Giants’ Offense is Evolving, Says Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz

For the last eight games, the Philadelphia Eagles have had a hold on the New York Giants, though it’s come down to one touchdown or less as a margin of victory in six of those eight.

But throw that out the window and look at this year’s matchup, where the Giants lost to the Eagles three weeks ago by a slim, one-point margin when they could not preserve a fourth-quarter lead held until the last five minutes of the game.

Despite edging out the Giants in that game, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said he sees a Giants offense trending upward.

“I do think it’s evolving,” Schwartz told the Eagles media earlier this week. “They struggled early in the season mainly because of turnovers. They have done a little better job of taking care of the ball the last few weeks.”

Schwartz is correct. Since coughing up the ball a season-high three times against the Eagles back on October 22, the Giants have only turned the ball over twice in their last two games, finally delivering a turnover-free game last week against the Washington Football Team.

Then, there is a matter of the Giants running game having found its groove despite the absence of superstar Saquon Barkley, who went on injured reserve after tearing his ACL in a Week 2 loss to the Bears.

New York has rushed for 100 or more yards in five of its last six games and currently has a four-game streak in which it has topped the century mark.

Over that span, the running game has averaged 139.7 yards per game, rising from 32nd in the NFL to its current 21st-place ranking, its highest league ranking to date.

“It’s easy to just hand the ball to Saquon Barkley deep and let him pick his hole, but you have to manufacture some runs and they have done a good job of manufacturing some runs,” Schwartz said.

“Lose a guy like Saquon Barkley, it’s hard to replace him with just one person. So they have introduced a whole lot more zone-read concepts.”

The Giants passing game hasn’t quite been as successful in the league rankings, opening at No. 9 before tumbling to its current 30th place ranking, but the return of receiver Sterling Shepard, who was inactive in the first meeting, has helped make a difference.

The Giants have averaged 217.4 passing yards per game with Shepard in the lineup versus 160.7 yards. And since Shepard's return from injured reserve, the Giants passing game has averaged 201.6 yards per game.

“He’s become obviously a bigger part of their game plan over the last couple weeks and even gotten some snaps in the slot which is sort of his homeland in there,” Schwartz said of Shepard.

But Shepard isn’t the only player on the Giants passing offense that gives the veteran defensive coordinator some concern.

“Their tight end [Evan Engram] is a good player, makes a lot of plays on jet sweeps and trying to scheme ways to get the ball to him,” he said.

"[Receiver Darius] Slayton is a guy that can break the game open. We did a good job against him last time, keeping him from having a big impact in the game. We have to do the same thing.”

Even the Giants offensive line, with its rotation approach that has been working so splendidly, has Schwartz taking notice.

“It’s an experienced offensive line," he said. "I think that there’s a lot of things that have our attention this week,” he said.

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