Game Review: Philadelphia Eagles 27 – New York Giants 24

Odell Beckham – © USA TODAY Sports

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Philadelphia Eagles 27 – New York Giants 24

RECAP

If there were ever a must win for the Giants in the first quarter of the season, this was it. Their second NFC East match-up of the season was on the road in Philadelphia, a place they haven’t won since 2013, against the 1-1 Eagles. As bad as the first two weeks were, Eli Manning has led the Giants out of a 0-2 hole to the pinnacle of the NFL before.  A win on the road, in the division, would get this ship heading in the right direction.

Things started off on a positive note, with the Eagles going 3-and-out on their first drive highlighted by an Olivier Vernon sack. Then began the theme of the Giants first half. They got to 1st-and-10 on the Eagles side of the field but it resulted in zero points. As a matter of fact, that happened on every single possession in the first two quarters. They put together solid drives, mainly through their passing game, but couldn’t quite seal it to the point of getting rid of that zero on the scoreboard. Missed opportunities and lack of execution.

After a 10-for-11 start by Eli Manning, he threw his first of two interceptions on the day. The pass was intended for Brandon Marshall who was targeted 11 times, more than the first two weeks combined, but Manning misfired and threw the ball towards the middle of the field rather than the sideline. It was a momentum killer after the Giants spent the entire first half knocking on the door.

The Giants were already in a 7-0 hole, thanks to an Eagles offense that was having an easy time running the ball via bad New York tackling and efficient blocking by their very solid offensive line. On 4th-and-8 on the Giants 43-yard line, Carson Wentz was sacked by Devon Kennard, giving Manning and the offense one more shot at a first-half score. 1st-and-10 at midfield with 2:29 left.

Slowly but surely, they got the ball to the 2-yard line, with 32 seconds left and a timeout remaining. Manning threw two touchdowns to Sterling Shepard but both were reviewed and correctly overturned. After a scoreless half and knowing the Giants would receive the ball after halftime, Ben McAdoo opted for the aggressive move on the road, foregoing a sure-thing 3 points, and gave it a go on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line, trying to run the ball behind an offensive line that has been pushed around since he’s been here with no change in sight. The result? Orleans Darwka being tackled for a loss. Giants down 7-0 at halftime.

The Giants and Eagles traded scoreless possessions to start off the second half, with the Giants gaining the field position advantage after a missed 42-yard field goal by Eagles kicker Jake Elliott. Two plays into the drive, Manning threw his second interception on a tipped slant pass intended for Odell Beckham. Thanks to a 41-yard pass interference by Eli Apple, the Eagles turned the Giants’ mistakes in a 14-0 lead after Carson Wentz found tight end Zach Ertz in the end zone before Darian Thompson could intervene.

Manning led a solid, piece-by-piece drive where both the ground game and air attack looked alive and well. They got it to the 13-yard line but McAdoo felt the pressure to score a touchdown a tad too early and opted to forgo an easy field goal attempt again just to be shut down on 4th-and-2, forcing another turnover on downs. The Giants entered the 4th quarter down 14-0.

Starting near mid-field yet again, Manning hooked up with Brandon Marshall three times before finding Beckham in the end zone for a 10-yard score. His ability to get his feet down in-bounds near the back of the end zone after out-leaping the defensive back is a play many won’t appreciate enough. He makes extraordinary plays look much more doable than they really are. The ball was quickly back in the hands of New York thanks to a dropped ball/fumble by Zach Ertz. Just 1:50 of game clock passed after that before Manning hit Beckham for another amazing, contested TD catch, this time with one hand. Another three minutes of game clock pass and all of the sudden, Sterling Shepard is racing downfield on his way to a 77-yard touchdown, the vast majority of which was after the catch. That had the look of a play that would turn the season around as New York took a 21-14 lead, their first lead of the season.

