Giants Defense vs. Eagles Offense: The Second Time Around
The Philadelphia Eagles are considering resting starters against the New York Giants this week but are "undecided" as of this writing.
We're not so sure they do so. The Eagles have lost four of their last five, with their only win coming in Week 16 when they played the Giants. The NFC East title is on the line as if somehow the Dallas Cowboys lose to the Washington Commanders and the Eagles beat the Giants, the Eagles will win the division. So it doesn't make sense for the Eagles to "throw in the towel" with the division title on the line, no matter how much the odds might favor a Cowboys win.
What Happened the First Time
In their first matchup in week 16, the Giants blitzed the Eagles on 34 of quarterback Jalen Hurts' 41 dropbacks. The Giants got one sack on those blitzes and pressured Jalen Hurts ten times. The point of blitzing Hurts frequently wasn't to sack him or even hit him repeatedly. Instead, the plan was to force Hurts to quickly get rid of the ball.
The Eagles used quick-hitting routes to exploit the Giants aggressive nature. Hurts threw almost a quarter of his passes to the short right side of the field, up from his usual 13.2%.
Martindale and the Giants used zone blitzes frequently, allowing them to crowd the line of scrimmage, show that the defense was rushing anywhere from four to six players, and then drop back if needed. The issue with that was that the Giants blitzed almost every single down, leading to there being no possibility of confusing Hurts on his dropback.
DeVonta Smith was used as a weapon out of the slot, and it was painfully obvious that Cordale Flott just couldn't cover him. Smith is one of the best young route-runners at receiver, and against a blitz-happy defense, he will thrive when he has a clean release and can operate in space.
In the ground game, the Eagles stuck with the option principles that have gotten them this far. The Eagles did look to attack further by pulling players. Whether it was split zone or Counter Bash, the Eagles run game kept sending players across the formation to block the Giants ends that were coming downhill.
What Should Change
In 2022, playing Cover 0 or Cover 1 and blitzing the Eagles and Hurts worked well for many defenses. That's just not the case this season, with Brian Johnson introducing more spread option-style schemes into the offense. It also doesn't help that the Giants weren't even playing the coverages that worked last season--they lived and died by the zone blitz.
The Giants should do what teams have done fairly well against the Eagles this season: sit in zone underneath, contain the edges, and make Hurts beat you by making difficult throws. He's still one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but he thrives when working the quick game and playing out of structure.
Given how difficult it is to defend this offense, the Giants should look to play Cover 2, Cover 4, and Cover 6 more than anything else. Have defenders come down to cover the flat and take those options away from Hurts.
Have defenders underneath to force quick throws followed by immediate tackles. Rush four defenders to allow you to have seven in coverage or even six in coverage and a quarterback spy to keep Hurts from being able to create magic during busted plays.
It's not easy to defend this offense physically, but the Giants, simply put, had a poor approach to this game on the defensive side of the ball the first time around. The Eagles have an elite roster, but their offense has been struggling for the past month or so, and that offense scored the most points against the Giants in December.
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