Giants-Eagles Week 18: By the Numbers
It may not have gone how they scripted it, but the New York Giants gave Philadelphia all the work it could handle with a team of under-the-radar players.
Traveling south down I-95 to the City of Brotherly Love for the regular season finale, the Giants’ took on the eventual NFC No. 1 seed with many of their starters inactive for the contest in anticipation of the playoffs.
The differences in talent on the field were obvious as the Giants featured second and this string players against the Eagles’ starters, yet perseverance remained the same as it had all season. New York made Philadelphia sweat out a 22-16 victory that was not what they imagined facing on Sunday.
With Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley among the key players that didn’t suit up for the defeat, quarterback Davis Webb earned his first NFL regular season start in six years and took the star-studded Eagles down to the wire. The first half wasn’t pretty for the 27-year-old and his offense, yet Webb found a groove in the second half to finish his debut with 23 completions for 168 yards (4.2 average) and one touchdown, the latter coming in physical fashion at the goal line.
Despite not being able to end their road losing streak in Philadelphia, the Giants—who were outplayed by the Eagles four weeks earlier in a 48-22 defeat at MetLife Stadium—made the NFC East Rival work hard for any of the points they earned. They allowed the Eagles to rally 342 yards of offense Sunday and 4.8 yards per play, but the defense kept Philly from feasting in the endzone again and limited them to just one successful trip.
There were questionable decisions from the sidelines and a repeat of some of the same mistakes that have plagued the Giants in select games this season. Most glaring of it all, head coach Brian Daboll further cemented his “Coach of the Year” case by nearly outclassing a top-tier opponent looking to run his relievers out of the stadium.
As the 2022 regular season concludes, the Giants now brace for a rematch with the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card round, another contender they came within a missed field goal of potentially upsetting three weeks prior. The dream isn’t finished at 9-7-1, as Big Blue hopes to be that one big surprise to advance deeper in the tournament and add to the fantastic details of their storybook campaign.
The postseason is finally here for the New York Giants, and now it’s survive and advance. Before the world watches them in Minnesota, let’s look at the numbers and contributors that caught attention in Week 18.
Giants’ Offense: Tale of Two Halves
Given who the New York Giants were running out on offense to face the fully stocked Philadelphia Eagles, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect some early deficiencies in moving the football. However, in the first half of competition, Big Blue struggled to even get the pigskin over their rival’s logo at midfield.
With quarterback Davis Webb under center and a trove of backup offensive linemen protecting him, the Giants found themselves constantly running into the brick wall of the Philadelphia defense that barely allowed them to break the line of scrimmage. In their six total possessions of the first half, all but one ended under 35 yards of production, and only two lasted longer than four minutes.
Facing a ton of pressure during these drives, Webb pushed the huddle a total of 55 yards on nine completions with an average reception of 6.1 yards. He didn’t earn much help from the skill positions either, as the backfield managed just 33 yards and the receiver corps with under one catch on at least three targets. The result was six straight punts, the longest drive being 35 yards in the first quarter and the deepest possession halted at the Eagles’ 29-yard line.
Holding a 16-0 halftime deficit with credit to the defense limiting Philadelphia to one successful redzone visit, the Giants offense felt poised for another miserable half and a potential defeat as Philadelphia would figure out how to blow the game open. On the contrary, in that span, they flipped the field and suddenly had the Eagles grasping for straws to prevent the unthinkable.
After poor protection on the second-half kickoff led to an Eagles drive that carried down to the Giants’ 7-yard line, the Giants offense found their chance at life when safety Dane Belton picked off Jalen Hurts in the endzone to secure a touchback and take six points off the scoreboard.
One drive later, Webb executed the Giants’ longest run of the afternoon—a nine-play, 79-yard possession connecting with three different receivers—to put the team into field goal position. Gano knocked in the 24-yard score to put New York on the board, 19-3.
The frustration for a Philadelphia franchise that expected a blowout on their turf wouldn’t stop there. As Webb and company continued to gain some fluidity, the sixth-year veteran commanded a 10-play, 64-yard drive down to the Eagles’ 14 to give New York their best field position of the contest. Darting off on the next snap, Webb flew down to the 4-yard line and lowered his shoulder, dragging a defender with him into the endzone for his first NFL rushing touchdown.