With momentum fully on the Giants side, Carson Wentz got aggressive by air mailing a pass to deep threat Torrey Smith. The ball would not have been caught, but the always-grabby Apple was flagged for another pass interference, this time being 36 yards. This brought the Eagles to the 15-yard line and on the next play, rookie Corey Clement made Jonathan Casillas and Darian Thompson look silly on his way towards the Eagles third touchdown of the day. It was a 1:32 drive.

The Giants and Eagles traded field goals towards the end of the quarter as both defenses failed to step up. The Giants got the ball with :51 left and cautiously went for the yards necessary to put Aldrick Rosas in a game-winning situation. However two penalties brought them back to a point where a punt with 19 seconds was the Giants only move. Brad Wing then made the mishap of the day, shanking one off his foot, totaling 28 yards.

Wentz was able to find Alshon Jeffrey over Eli Apple for a 19-yard gain, putting Jake Elliott in position to make a 61-yard field goal with :01 left on the clock. The result? Elliott is now the Eagles record holder for the longest made field goal in franchise history. 0-3 Giants.

QUARTERBACK

• Eli Manning: 35/47 – 366 yards – 3 TD/2 INT – 100.1 rating. This game replicated Manning’s entire career to this point against the Eagles. He played well, threw for a lot of yards, came up big in the 4th quarter, but ended up losing. Manning is now 10-17 against Philadelphia all time. The “typical Eli” comments are warranted to an extent, as his interceptions came up at inopportune times but credit needs to be given for the poise and high pressure throws he made throughout the entire fourth quarter when this team needed him most.

RUNNING BACK

• Orleans Darkwa: 7 att – 22 yards. Throw in an 11 yard reception as well. Darkwa continues to look like has more life with the ball in his hands. The word “impressive” cannot be used for any of these backs, but Darkwa at least showed he can break more tackles and push piles. At this point, that is the only thing the running game is creating; slow, crowded piles. His 20-yard run in the 4th quarter is the longest NYG has seen this year.
• Paul Perkins: 9 att – 22 yards. Also note 2 catches for 8 yards. Perkins had a stretch on one drive in the 3rd quarter where he looked halfway decent. Yes, the sample size was that small. He rushed 3 times for 16 yards on that drive; you can do the math on what he put out the rest of the way. Again, a victim of poor blocking but also again, lack of impact after contact.
• Shane Vereen: 2 rec – 18 yards. One carry for another 5 yards as well. On the field for less than 30% of the snaps. Not nearly enough playing time again and at some point he needs to be on the field more than the two names above.

WIDE RECEIVER

• Odell Beckham: 9 rec – 79 yards – 2 TD. Moving forward it is safe to say that Beckham is as healthy as he will be in relation to the preseason ankle injury he sustained. It was good to see the emotion out of Beckham, as maddening as he can be. This guy plays his heart out and made two touchdown receptions that very few WRs in the league can make, trust me on that. There was a stretch of plays that stood out to me in the 3rd quarter. Manning went to him four consecutive plays, the third of which he dropped a ball. He responded right after with a 13-yard catch for first down, a high effort play. We can say what we want about his childish antics but if this team is going to make a turnaround, it will center around him. He is that big of a difference maker.
• Brandon Marshall: 8 rec – 66 yards. Not an impressive stat line but it was good to see so many passes (11 total) thrown his way. We got to see what this guy can be to opposing defensive backs trying to tackle him in space. A glimpse anyway. I fully expect to see a big game out of him in Tampa Bay now the game chemistry is there with him and Manning.
• Sterling Shepard: 7 rec – 133 yards – 1 TD. The play of the game was going to center around his 77-yard touchdown, one in which he made a move or two and raced 70 yards after the catch. The collapse late, however, overshadowed how big of a play that was. Shepard has an opportunity here to really shine. He is proving to be overly reliable in this slot-dependent, slant-dependent, YAC-dependent passing game. His toughness and consistency since the start of his rookie year are impressive.

