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants Semi-Coherent Preview

The Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants matchup is previewed

The Philadelphia Eagles were a failed two-point conversion away from ending their losing streak. Alas, they have now lost their last five games, with a short week to prepare for their next contest against a division rival.

New York Giants

Record: 10-4 (Second place in NFC East)

Last week: Defeated Detroit Lions 17-6

Head coach: Ben McAdoo

The last time they met

Thanks to two interceptions by Carson Wentz, the Giants took an early 14-0 lead, forcing the Eagles to spend the rest of the game trying to catch up. They almost succeeded. Trailing by five late in the fourth quarter, Jordan Hicks intercepted the ball at the New York 34. Despite being set up with excellent field position, Wentz and the Eagles’ offense were unable to get the ball into the end zone.

What’s the deal with the Giants

The Giants are 10-4 and look to be in good shape for a Wild Card playoff berth. Despite being expected to make the playoffs, the Giants certainly don’t seem to be an especially great team. Their offense is one of the weaker units in the league. Despite the presence of star receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., Eli Manning and company rank only 24th in points scored.

At first glance, the defense doesn’t seem much better. But they’ve done an excellent job of not surrendering points. Based on basic statistics, it isn’t clear why the defense has been so stingy. They rank 15th in yards allowed, 12th in forced turnovers, and their average starting field position is merely average.

So what’s the key? They’ve been extremely good in the red zone, allowing the fewest percentage of red zone touchdowns in the league.

Featured Giants Player: Olivier Vernon

Olivier Vernon should have been a free agent bust. He has been a solid player throughout his career, but the Giants paid him as if he were a star, simply because he was the best that the market had to offer. Usually, this ends in disappointment, if not outright disaster (See Byron Maxwell for a great example of this). However, Vernon has not only lived up to his contract, but he has actually exceeded expectations.

Vernon has 8.5 sacks, and along with the resurgence of “One Hand” Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants pass rush is much improved from recent seasons.

Reason to hate the Giants

Based on point differential, the Giants “should have” 7.7 wins. So not only are they inexplicably keeping teams out of the end zone, they have also been lucky.

Meanwhile, the Eagles expected wins based on point differential is 7.5, which means they should have the same number of wins as the Giants. But in the real world, the Philadelphia Eagles have five fewer.

These things tend to balance out from season to season, meaning that the teams may have a reversal of fortune next year. But that isn’t going to be much consolation to Eagles’ fans as we watch the Giants in the playoffs.

Super important Eagles storyline: Will they stick with the run?

Thanks to windy conditions in Baltimore last week, the Eagles went with a run-heavy game plan against the Ravens. Despite the Ravens’ status as one of the best run-stopping teams in the league, the Eagles had success on the ground.  It makes me wonder why Doug Pederson has been so quick to abandon the run in earlier games.

Some of the play calling was dictated by the score, but in most of those games, the score was close enough that they didn’t have to become one-dimensional. When the Eagles faced the Falcons, they had a more balanced run-pass ratio, and it probably isn’t a coincidence that it was the last time they won a game.

Will Pederson finally accept that his offense works best when it is balanced? Or will he revert back to his Andy Reid-like tendencies? It seems the best chance at victory is if Ryan Mathews gets 20 carries, with maybe eight more going to Darren Sproles.

A tribute to Thursday football

Thursday night games receive a lot of hate. Critics say the matchups are often poor. They say that the Color Rush jerseys are offensive to the eyes. They say that the short rest leaves the players unprepared, resulting in sloppy play and more injuries.

I think the haters are wrong. Thursday football does have its place in the world…and that place is Thanksgiving. Every other week of the year, NFL games should not be played on Thursday.

As for the Eagles, they are 1-3 on Thursday nights since the NFL made Thursday Night Football a regular thing in 2010. None of those games were especially memorable, and most have featured the type of sloppy play that has become synonymous with Thursday games

South Park character who somehow relates to this week’s game

Jakovasaurs

The Jakovasaurs are clumsy, annoying, and make stupid faces. Sounds just like a guy who plays quarterback for the Giants!

Tweets of unimportance

Well, he’s under contract with the Eagles, so I don’t think that’s really his call.

That’s great. Philly loves you too or something?

So your dream is for the Giants to be in second place? Way to dream big!

The Wentz watch

Against the Ravens, the Eagles first two drives ended when Carson Wentz threw an interception and fumbled. That fits with a season-long trend of Wentz struggling in the first quarter.

It isn’t clear why Wentz has had issues early in games. He may come out a bit too hyped up – his interceptions tend to come when he misses high – and it takes him some time to settle down. The good news is that he usually improves as the game progresses, so it’s unlikely that this will continue to be an issue as he matures.

The first time the Eagles played the Giants, Wentz’s two first quarter interceptions put the team in an early hole. If they want to pull off an upset, he needs to avoid a repeat performance.

Prediction

This might be somewhat of a trap game for the Giants. They’re coming off two straight wins over division leaders, and they play another contender next week. Playing on the road (even though they don’t have to travel far) on a short week may leave them ripe for an upset; especially against a Philadelphia Eagles team that has generally had their number in recent seasons.

Next: 2017 Receiving Core Must Be Built Right

As mentioned, the Giants have outplayed their projected record for most of the season, but their luck may run out this week.

Eagles 23 – Giants 20