It was a highlight play that reflected the grit the Giants have played with all year long and woke up the snoozers of a 19-9 affair. For the Cal quarterback, it wasn’t possible without the help of his teammates.
“That second half was really fun, and that’s something I’ll never forget,” Webb said after the game.
Philadelphia would finally respond with some points in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard field goal by Jake Elliot to make the score 22-9. Even then, Mike Kafka’s crew wasn’t ready to bend over to their arch-rivals, packing one more punch that made the final score more intriguing than it should have been. Capping off a seven-play, 49-yard drive, Webb soared a deep ball 25 yards into the corner of the endzone to connect with Kenny Golladay for six, putting the Giants within one score with 1:38 to play.
By the end of their latest rivalry meeting, the Giants offense garnered another 207 yards of offense, including 155 in the air and 129 on the ground. After averaging just 3.3 yards per rush in the first half, the team heightened their number to 6.1, with three rushers posting 30 or more yards up the interior. The passing game improved, with Lawrence Cager leading the bunch at eight receptions and 69 yards.
It wasn’t a picture-perfect outing by any stretch. Yet, as the postseason kicks off this week, the Giants hope it will give their team further confidence that they have the depth to compete with the best teams in the league. If not the postseason, they certainly have something building for the future.
Kenny Golladay Breaks His Scoreless Streak
It took 36 games to end one of the most disappointing streaks in New York Giants history. Yes, you read that right: the Kenny Golladay scoreless saga has finally reached an end in the final game of the 2022 regular season.
For weeks on end, a constant story surrounding the Giants’ offense had been the ineptitude of Golladay to become more involved and put some points onto the scoreboard on Sundays. Expectations were high for the sixth-year receiver out of Northern Illinois, as he brought to East Rutherford a resume that included consecutive seasons with 1,000 receiving yards and five touchdowns as a member of the Detroit Lions.
When the franchise signed the former Pro Bowl pass catcher to a four-year, $72 million contract in a 2020 free agency frenzy, the hope was to make him the versatile deep threat he was infamous for in the Motor City. Through two seasons—35 career games—for New York, none of that had come to fruition as Golladay totaled a mere 44 receptions for 571 yards in that span as the team’s priciest offensive player.
Among his woes since migrating to the Big Apple, none have been more scrutinized than his failure to impact the team’s success in the endzone. After notching 21 touchdowns over five years for the Lions, Golladay entered Sunday’s matchup with Philadelphia holding zero scores to his second NFL stint to go along with four catches for 51 yards. The mark was the lowest of his career, only closely matched by the two he scored in 2020 when he appeared in just five games.
Desperately searching for an answer to potentially salvage his time in New York, Golladay’s drought appeared heading for repetitive doom as time elapsed in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s season finale. That was until an unexpected throw by Davis Webb landed in his lap late for one of the Giant’s most surprising catches of the year.
It happened on the Giants’ final drive of the afternoon, one that started in an unusually strong fashion. Thanks to a 40-yard kick return by Gary Brightwell, the Giants had the ball at their 46-yard line and were looking to put Philadelphia on their heels with another score in the final three minutes of regulation.
In the span of seven plays, Webb moved the football 54 yards to the Eagles’ 25-yard line courtesy of completions with three different receivers, including Lawrence Cager, who led the team with eight receptions for 69 yards (average 8.6). On the final play from scrimmage, Philadelphia decided to bring some pressure on the edge to test Webb, a player they had yet to bring down and who had torched them for 41 yards and a touchdown already.
Unphased by the Eagles’ pressure, Webb quickly took the snap and stepped up to make a big throw down the sideline. On 1st down and 10, the quarterback let it rip for 25 yards towards the right corner of the endzone, watching it fall back down towards the periphery of Golladay, who was competing for the play against a premier corner and former teammate Darius Slay.