TIGHT END

• Evan Engram: 5 rec – 45 yards. Overall a quiet game from Engram. He continues to lead the tight end in snaps played by a huge margin. As a blocker, his grade was better than weeks 1 and 2 respectively. The progress there is encouraging but it is still a weakness to his game and the overall offense.
• Rhett Ellison: Wasn’t thrown to at all and his performance as a blocker was average, although he played just 29% of the snaps. Tough to make an impact on the game with such little playing time. If this coaching staff wants more production out of the running game without taking to big of a bite out of the air attack, Ellison should be in for more than 50% of the plays.

OFFENSIVE LINE

• Tackles: Admirable performance, for the most part, by both Ereck Flowers and Justin Pugh. Neither allowed any sacks and with the help of the quick-release passing game, their combined pressures allowed were just 2. Flowers graded out much higher than he did the first two weeks but still graded out slightly negative. Pugh has been a steady rock all three games. Pugh did allow some inside pressure but because he is so often in good position from top to bottom, he had enough to keep his man away from making a big impact. Pugh is making money every week with his performance at RT as he heads towards his free agency.
• Guards/Center: Hard-nosed effort from these three, although there wasn’t a ton of movement at the point-of-attack. Weston Richburg was the highest-graded lineman although he is making it a common habit to play a recovery style after getting drilled off the ball. At some point, that is going to be a major issue for this offense. John Jerry had a positive grade. What’s ironic here is, he led the group in negative-plays and positive-plays. He made some play-altering blocks, especially when they had him trap across the line, on some of the Giants’ biggest gains. He also did a nice job neutralizing the inside rush. Brett Jones gets beat initially almost every time, but in the same breath he fights back hard and won more often than not. He, too, graded out positively.

DEFENSIVE LINE

• Ends: Jason Pierre Paul was matched up against one of the best right tackles in the game, Lane Johnson. Johnson won. Pierre-Paul had a very quiet day against the pass and struggled to disengage from the lateral blocking by the athletic Johnson. He has been one of the most disappointing players on this team through the 0-3 start. Time for him to step up. Olivier Vernon recorded a sack early on a play where Wentz held onto the ball too long, but also recorded 5 tackles. His performance against the run was very up and down and he did have to fight through an ankle injury in the second half. Romeo Okwara and Kerry Wynn rotated in and out for about 20% of the plays but failed to make any serious impact.
• Tackles: Damon Harrison was avoided by the Eagles’ ground game. They made him move laterally often and it tired him out. He was only on the field for 58% of the plays. The Eagles made sure to not let him impact the game. Dalvin Tomlinson, Robert Thomas, and Jay Bromley all had a hard time maintaining their positions. They were being driven back and out of holes. Thomas especially lacked gap discipline, opening up massive cutback lanes. None were very impactful as pass rushers.

LINEBACKERS

• The most underwhelming position group when it comes to overall grades. Jonathan Casillas and Keenan Robinson led the group in playing time, and both led the team in negative plays. They had a hard time disengaging from blockers, especially on the outside. Don’t let Robinson’s team-leading 10 tackles deceive you, he was a liability against both the run and pass.
• After a solid showing in his first week as the starting MIKE, Calvin Munson only played 30% of the snaps. Was there an injury? Did the coaches see something I didn’t? Was it the PHI personnel grouping that often had them running out three wide receivers? Could be any of those but Munson, in my opinion, deserves to be on the field. His play against the lateral run has been a major plus so far and NYG really struggled there Sunday.
• Hats off to Devon Kennard who has been showing a healthy dose of versatility each week. He filled in at DE and strong side linebacker, finishing with a sack and a QB hit.

