Giants Take a 24-0 Lead Over Eagles in Regular Season Finale
East Rutherford, N.J.: The New York Giants are leading the Philadelphia Eagles 24-0 in their season finale matchup at MetLife Stadium.
The Philadelphia Eagles won the opening coin toss and elected to defer possession to the second half. With the ball starting at their 25-yard line, the Giants kicked off their first possession in a very standard fashion to this season, moving the football four plays and 15 yards before getting stopped on an incomplete third down deep pass to Jaylin Hyatt and forced to punt.
Fortunately, the Giant's defense returned the favor and limited Philadelphia's opening drive to an even less productive possession. The Eagles moved the ball five plays and 13 yards behind one completed pass from Jalen Hurts to receiver Quez Watkins, but his third down went out of bounds and New York earned the football back on the ensuing punt.
On the next Giants drive, the offensive cohesion behind quarterback Tyrod Taylor finally took effect for the home team. The gunslinger found three different pass catchers for 54 yards and was accompanied by 11 yards rushing from Saquon Barkley to put the ball inside the Eagles 10-yard line for a chance to find early points.
As predictable as ever, the drive fizzled out at the Philadelphia 8-yard line with a second down sack of Taylor that hurt field position on the next down. Taylor earned back seven yards on a quarterback keeper that also saw him hurt his hand but the Giants were forced to hold for three points and were successful with Mason Crosby’s 24-yard boot.
The Eagles began to find their own pace to potentially light their first offensive spark of the game with a seven play, 57-yard drive that carried down to the Giants 27-yard line. On that ultimate play of the drive, Hurts connected with stud receiver AJ Brown for a nine-yard catch to the 18-yard line that felt like a score was coming for the birds.
However, Giants cornerback Nick McCloud put helmet to pigskin on the Brown grab and popped the ball loose to be recovered by linebacker Micah McFadden for the contest’s first turnover. Brown wa injured during the play with what was diagnosed as a knee injury and the Giants took over behind Tommy DeVito who replaced Taylor who left with a thumb injury.
Heading into the second quarter, the Giants kept the aggressive style of play going while holding one of their rare early leads in a game this season to put the pressure heavier on the Eagles shoulders. The visitors got bold on a 4th-and-2 attempt at their 48-yard line, a pass attempt by Hurts that was interfered with by a Bobby Okereke tip and knocked down by safety Xavier McKinney to force a turnover on downs in plus territory.
With the field position at their advantage, the Giants returned with Taylor, who got his thumb taped up and was back to playing form to execute a nine-play, 48-yard drive straight into the endzone. After connecting on a big 26-yard throw to receiver Wan’Dale Robinson that placed the ball down at the goaline, Taylor tossed it to Barkley for a short rush that found payday for a touchdown and 10-0 lead.
The potential sendoff party didn’t end on that possession for Barkley, who is looking to punch his fourth 1,000-rushing season in the Big Apple. The Giants defense stunned the Eagles offense to a three and out drive with a sack by Dane Belton on their third down and long to force another punt deep in their territory.
Taking over the possession from near midfield, New York moved the ball 56 yards in six plays behind the arm heroics of Taylor to Isaiah Hodgins, Darren Waller, and Barkley. Capping off the drive, the latter of the three players took a handoff three yards into the endzone for his second touchdown of the night, and the Giants took a commanding 17-0 lead with 5:08 left in the quarter.
Barely two minutes later, lightning struck the bottle for New York a third time on both ends of the field to continue the dominating affair. Hurts and the Eagles went down in two plays and -2 yards behind another sack by Okereke to stunt the drive at the Philadelphia 25-yard line.
It took another four plays and 73 yards to add to what was already a 250-yard offensive outing for New York as Taylor found Barkley and Darius Slayton on back-to-back deep shots. Slayton’s haul found the endzone for the third time in the first half, and the Giants led the Eagles 24-0 in stunning fashion.
In the final two minutes, McKinney added to his eventful performance with two interceptions of Hurts and backup Marcus Mariota, who replaced Hurts in the final minute and came off acrobatic catches to keep the ball pinned in Philadelphia territory. Taylor would throw one back on the play after the second mishap attempting to find Sterling Shepard for a touchdown, but the Giants strut into the locker room with one of their largest leads of the season.
BLUE NOTES
Tyrod Taylor has 15 completions for 229 yards, one touchdown, and one interception at the halftime whistle. Jalen Hurts holds a dismal seven completions for 55 yards and one interception, while backup Marcus Mariota has zero completions on one pass attempt and an interception.
Saquon Barkley leads the Giants with 11 rushes for 29 yards and two touchdowns. Kenneth Gainwell leads Eagles rushers with seven carries for 62 yards and an 8.9-yard average.
Wan’Dale Robinson is the Giants leading receiver with five catches for 85 yards and an average grab of 17.0 yards. Ques Watkins leads Philadelphia with three catches, 29 yards, and a 9.7-yard average.
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