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New York Giants First Look: Philadelphia Eagles Defense

Let's break down what the Giants can expect from the Eagles defense on Sunday.

The New York Giants go into week 14 preparing to face their toughest matchup of the season in the 11-1 Philadelphia Eagles that are on top of the NFC East. Let's take a closer look at this Eagles defense.

Personnel

The Eagles defensive front is not just full of top-flight talent but arguably the deepest front four in the NFL. Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, Milton Williams, and Marlon Tuipuloti have all played more than 250 snaps this season. The Giants have only had five defensive linemen hit that mark so far.

This defensive line group often rotates without missing a beat, whether it’s just replacing one player or the entire platoon. Production-wise, five Eagles players have 25 or more pressures on the season.

Hargrave is leading the way with 43 pressures, Reddick has 40, Sweat has 34, Graham has 30, and Cox has 25. Compared to the Giants, who have just three players that hit the 25-pressure mark.

As far as run defense goes, Graham and Sweat have been the best on the outside, with a rotating mass of bodies on the inside, including the injured Jordan Davis and the recently signed veterans Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh.

On the second level, TJ Edwards and Kyzir White lead the way as the off-ball linebackers, with rookie Nakobe Dean recently working his way onto the field. Edwards and White might not be All-Pro caliber players (yet), but they’ve been asked to man the middle of the field and have done so effectively.

Edwards is quietly having a great season all around. On 23 pass-rush opportunities this year, Edwards has picked up 11 pressures with two sacks. Edwards leads the way for the Eagles as a tackler with 109 total tackles, as well as being second on the team in run stops with 31 - just behind White, who has 33. In coverage, Edwards has allowed a passer rating of 63.7, a completion percentage of 57.8%, and just 5.6 yards per catch.

The secondary has been the most consistent for the Eagles, with Darius Slay and James Bradberry on the outside playing nothing short of lockdown coverage. Avonte Maddox started the season as the nickel corner for the Eagles, but after his injury, Josiah Scott has been the main nickel.

Slay, and Bradberry have allowed a combined 621 yards on 59 catches with just two touchdowns and six interceptions this season, shutting down outside receivers week in and week out. Opposing quarterbacks have successfully targeted Josiah Scott, who’s allowed 269 yards, a 77.8% completion percentage, with three touchdowns and one interception.

At safety, the Eagles traded for Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who is currently out with a lacerated kidney, and the expectation is that he’ll miss this week’s game. In his place has been undrafted rookie free agent Reed Blankenship - who, on a side note, I was a massive fan of in the draft, and I’m heartbroken he isn’t a Giant.

Blankenship has been playing alongside Marcus Epps, who has played the most snaps out of any defender on this Eagles team and has only missed 12 total snaps this year. Epps has started playing more of a box role in recent weeks, with Josiah Scott struggling as the nickel and Garnder-Johnson unable to play.

Scheme

Another week, another game where the Giants will face a defense that plays a four-down defensive line that typically plays two-high shells overtop. On the bright side, the Giants have seen plenty of those types of defenses this season and have been able to win some of those games. On the negative side, none of the Giants opponents have been as talented or deep as the Eagles.

The Eagles play press coverage at the line of scrimmage to slow receivers down just a tad, allowing that daunting pass rush to get in the backfield before anybody gets open.

This isn’t a defense that will rush five players often, with Edwards and White only blitzing on 5% and 4.7% of their pass-defense snaps, respectively. The reason is simple: They don’t have to blitz to generate pressure at will.

Expect to see quarters coverage often in this game, as it’s the Eagles bread-and-butter coverage that allows their corners to be as physical as they want, knowing the safeties over the top can be there to help.

This bend-don’t-break defense usually needs the personnel up front to get pressure on their own. Luckily for the Eagles, this is the perfect mashup of scheme and personnel.

What This Means for the Giants

The first thing that the Giants have to do to exploit this Eagles defense is hope and pray because with the Giants injury and roster woes against this Eagles defense, odds are that it will be difficult to find success with any level of consistency.

Realistically, the Eagles have two consistent flaws on the defensive side of the ball: run defense and defending the middle of the field underneath.

Run defense has been an issue for the Eagles all season; it’s one of the reasons that they signed Suh and Joseph to clog the middle but even then, defending the ground game has been inconsistent. The issue as to why it isn’t exposed by opposing teams more is that the Eagles offense puts up points and forces a team to throw the ball, whereas the Eagles are great.

Saquon Barkley needs to see the ball early and often if the Giants will have a chance at winning this game. Daniel Jones also needs to be willing and able to run the ball, which he has consistently been able to do.

In the passing game, the middle of the field underneath needs to be the focal point. Josiah Scott has struggled mightily in coverage since taking over for Maddox and should continue to be targeted. In this quarters scheme, that’s usually the part of the field most open to attack.

Final Thoughts

There’s no other way to put this: this Eagles defense is far and away the most difficult test the Giants offense will face this season.

By no means is this game impossible to win though. The Commanders beat the Eagles. The Colts nearly beat the Eagles. This Eagles team looks like the best team in the NFC, but even then, some flaws can be exploited, and they are untouchable.


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