Eagles @ Giants
Final Score: Eagles 48, Giants 22
Writer: Mario Adamo Jr. (@marioadamojr on Twitter, /u/dotcaim on Reddit)
This game started in the Eagles’ favor and never swung the other way. The Eagles won the coin toss and deferred to the Giants, who managed to get a quick first down before two sacks forced them to punt. Jalen Hurts passed to six different receivers on the opening drive before Miles Sanders punched in the 3-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up early, 7-0. The Giants’ second drive looked a lot like their first, getting a quick first down followed by three straight plays going nowhere and another punt. The Eagles took the field and put on another masterclass drive downfield, primarily focusing on Devonta Smith who was targeted fives times on the drive, including a 41-yard touchdown on 4th down, 14-0. The Giants were forced to punt again on their third drive, but then it went from bad to worse. The punter, Jamie Gillan, dropped the punt and kicked the ball after it hit the ground. This led to a terrible punt but was also a loss-of-down penalty, gifting the Eagles a starting field position of the Ginats’ 33. It only took the Birds one play to make the Giants pay, as Hurts found A.J. Brown for the 33-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive, 21-0. With their backs against the wall, the Giants leaned on their best player, Saquon Barkley, for five straight plays. It wasn’t enough as the Giants punted, again. The Giants finally caught a break though, the Eagles went go three-and-out and had their punt blocked. The punter, Arryn Siposs, scooped and ran but was stopped short of the first down marker, gifting the Giants a starting position in the red zone. The Giants made the most of it as Daniel Jones found Isaiah Hodgins for the score, 21-7. The Eagles drove and answered back with a field goal, 24-7. The half ended with another punt.
For the first drive of the second half, the Eagles leaned on their run game as the rain poured down. Sanders and Hurts both had rushes of 20+ yards, but they were stopped short of the endzone and settled for a field goal, 27-7. The Giants, not dead yet, drove down themselves with passes to Hodgins and rushes from Gary Brightwell to set them up in a goal-to-go situation. Barkley had two rushing attempts but it was Danny Dimes who would get the score, 27-14. Hurts and co. took that personally and marched down the field, and eventually Hurts found the endzone off of a 10-yard designed run, 34-14. Each team punted on their next drive. The Giants, down 34-14 in the 4th, tried and failed on 4th down their next time on the field. The Eagles started off poorly with a 10-yard sack, but eventually gave Sanders his second touchdown of the day, this time a 40-yard run, 41-14. The starters were pulled after that and after a garbage time touchdown for each team (Boston Scott and Richie James on a pass from Tyrod Taylor), the final score ended 48-22 with the Philadelphia Eagles becoming the first team this season to clinch a playoff birth.
Philadelphia Eagles
Quarterback
Jalen Hurts: 21/31, 217 Yards, 2 TD | 7 Carries, 77 Yards, TD
Gardner Minshew: 1 Carry, -1 Yards
This may come as a surprise for those reading this, but Jalen Hurts is really good at football. These past few weeks have shown he can do it all. In Week 12 he showed off his rushing ability, in Week 13 was all arm, and this week we got to see both sides on full display. It doesn’t get a more complete package than this, 217 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, 77 rushing yards, and a rushing TD. He looked unstoppable against the Giants. There’s nothing more to say, Jalen Hurts is really good at football.
Gardner Minshew filled in for the last two drives for the Eagles, he didn’t throw a pass but handed the ball off four times and took a knee for the victory formation. He’s a guy you want for your handoffs and victory formation leagues.
Running Back
Miles Sanders: 17 Carries, 144 Yards, 2 TD | 3 Targets, 1 Reception, 11 Yards
Boston Scott: 6 Carries, 33 Yards, TD | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 4 Yards
Kenneth Gainwell: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 0 Yards
Next time Miles Sanders says don’t draft him in fantasy, do not believe him. For the first time in his career, Sanders has 1,000+ rushing yards and 10+ rushing touchdowns. He had two today, including a 40-yard touchdown rush late in the game. It was the longest touchdown run for the Eagles this season. The ground game picked up as the Eagles ran up the score and rain continued to come down. Boston Scott of course got his, he has nine career touchdowns against the Giants. The touchdown came in garbage time, but it still counts for fantasy purposes. Kenneth Gainwell had one target during the Eagles’ sixth drive for 0 yards.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
A.J. Brown: 6 Targets, 4 Receptions, 70 Yards, TD
DeVonta Smith: 8 Targets, 5 Receptions, 64 Yards, TD
Quez Watkins: 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 19 Yards
Zach Pascal: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 5 Yards
Grant Calcaterra: 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 24 Yards
Jack Stoll: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 20 Yards
Coming off one of his best games of the season, A.J. Brown had a mostly tame day that was saved by a 33-yard touchdown on the Eagles’ third drive. Brown was targeted three times on the first drive, though one was nullified by a defensive penalty. He was targeted three times in each half. Despite his relatively low targets he still led the team in yards. This game was more of a time for Skinny Batman aka DeVonta Smith. During the second drive, Smith was targeted five times including four straight. On the fifth target, Smith hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass. Quez Watkins was targeted five times, catching four for 19 yards. His largest gain was 9 yards during the second drive. Grant Calcaterra has been a nice fill-in for Dallas Goedert. He caught two of his four targets for 24 yards, including a 14-yard pass and a 10-yard pass, both on the first drive. Jack Stoll saw some targets too, one on the second drive and again on the eighth.
