'Miserable!' Eagles vs. Giants: 5 Keys to Snapping Streak
PHILADELPHIA – There’s only one way the supposedly 'miserable'' Philadelphia Eagles let the New York Giants come to Lincoln Financial Field and play Grinch on Christmas Day, and that is if they beat themselves.
It’s been done before, like the three interceptions Jalen Hurts threw in an unsightly loss to the New York Jets, the three fumbles they coughed up against the Dallas Cowboys, and the 10 penalties they committed in the same Cowboys loss.
If it happens, the Eagles will have lost four straight games for the time in the three years that Nick Sirianni has been the head coach.
If they simply take care of business and don’t overlook an inferior opponent that enters with a 5-9 record, they will move to 11-4 and remain on track to win a second straight NFC East title, and maybe rediscover the confidence they had back when they were sitting at 10-1.
Here are five keys to finding a win:
Jalen Hurts. It starts with him. Lately, it hasn’t ended well for him or the team.
Now, questions about are swirling with reports that he is too stoic, and not the wartime consigliere the Eagles need in tough times, and that he is calling too many of his own plays, or at least checking too often out of what is supposed to be run.
Nothing that a win can’t cure. Not just any win, but a resounding win.
Jalen Hurts
USA Today
Hurts is 4-0 in last four starts against the Giants, including a 3-0 record last year that included a playoff win. He has completed 62 percent of his throws in that four-game streak with 829 yards and six touchdowns to one interception.
The Eagles would take that – they need that, as does the quarterback – after failing to complete more than 60 percent of his passes in three of the last four games, failing to throw a touchdown pass in the last two games, and throwing two more picks, each in the fourth quarter of last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, to give him 12 on the season.
Josh Sweat. The defensive end’s streak of increasing his sack total each year since entering the league in 2018 is probably over. He has 6.5 a season after posting a career-high of 11. Sweat hasn’t had a sack in nearly two months. His last one came on Nov. 5 against the Dallas Cowboys. He has gone without one in five straight games.
As for the pass rush in general, the Eagles have notched just 40 this year after putting up 70 a season ago. Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito has been sacked 35 times in seven games. That’s an average of five per game. That’s the number the Eagles need – five sacks and they win.
Turnovers. The Eagles need to take care of the ball and find a way to get one from the Giants. Despite having lost nearly twice as many times as they have won, the Giants are hard to take the ball away from and they do a nice job of taking it away.
DeVito hasn’t thrown an interception in his last four games while the defense picked off nine passes and recovered seven fumbles to sit at plus-six in turnover ratio.
The Eagles are minus-six and it’s not a good look when they have just six interceptions, a season after having 17 on their way to the Super Bowl. Of course, the secondary doesn’t have a playmaker like it last year when safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson accounted for a league-tying six all by himself.
James Bradberry. The Eagles won’t bench him, though his play of late certainly requires some thought on the matter. Now, against not only the Giants but in the final three games and the playoffs, would be a good time for Bradberry to find his game again.
Explosive plays. The Eagles continue to put a premium on these sorts of big plays even if the defense is trying to take them away like the Seahawks did last week with its two-high safety look.
The Giants have two safeties playing very well in Xavier McKinney and Jason Pinnock, so the Eagles need to stop forcing their offense and take what’s there. It sounds simple enough, but given how stubborn Sirianni can be, it just isn’t that simple.
Prediction: Eagles 24, Giants 16
Season record: 8-6
