The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants have been known for crazy and unpredictable endings in the illustrious rivalry between the two teams. Sunday afternoon was anything but that.
The Eagles laid a beatdown on the decimated Giants 48-22 to put New York’s season on a knife edge as the playoffs get closer.
“They did everything better than we did,” Giants head coach Brian Daboll said. “We have to get back to work and get ready for Washington…we got beat handily.”
Philadelphia got the scoring started early and often to cue the onslaught. Quarterback Jalen Hurts led the Eagles to touchdowns on each of their first three drives.
Running back Miles Sanders got the scoring started early in the first quarter after the Eagles ran a 14-play, 84-yard drive. Hurts would then follow with two touchdown passes to DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown in the second quarter to take a 21-0 lead.
“Credit to them, they played well today,” Giants quarterback Daniel Jones said. “A large deficit can affect what we’re doing. We can’t afford to start slow as we did. We have to do something to get ourselves going.”
On Smith’s touchdown — a fade route down the sideline — Giants safety Julian Love overran the play on what could have been a tackle, and instead became the Eagles’ second touchdown of the game.
“I thought I had it. In my situation, I either take him out or go up and get it,” Love said. “I thought I read it perfectly, I just misjudged the positioning.”
New York would battle back temporarily. After a blocked punt set the Giants’ offense up in the red zone, Daniel Jones found Isaiah Hodgins for the score to make it 21-7.
A long kickoff return from Boston Scott would set up a field goal drive for the Eagles to go up 24-7 at the half.
Both teams would then trade touchdown drives to keep the Eagles’ lead to 20. First, Jones capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a quarterback sneak, while Hurts answered on his own with a 10-yard run himself to make the score 34-14 late in the third quarter.
On the day, Hurts completed 21-of-31 passes for 217 yards and three total touchdowns. Jones, on the other hand, finished 18-for-27 with 169 yards and a touchdown.
Both teams would trade three-and-outs heading into the fourth quarter when a 40-yard touchdown run, his second of the game, from Sanders allowed the Eagles to rest most of the starters with the game out of reach to improve to 12-1 and clinch a playoff berth.
Philadelphia was able to limit the Giants’ top rushing attack by limiting an injured Saquon Barkley to just 28 yards on nine carries. Barkley entered the game questionable with a neck injury but left the game late in the fourth when the game became out of reach according to Brian Daboll.
The loss bumps the Giants down to 7-5-1 with a date with the Washington Commanders next week.
Game Notes:
- Both Leonard Williams and Adoree Jackson were inactive for Sunday’s game. Williams had a neck injury while Jackson had been recovering from a knee injury.
- It was a who’s who of former players and political figures in attendance for the Giants on Sunday. President Bill Clinton made an appearance before the game and Plaxicvo
- The Giants’ blocked punt wasn’t the only bizarre special teams play of the day. Down 14-0, Giants punter Jamie Gillan whiffed on the punt and illegally tried to kick the ball. Set with a first and ten at the Giant 33, Philadelphia would score shortly after. Philadelphia also tallied over 40 yards per kick return and seven yards per punt return.