New York Giants
Quarterback
Daniel Jones: 18/27, 169 Yards, TD | 4 Carries, 26 Yards, TD
Tyrod Taylor: 5/5, 47 Yards, TD | 2 Carries, 40 Yards, 1 Fumble (Lost)
There was no Keeping up with the Jones’ today as Daniel Jones was playing catchup all game. Things were off to a rocky start for him and the Giants. He was sacked early and often (seven times total) and found himself down several touchdowns early. Despite all that, Danny Dimes had a passing touchdown to Isaiah Hodgins before halftime set up by a blocked punt. In the second half, Danny Dimes made some big plays including a 16-yard scramble, a 15-yard pass to Richie James, and a 16-yard pass to Hodgins before he took it himself for a QB sneak touchdown. This Eagles’ defense is tough to play against, so credit to Jones for getting 19 points this game.
Tyrod Taylor caught a tough break, he was strip-sacked on his second snap of the game, setting up another Eagles touchdown. He didn’t let it get to him, he was perfect as he drove down the field on the next drive for a touchdown and two-point conversion. The drive included a beautiful 32-yard scramble up the middle on 4th & 15.
Running Back
Saquon Barkley: 9 Carries, 28 Yards | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 20 Yards
Gary Brightwell: 5 Carries, 23 Yards | 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 18 Yards
Matt Breida: 3 Carries, 6 Yards | 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 9 Yards
Although Saquon Barkley was active for this game, it was clear the Giants didn’t want to utilize him too heavily. The Giants took precautions with Barkley using the other backs Matt Bredia and Gary Brightwell regularly this game. Barkley led the backfield in carries but Brightwell and Breida both had more targets than the premiere back. Besides the health concern, the game script was not in his favor, as the Giants quickly found themselves down 21-0. Four of Barkley’s rushing attempts and one of his receptions came on the Giants’ fourth drive when they were down 21-0. Excluding that drive, which ended in a punt, Barkley had one carry on the first drive, one target on the third drive, one rush on the fifth drive, and three rushes on the seventh drive (including two goal-to-go carries). Hopefully, Barkley will heal up this week as the Giants travel to Washington to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Brightwell, who had two targets all year, had three in this game. His biggest play was a 13-yard rush on the Giants’ second drive. He also had a 12-yard reception from Tyrod Taylor on their last drive of the game. Breida’s biggest plays included a 5-yard rush on the third drive and a 5-yard reception on the sixth drive.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Richie James: 9 Targets, 7 Receptions, 61 Yards, TD
Isaiah Hodgins: 6 Targets, 4 Receptions, 38 Yards, TD
Darius Slayton: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 42 Yards
Daniel Bellinger: 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 19 Yards
Nick Vannett: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 9 Yards
The first catch for Richie James went for -1 yards. After that, he’d go on to be the leader in targets, receptions, and yards for the Giants. James was the primary target for Jones, including big plays of 15 yards on the seventh drive, and 12 yards on the eighth drive. He ended up scoring a garbage-time touchdown from Tyrod Taylor on the Giants’ last drive. Isaiah Hodgins scored from a Danny Dimes pass on the Giants’ fifth drive. He caught big plays including a 16-yard pass on the Giants’ seventh drive. Darius Slayton caught the longest pass for the Giants, a 37-yarder. Daniel Bellinger caught all three of his targets, including an 11-yarder to start the Giants’ fifth drive. Nick Vannett couldn’t catch the ball from Danny Dimes but did catch a ball from Tyrod for 9 yards.