Eagles Preview: Five on the Giants, Part II
PHILADELPHIA - If the Eagles fail to make the playoffs, the autopsy of the 2021 season will almost surely point to the Nov. 28, 13-7 loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium as the primary cause of morbidity.
The Giants (4-10) are a bad team that's gotten even worse over the past month after losing starting quarterback Daniel Jones to a neck injury he suffered against the Eagles.
That means for the second time this week, the Eagles are likely going to have the luxury of facing a lightly-regarded quarterback who has just joined the opponent.
On Tuesday that was Garrett Gilbert, a late practice squad addition from New England, as the emergency option for a Washington Football Team.
Fast forward to Sunday and the smart money is on second-year option Jake Fromm due to the injury to Jones and the ineffectiveness of backup option Mike Glennon.
Fromm has three weeks under his belt with Joe Judge and the Giants coaching staff after being signed off the Buffalo PS.
"I always tell our guys – especially [regarding] your divisional opponents, especially when you play them closer together – you got to be careful of, ‘Hey, this is what worked, and this is what we did really well, or this didn't work,'" Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said. "It's got to be kind of a blend of go back to step one, prepare just like you haven't played them all year ... It's a fresh slate. It's just like the next game up."
Glennon started the past three games in place of Jones and the Giants are 0-3 over that span, averaging only 12.0 points per game.
By last Sunday's 21-6 setback to Dallas, the Giants pulled Glennon after three interceptions for Fromm, who once beat out Justin Fields at the University of Georgia forcing Fields to transfer to Ohio State where he turned into a 2021 first-round pick.
Fromm finished 6-of-12 for 82 yards against Dallas, his only NFL action to date.
"Jake’s made a lot of strides in terms of his knowledge of the offense," Judge told SI.com's Eagle Maven earlier this week. "Early in the process there’s a quick turnaround for him as well getting ready to go down to Miami and drinking through a fire hose.
"Through the last few weeks, he’s made some strides for us. I think Jake has some good command and a nice presence as a quarterback, he’s had a lot of success on different levels, but hasn’t had a lot of experience at this level."
TOGETHERNESS
Giants GM Dave Gettleman is expected to either retire or be ousted at the end of the season and Judge's future is also in doubt with a 10-20 record through his first 30 games as a head coach.
The Philadelphia native seems perplexed on all the questions he's been getting about holding his team together, however.
"Everyone is asking about keeping a team together and how hard is it to keep guys motivated," Judge said. "I’m going to be honest with you: I don’t know how it is in a lot of places. I don’t know how it was here before I got here. That’s not a problem that we have. Just simply and clearly put: Our guys come in and they go to work. We play together as a team.
"We understand that we’ve got 17 opportunities a year ... We have three opportunities left as a team."
Sweeping his hometown team may not make up for all the recent losing for Judge but it probably serves as his Super Bowl so the Eagles can't afford another lackluster effort.
HURTS' NUMBER?
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts, who was just named a Pro Bowl alternate this week, had his worst game of the season against the Giants, completing just 45.2 percent of his passes and coupling that with a dismal 4.2 yards per attempt.
Hurts also suffered a high-ankle sprain late in the game that cost him the next week against the New York Jets.
Since then the Giants have lost to Miami, the LA Chargers, and Dallas in games in which the opposing quarterbacks put up a gaudy 74.3 completion percentage and averaged 7.7 yards per attempt.
In other words, Hurts needs to prove the first game was an outlier and that Giants DC Patrick Graham doesn't have a bead on him.
OFFENSIVE INEPTITUDE
The Giants' offensive numbers are a disaster.
They are 30th in the NFL in scoring, averaging just 17.0 points per game and that's only gotten worse since Jones' injury. In the major offensive categories, the results range from No. 20 in pass offense to dead last, No. 32, in red-zone offense.
Contextually, that means the NYG aren't even average in any area when it comes to the offensive side of the football.
SECOND-QUARTER BLUES
Bookmark the second quarter if you want to get the temperature on this game. For whatever reason, that's when opponents have started to pull away from the Giants, outscoring Big Blue by a gaudy 139-58 over the second 15 minutes.
DALLAS TIMES TWO
Last week it was the Cowboys who handled the Giants. This week it's got to be another Dallas in Eagles' tight end Dallas Goedert.
Hurts simply couldn't get his Pro Bowl alternate TE in the mix the first time the two teams played with only three targets, and one reception for count them - zero yards.
Since that game, Goedert has put together consecutive career-high receiving performances - six receptions for 105 yards against the Jets and seven catches for 135 against the WFT.
Another century-club performance would go a long way to making sure the Eagles are over. 500 late Sunday afternoon.
PREDICTIONS:
John McMullen (11-3, 9-5 vs. spread) - If you're online searching for some holiday gift-giving ideas, expect the usual diet of air fryers, coffee makers, maybe a fitness or wellness tracker, along with the usual assortment of electronics.
The folks in Simi Valley might want to keep working over the holidays, however, because the algorithm is off. The greatest holiday gift anyone could ever get is Gilbert followed by Fromm in the same week.
Santa Claus has spoiled Philadelphia.
EAGLES 31, GIANTS 16
Ed Kracz (8-6, 7-6 vs. spread) - The Eagles haven't been above .500 since their Week 1 demolition of the Atlanta Falcons. It's difficult to see the Eagles not moving to 8-7 with a win, especially after losing in such a disappointing fashion in their first matchup last month.
EAGLES 27, GIANTS 15
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