In a catch that had shades of the legendary one-handed catch by Odell Beckham Jr, an unsuspected Golladay latched the ball to his side, hauling down the grab for the touchdown and his first as a Giant to nix the dreadful 36-game streak. It was a play that drew Giants fans off the couch at home and drew jeers waiting patiently to erupt all season.
“(Davis) Webb just gave me a shot, and I appreciate it,” said Golladay about his landmark moment in a Giants uniform. “Long time coming, and it felt good.”
Throughout the fall, the Giants got used to seeing Golladay look disconnected from his quarterback and the offense. From barely scraping a target in some games to dropping what seemed like the most elementary of passes, questions began to arise as to whether the All-Pro receiver would find any success as a member of the organization.
Inspired by the first career start of his partner in Webb, Golladay’s catch sent one lasting message to the fanbase that perhaps he isn’t as finished as they confidently predicted up to one week prior. In fact, the moment was always one he knew he was bound to make eventually.
“I wasn’t surprised, but it did feel good to finally get that first touchdown,” he said. “Also, to make a play for Webb, I think it was his first game, so it felt good for him to get the touchdown.”
The only thing that remains to be seen is whether Webb kept the ball from his stunning play. From Golladay’s perspective, it’s not the lasting play he wants to define his Giants’ tenure.
Defense Keeps Philly Out of End Zone
For the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday’s contest with the mismatched New York Giants was supposed to serve as their breezy dress rehearsal into the postseason, and their potential Super Bowl LVII run. Little did they know Wink Martindale’s defense had completely different plans for the occasion.
In Week 14, there was nothing more revealing of the Giants’ present gap with the Eagles’ roster than the complete defeat that unfurled on the defense at MetLife Stadium. Scoring six touchdowns that came fairly easily, Jalen Hurts, and the Eagles’ offense tallied a whopping 437 yards from scrimmage and finished with three successful red zone visits. They had five drives of at least seven plays and 63 yards as well, each averaging 6.6 yards per play, and only one ended in less points than a touchdown.
Leaving the stadium that Sunday, the Giants knew they had to improve to compete with the best come playoff time. Despite many of their defensive starters inactive in Philadelphia this time around, the team figured out how to stunt the Eagles’ offense in ways that seemed to frustrate their sidelines.
Facing off against a collection of second and third-team starters on the defensive side of the football, quarterback Jalen Hurts managed to rummage forward for 20 completions for 229 yards and an average of 6.5 yards per throw. He got some production support from his two elite receivers in AJ Brown (4 receptions, 95 yards) and DeVonta Smith (7 receptions, 67 yards), and added 13 rushing yards to the team’s 135 total.
Yet, the one element Hurts and the Eagles offense couldn’t attain against New York was the one that helped them dominate their rival four weeks prior. That element was punching the pigskin into the endzone on more than one occasion. The Giants defense held Philadelphia to an abysmal 1-5 red zone scoring percentage that allowed them to remain in the game throughout.
In the first quarter of the afternoon, the points came fairly quickly for the Eagles as they did in the first round. On back-to-back offensive possessions, the birds went at least seven plays and 51 yards down the field and cashed in 10 total points, including their sole touchdown off an eight-yard rush by Boston Scott. However, the remainder of their time on the field would be difficult as the Giants’ defense limited Philadelphia to four field goals that stretched the contest to the bitter end.
The first two kicks came on consecutive drives in the second quarter, one of which the Eagles started at the New York 39-yard line due to a holding penalty. After Landon Collins’ infraction on the Giants’ punt, the Eagles only moved five yards in three plays before chipping a score for a 13-0 lead. A few minutes, they had a more successful drive of 14 plays and 59 yards, but the same result fared with Jake Elliot nailing a 39-yard score for the 16-0 halftime advantage.
Coming back from the break worked no wonders for Nick Sirianni’s team, either. In the third quarter, the Eagles were held to just one field goal of 54 yards by Elliot, the longest make of the game, and it was the skillful playmaking of the Giants defense that eliminated their one shot at the endzone.
