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Giants (3-2) vs Eagles (2-3)
Last
Sunday the Eagles improved their record to 2-3 with a 39-17 victory over New Orleans.
The game was tied 10-10 in the third quarter, but the Eagles capitalized on the
Saints mistakes to nail down their win.
Later that night the Giants fought
off the San Francisco 49ers. They needed a last minute touchdown to close out
the game with a win, and Eli Manning delivered one to Larry Donnell with 21 seconds
left.
Giants
- 49ers Wrap-Up
Philadelphia
Eagles
In his first start as an NFL head
coach in 2013, Chip Kelly took his team to the playoffs and they lost in the first
round. Still it was a great achievement for Kelly, taking a 4-12 team to 10-6
and a division title all in just one year. Last season the Eagles also finished
with a 10-6 record, but with the Cowboys at 12-4 it
wasn't enough this time to win the NFC East. "Finishing 10-6 and not going
to the playoffs is just like going 4-12," he later told reporters. Kelly
now has control when it comes to picking the players and he worked at strengthening
his defense.
The Eagles started this season with two losses and are now 2-3
after winning big last week over the New Orleans Saints. Kelly still believes
in his up tempo offense. The interesting part so far is that while they are last
in the league in time of possession, in the two wins they held onto the ball more
than the other team. Kelly's scheme works great if his offense can keep moving
the ball. The opposing defenders wear down, but when that doesn't happen, then
it's his defense that is quickly back on the field without much rest. Last year
only one team had their defense on the field for more total plays. Kelly feels
that his plan will win out and he trains his players to be in top shape with his
practice routines. As they say, time will tell. Philadelphia
Eagles Offense
They
showed what they are capable of in last Sunday's
39-17 win over the New Orleans Saints. Quarterback Sam
Bradford has been shaky so far, but he threw the ball 45 times for 333 yards and
2 touchdowns. If Bradford didn't have two red-zone interceptions, you'd feel more
comfortable saying he's turned the corner. You could see progress with the offensive
line. Not only did they give Bradford good protection, they kept him without a
sack. They also did their job for running back DeMarco
Murray.
The Eagles actually had 300 yards of offense by the end of the first
half, and that's more than they've had in any other full game. Murray had 83 yards
rushing on 20 carries and Ryan Mathews
had 73 yards on 8 carries. Overall the Eagles finished the game with 519 total
yards and scored their highest point total to date. Bradford,
Murray and Mathews made Chip Kelly look good and silenced critics as they were
all players he added in the offseason after he took control of the personnel decisions. Philadelphia
Eagles Defense
The
Eagles have been better defensively this season than the past two and they showed
off what they could do last week. They kept pressuring Drew Brees and came away
with 5 sacks. Defensive end Fletcher Cox had three of those, forcing Brees into
two lost fumbles and recovering one of them. For his efforts, Cox was named the
NFC Defensive Player of the Week. This unit had just 6 sacks total through their
first four games, but they really got it together last week. In the trenches they
did very well, and the question is will they now continue on this path?
Then
there is the problem of giving up big passing plays. They had made changes to
their secondary and only safety Malcolm Jenkins has returned as a starter. Big
plays were an issue last season when the Eagles led the league on passing plays
going 20 or more yards, Things were going well up until last week when they gave
up six of them to bring their total to 18 and guess who's up next? They have Eli
Manning, who has thrown more 20-yard passes
against the Eagles than any other team. Giants
offense
Eli Manning threw 54 passes last
week, leads the NFL with 197 pass attempts, and is second with his 131 completions.
Manning was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. There was no doubt that
he was hot in that game, completing 15 consecutive passes at one point. Odell
Beckham Jr. had one touchdown as well as tight end Larry Donnell. A performance
like that will be hard to repeat the way things are shaping up with his with receiving
corps being dinged up. Victor Cruz hasn't made it back on the field since sustaining
his injury a year ago against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Beckham was
hurt last week and he has missed practices. Both he and Rueben Randle are nursing
hamstring issues.
It would be nice if the Giants could get a meaningful running
game going. They are currently near the bottom of the league, averaging just over
91 rushing yards per game. The 49ers held them to less and the Eagles are a much
better team defending against the run. Manning
worked around that last week and got the ball to his running backs through the
air. Both Shane Vereen and Rashad Jennings were very effective catching all twelve
passes and Vereen pulled one in for a touchdown. They may have to continue with
that plan this week as well. Giants
defense
They need to be focused on getting
the Eagles to go three and out. That's the best way to bust a fast paced offensive
game plan. Quarterback Sam Bradford is still adjusting to this style of play and
has made some costly mistakes. Bradford has been working with a short passing
game plan and targeted 10 different players last week. Running back DeMarco Murray
caught the most, pulling in seven out of eight. His deeper target, Riley Cooper,
caught three out of eight. Bradford is sure to have been told to go after the
Giants secondary knowing that cornerback Prince Amukamara won't be on the field,
so the Giants will have an opportunity to bait him or possibly fail trying. In
any event, Bradford will try to avoid Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who had forced
two fumbles and allowed the 49ers five targeted receivers only 19 yards receiving
for an average per pass attempt of 3.9 yards.
The
Giants ability to stop the run wasn't there
last season and they finished 30th in the NFL, allowing 135.1 yards per game on
the ground. They've turned that around and now are second in the league, giving
up just 80.6 yards a game. They've had a week to review how the Eagles made the
ground work for the first time this season, and to the tune of 186 yards. DeMarco
Murray got most of the carries (4.2 avg), but Ryan Mathews averaged 9.1 yards
when he carried the ball. Darren Sproles had a better average as well (5.4), and
all three were reliable catching Bradford's passes, missing on only 2 out of 13.
Late word was that Mathews was limited in practice with a groin injury. Overall
The
Eagles won big last week in front of their home crowd for the first time this
season. The fans would love to see their team do it again on Monday night, especially
since two of the Eagles losses have been to the other teams in the same division.
There's a long way to go, but right now the NFC East is bunched up with their
win-loss records and division wins are a big tie breaker. In 2014, if the Eagles
had won their last game with the Cowboys, they both would have finished at 11-5
and the Eagles would have won the division.
Eli Manning was recognized for
the third time as the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against
San Francisco. The last two times were in 2006 and 2011 and both were after games
he won against the Eagles. Did Manning peak one week too soon? Should he have
saved himself for this game? Maybe so, because he lost his last two against the
Eagles, and it's been two years since the Giants have come up with a four game
winning streak. NFC East
Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Redskins (2-3) at
Jets (3-1).
Monday at 8:30pm Giants (3-2) at Eagles (2-3).
The Cowboys are
on a bye. The Eagles are the only NFC East team favored to win in these games.
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Notes.
Giants
have allowed only 4 sacks on Eli Manning this season.
Giants
Eli Manning has thrown 15 passes for more than 20 yards plus this season. Giants
Eli Manning has completed 66.5 percent of his passes, the highest percentage of
his career. Eagles Sam Bradford is the
first player this season to toss two red zone interceptions in the same half. Eagles
Fletcher Cox was named the NFC's defensive player of the week for the first time
in his career. Eagles Ryan Mathews leads
the team with 205 yards for an average of 5.0 yards per attempt. Eagles
safety Walter Thurmond III was with the Giants last year and has made three interceptions.
Eagles are 11-3 against the Giants in their past 14 matchups.
Next Games
Oct 25- Cowboys at Giants.
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