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Giants (5-2) vs Eagles
(4-2)
The Eagles played at Washington last Monday night.
One after morning headline read "Eagles get by lowly Redskins, 27-17."
DeSean Jackson had a good evening with two catches and one rush for 136 yards
and 2 touchdowns. However the Eagles 53 other plays also totaled 136 yards without
any touchdowns.
The Giants lost their game last Sunday night to Arizona. They
were up 14-10 at the half but the Cardinals scored two touchdowns in the third
quarter. The Giants answered that with a mere fieldgoal in the fourth quarter
to go down 24-17 for their second loss in a row after winning five straight. Philadelphia
Eagles.
Since becoming the Eagles head
coach in 1999, Andy Reid has certainly kept his team on the NFL playoff merry-go-round
but he never quite gets them the brass ring. The closest he came was when the
Eagles fell just three points short in Super Bowl XXXIX. The Eagles surged at
the end of last season to beat out the Giants for the Division title but then
lost the Conference game to the Cardinals, a team they had beaten in the regular
season 48-20. You could say the Eagles really spiced things up in the offseason
by signing quarterback Michael Vick. What role will he play in this first meeting
between the Giants and Eagles since their last playoff game? Eagles
Offense.
Donovan McNabb has completed just
52 percent of his throws in the last two games against the Raiders and Redskins.
That average includes 18 of his 25 pass attempts on Monday night that were throws
of five yards or less. Running back Brian Westbrook suffered a concussion in that
game, losing consciousness on the field, and his status is unclear. Rookie LeSean
McCoy backs Westbrook up but he is still learning the blocking and pass-protection
role. Receiver DeSean Jackson, as a rookie last year, caught a team high 62 passes.
He looks to be the real deal for the Eagles this season with 21 catches for 423
yards and 3 touchdowns and he also has gained 115 yards on just 7 rushes. The
Eagles are working around injuries to their offensive line. Michael Vick is part
of this Eagles offensive mix and has been used in some wildcat formations. Eagles
Defense.
They're going it without Brian
Dawkins who they let move on to 6-0 Denver ( now 2nd in the league in overall
defense). Dawkins will see his old teammates up close in the next to last game
of the regular season on Dec 27. The defense is also without starting middle linebacker
Stewart Bradley who they lost to a season-ending knee injury early in training
camp. Scrambling, they brought back linebacker Jeremiah Trotter who was out of
football for over a year They traded for Will Witherspoon but he had already been
moved out of the middle linebacker position by the Rams after playing in that
position for three years. Despite this, the
Eagles defense is the best in the league in takeaways with 18, and their defense
is ranked seventh. Right end Trent Cole currently leads the team with 6.5 sacks.
Giants Offense.
They've been struggling lately as opposing teams seem to have their number - and
that would be number 12, Steve Smith, who they are giving the most attention to
in the secondary. Smith is playing well, second in the league with 45 catches
and third with 594 yards through the air. Double coverage on Smith should make
things easier for the rest of the receivers but it also spotlights their inexperience.
Like Tom Coughlin said of Hakeem and Mario Manningham, "You get a bunch of
really good plays and then there is a bad play. The bad play unfortunately the
last two weeks has shown up as big as you can get."
Ask Coughlin about
delay of game penalties on the offense, "There is no reason for it, there
really isn't. At some point, the chess game is over and you live with what's there."
The Giants pass-to-run ratio has been meager in the two losses. It was 37 passes
to 26 runs against Arizona and there were only 19 runs in the game a week earlier
against the Saints. Currently the Giants offense is ranked 27th in the league
in red-zone offense. Giants
Defense.
They were easily better in the
loss to Arizona than the one before that against New Orleans, but it still adds
up to two losses in a row. They did have poor defensive field position many times
in the game and Giants offense gave them very few rest breaks in between. The
defense has been effective against the Eagles before and with Philly's offense
hurting they could really open up and look as good as they had against some of
the weaker teams, but as the Eagles showed the Redskins, sometimes you just need
a few big plays at the right time. It's not good that the Giants defense is ranked
last in the NFL in redzone defense. Giant
Concerns.
It would be no fun losing number
three in a row and dropping from first place in the NFC East after starting the
season so strong and the Giants have an opportunity to do just that. Also it's
been a long stretch of games without a bye week break and this game is against
a division rival who always plays the Giants tough. Hopefully last week was an
exception and we won't have to ask - "Where have you gone Jeff Feagles? Joltin
Jeff - has - let - the - ball - go astray. Feagles, with suddenly four straight
punts of 35 yards or less in one game, is a sudden concern. What
I don't want to see.
Michael Vick, somehow
involved in this game, picking up a phone on the Giants sidelines after a successful
jaunt downfield. Also I don't want to see Eli Manning running the playclock down
to zero except on the final play of the game where he next trots off in victory.
From thirty two to sixteen
to nine to seven to five to four to three.
Brett Favre's Vikings fell from the list of undefeated teams, maybe easing just
a bit of the pressure they'll face as they head to Green Bay for Favre to play
there for the first time as an opposing quarterback. Three teams are left now
with 6-0 records. They are the Colts and Broncos
in the AFC and the Saints in the NFC. The Broncos
(6-0) are coming off a bye week to face Baltimore (3-3). The Saints (6-0) play
the Falcons (4-2). The Colts (6-0) play the 49ers (3-3). The Colts and Saints
are favored to win their games. The Broncos are not. Never before in NFL history
have three teams been undefeated as far as this point in the season.
The three
teams with zero wins are Tennessee (0-6) coming off a bye to play the (3-3 Titans).
Tampa Bay (0-7) is on a bye, and St. Louis (0-7) plays a team with only 1 win,
Detroit (1-5). NFC
East.
Sunday at 1PM when the Giants are playing, the Cowboys (4-2)
are at home against the Seahawks (2-4). Washington (2-5) is on a bye, preparing
to play at Atlanta the following week. The Cowboys and Eagles are favored to win
their games. 
Check
out.
The Team
Giants Store, and see some of the really unique items we put together.
There are some items you certainly haven't seen elsewhere, and each sale helps
out our site. Notes.
Giants, after a 5-0 start, now have just a
half-game lead in the NFC East over Philadelphia and Dallas. Giants
Eli Manning is 4-0 as a starter in the regular season playing at Philadelphia. Giants
defense in 2008 without Osi Umenyiora, failed to sack Donovan McNabb in any of
their 3 games. Giants defense in 2007
with Osi Umenyiora, sacked Donovan McNabb 15 times in 2 wins. Giants
at 12-4 were the No. 1 seed in the NFC last season, but lost 23-11 to the Eagles
in the divisional playoff game at home. Giants
cornerback Aaron Ross (hamstring), defensive lineman Chris Canty (calf) and linebacker
Michael Boley (knee) are out for this game. Eagles
Brian Westbrook has averaged 123 yards from scrimmage per game and scored 14 touchdowns
in the 12 games he has played against the Giants since 2003.
Eagles
Donovan McNabb has completed just 4 of 19 passes for 40 yards against blitzes
this season. Eagles have played only
one team with a winning record in their first six games. Eagles
are just 1-for-21 all season on third downs of 10 yards or more.
Next
Game
Nov.
8 Chargers at Giant at 4:15PM.
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