On the previous drive, the Eagles marched the ball eight plays and 41 yards down to the Giants’ 2-yard line to open up the quarter, a trip that was finally capped by a two-yard pass to DeVonta Smith for six on the scoreboard. However, an ineligible man downfield penalty nullified the touchdown and pushed the birds back five yards for their second attempt. Hurts decided to go back to his second-year receiver and was subsequently picked off by safety Dane Belton, who knelt for the touchback and kept the deficit at 16-0.
For the remainder of the game, the Eagles continued to be baffled by the prideful defense in front of them, only putting one more field goal on the board while the Giants narrowed the deficit as close as a six-point differential. At the same time, New York’s front got to Hurts more than they ever could have in the first meeting, sacking him three times for a loss of 22 yards as the quarterback appeared to be managing his health with the postseason in his sights.
Several hours earlier, it almost seemed disrespectful to one of the NFL’s most resilient programs that the Giants entered Week 18 a 16,5 point underdog against an Eagles squad looking to lock up the NFC No. 1 seed. Martindale and company had a chip on their shoulder to prove they could compete with any players on the field, and they made sure Philadelphia knew they weren’t going to keel over.
With Inexperience Comes Penalties
Besides the sheer issue of protection on the front line and misconnections in the passing game, the penalty problem also seemed to rear its ugly gear for the New York Giants and impact the offense's success early on.
In a game where the Giants scraped together 284 yards of hard-fought offensive production, they would see almost another 70 taken away by ravaging infractions. While Philadelphia limited their miscues to four for 30 yards, Big Blue earned eight total penalties for a loss of 66 yards on the day, one of their highest marks of the 2022 season.
When looking for a scapegoat on the Giants’ side of the ball, one needs to look no further than the offense that was lined with depth players earning untraditional reps in a difficult environment. Six of their eight flags on the day were handed to Mike Kafka’s group. It’s hard to think of a cause for the unit’s woes, but clearly, it was a mix of inexperience and poor decisions on their end.
The first two penalties came on the Giants’ second drive of the second quarter as they looked to finally get something going on the offensive side. Kudos to a neutral zone infraction on the Eagles, Webb and company moved the ball down to the opposition’s 40-yard line and were in a position to at least notch three points onto the scoreboard. Yet, in timely fashion came the yellow flags to put a dent in that affair, as 21 yards were wiped away by a false start on Evan Neal and an intentional grounding call on Davis Webb for failing to get his ditch throwback to the line of scrimmage.
On the ensuing drive and the last of the half, the Giants would move the rock 12 yards in three plays before Neal repeated his struggles as the lone starter on the offensive line. Another false start pinned to his jersey number, and the Giants went from two chances to notch field goals to punting twice, including from their 32-yard line, to remain scoreless heading into the halftime break.
Luckily for Neal, the spotlight would be taken off his shoulders in the latter two frames of the contest. However, the troubles continued to circle Webb to the tune of two straight delay-of-game penalties on the Giants’ final possession of the third quarter. The mismanagement of the play clock pushed the team back 10 yards and forced them to settle for their first score on a 24-yard Graham Gano field goal.
New York’s offense would figure out their groove at the start of the fourth quarter, but not without one last early movement on the front lines. Earning some reps late in the contest, offensive tackle Matt Peart was called for the Giants’ third false start of the afternoon, pushing the huddle back five yards for a longer punch at the goal line.
Good thing Webb had his teammate’s back, taking the football 14-yards two plays later for a tough score at the plane to cut the Eagles lead to 19-9 and earn his first professional rushing touchdown as a starter.
Outside of the offense, the Giants would earn a few more penalties on their defense and special teams. Landon Collins garnered a holding call on a punt return in the second quarter that set up the Eagles for a 52-yard boot by Jake Elliot. Then, the most egregious mistake came from corner Nick McCloud towards the end of the half, who roughed the passer for a 15-yard infraction that eventually led to another Philadelphia field goal from 39 yards distance.
As much as anything else, penalties will be the bane of the Giants’ existence in the playoffs when every yard can make the difference between winning and losing. Take the changes on the offensive side with a grain of salt, but it’s expected the team will focus partly on avoiding these errors as they prepare for the Wild Card round this week.
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