Eagles Stumble out of Bye Week, lose to Giants

The Eagles fell behind early and could never catch up, looking sloppy and disjointed after their bye week

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Eagles took off last week, and based on the way they played coming out of the bye it looked they just went ahead and added an extra week of vacation.

The New York Giants scored on their first two possessions, even getting another long run from quarterback Daniel Jones, and kept pace in the NFC East with a 27-17 win at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

The Eagles haven’t been good emerging from a bye under head coach Doug Pederson and are now 1-4 in his five seasons.

The last time New York had beaten the Eagles was 1,470 days when they won a 28-23 decision on Nov. 6, 2016. Philly had won eight in a row against their division rival since then.

All that is history now, leaving the Eagles to pick up the pieces and get ready to go to Cleveland next Sunday with a 3-5-1 record.

That record, incredibly, keeps them atop the NFC East, but the Giants, now 3-7 heading into their bye, made it closer.

"It’s irrelevant at this point," said safety Jalen Mills about first place. "...Me personally, I don’t care. We gotta put it together. We have to find a way and I think we are. We definitely let this game go and we're (angry) for sure."

The talk all week around the Eagles was the return to good health, with several key players getting back on the field, including running back Miles Sanders, right tackle Lane Johnson, and defensive tackle Malik Jackson.

Turns out, it doesn’t matter how healthy a team is if it can’t find a way to win.

"I felt like the guys were ready to go," said head coach Doug Pederson. "I’m obviously disappointed, and it’s on me that we played the way we did, quite honestly. I felt the energy was good. It’s difficult obviously without the fans, but both teams have to deal with it. Can’t make excuses for it. We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot, that’s the bottom line. All three phases had a hand in this loss with the penalties. Not good enough."

The Eagles were 0-for-9 on third down and they committed 11 penalties for 74 yards, including two on special teams that cost the Eagles field position.

"It was tough," said DE Brandon Graham. "We prepared our butt off this week, but those little things added up on us, penalties, presnap, offense, and defense. Of course, we just can’t have those things. That’s what coach talked about."

As healthy as the Eagles were, they were not healthy at guard. Left guard Isaac Seaumlo, out since a knee injury suffered in Week 2, was not activated from Injured Reserve despite practicing all week, and Nate Herbig, who started every game in the first half of the season, did not play due to a hand or finger injury.

Matt Pryor and Sua Opeta stepped in at those positions.

The Eagles sort of made a game of it in the second half but couldn’t dig out of a first-half hole that saw them trail 14-3 after two quarters. They were 0-for-5 on third down in that time and the starting field position for each drive was their own 25, 9, 11, and 6.

Jones was the defense’s nemesis again. In their first meeting, a 22-21 win just three weeks ago, Jones had an 80-yard run that would’ve been a touchdown had he not fallen down after reaching a speed of 22.1 according to NextGen Stats.

On Sunday, Jones ran the read-option again and fooled the Eagles again, ripping off a 34-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. The Giants never looked back, though the Eagles cut the lead to 14-11 on a 56-yard Boston Scott touchdown run with 12:31 to play in the third quarter and a Sanders PAT run.

The Eagles defense wasn’t up to the task of keeping momentum on their side, giving up consecutive long pass plays on the Giants' ensuing possession.

The first that covered 27 yards to Sterling Shepard against Avonte Maddox the next to Golden Tate for 38 yards against Nickell Robey-Coleman. The Giants wrapped up the drive with Wayne Gallman’s second TD of the game, this one from one yard out. Gallman’s first came from two yards away.

Again, the Eagles answered by getting a five-yard run from Corey Clement, his first TD since Oct. 11, 2018, also against New York.

But Carson Wentz was sacked trying a two-point pass and the score stood at 21-17.

That was the closest Philadelphia would get.

"We don’t go in any game thinking we’re going to struggle like that and go for 0-for- 9 on third downs and only put up a couple points, but I have to give a lot of credit to that defense," said Wentz. "I thought we had a good game plan ready to go. 

"We had to really come out and execute at a high level. I think we did that at times but we didn’t do it well enough. We didn’t sustain enough drives and we left some plays out there. But they made a lot more plays than us and we didn’t deserve to win."

Jones played his second straight turnover-free game and ended with 244 yards passing with 21 completions in 22 attempts. He also ran for 66 yards on seven carries.

The Eagles entered as the fourth-best team against the pass, allowing 209 yards through the air per game

The Giants ran for 151 yards. The Eagles had 156.

Wentz was 21-for-37 for 208 yards without any interceptions or lost fumbles.

In his return from a two-game injury absence, Miles Sanders ran 15 times for 85 yards with two catches for 10 yards. Boston Scott had 63 yards on three runs and a catch for 11 yards.

Tight end Richard Rodgers had four catches for 60 yards and Jalen Reagor four for 47.

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