CORNERBBACKS

• Janoris Jenkins broke up two passes, the only two of the day for the NYG defense. His effort and impact against receivers that are so much bigger than him is admirable to say the least. He is a major plus for this defense and is grading out as one of the best corners in the league so far in this young season.
• Eli Apple is up for the dud of the week. Teams are obviously targeting him downfield because of his inability to keep his hands away from grabbing. It was his red flag coming out of college and there has been little-to-no progress there so far in his career. His two long pass interference penalties in the second half both led to PHI touchdowns. He also missed a tackle and allowed too much separation on underneath routes to Torrey Smith, a receiver who is not known for short-route running ability.
• With the Eagles in a 3 WR formation so often, Dominique Rodgers Cromartie played a season-high 41 plays, showing more than solid man coverage. Ross Cockrell has been impressive in his limited action.

SAFETIES

• Underwhelming game from both Landon Collins and Darian Thompson. Other than Thompson’s big hit which knocked Darren Sproles out of the game, his game review was full of negative plays. He is late to recognize underneath passing routes and he missed 3 tackles that resulted in big gains, including a touchdown. His leash shouldn’t be too long, as he has yet to show much in his short NFL career. Collins didn’t finish with a negative grade, but his impact wasn’t felt the way we are used to. He overran a few lateral pursuits. And his coverage was average at best. The forced fumble you see in the box score was a mere drop-of-the-ball by Zach Ertz that Collins had little to do with.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• K Aldrick Rosas:1/1 (42) – 3/3 on extra points. Rosas attempted his first high-pressure kick. Tied 21-21 with 3:11 to go, he nailed the 42 yarder with plenty of extra room.
• Brad Wing – 4 punts – 38.5 yard avg – 1 inside 20. His horrendous shank in the 4th quarter was the main reason for the Eagles being set up for a game-winning field goal.
• Return: For the third straight game, Dwayne Harris made zero impact on the game via his returns.

3 STUDS

• WR Odell Beckham, QB Eli Manning, CB Janoris Jenkins

3 DUDS

• LB Jonathan Casillas, P Brad Wing, CB Eli Apple

3 THOUGHTS ON PHILADELPHIA

• Despite Dallas’ 13-win season last year with their young nucleus coming back, I noted Philadelphia as the team NYG would have to fend off for a division crown. NYG’s poor start aside, I think the Eagles are as well balanced as it gets in the NFC East. Wentz is a gamer, the team will control the trenches on both sides of the ball most weeks, and their schedule is pretty favorable.
• The Eagles secondary is very banged up, but the young guns put together a couple solid performances. I was impressed with how CB Rasul Douglas played. He prevented the deep ball from being an option a couple times and played tough underneath against Marshall.
• The Wentz-to-Jeffrey duo is only going to get better as the season progresses. Jeffrey doesn’t do a lot of things right as a route runner, but he has a Plaxico Burress-type approach to his game. He is bigger, taller, and can reach longer than almost everyone covering him. He is a guy who can be thrown to even when he is covered, something Wentz has never done. Once he gains confidence and chemistry there, I expect their offense to jump to the next level.

3 CLOSING THOUGHTS

• The Giants are one of 3 teams in the league that have faced three teams with winning records this season. If there is a glass half-full approach, it can center around that this was a very difficult set of games to start off the year. Two road division games and one of the most up-and-coming NFC teams on a Monday night. The upcoming stretch has a lot of winnable games. The Bucs and Chargers are very beatable. The Seahawks are not the Seahawks we have come to know the best 5-6 years. The Rams and 49ers have yet to prove that they are really out of the bottom third of the league. Those 4 teams make up 80% of the upcoming 5 games.
• I wouldn’t call the offense broken anymore. It isn’t good, but it’s not broken. It’s improved each week and the biggest positive taken from this game is the fact that Beckham appears to be back, fully. When a player like that hesitates, a player who depends so much on explosive movement, he is a shell of himself. It is easy to tell that Beckham let it loose in the second half and I think his confidence will be back in Tampa – a defense that can be torched. Also, the fact Marshall got much more involved is a huge plus. He still has it.
• This defense, at least to me, was supposed to come in and be a top 5 unit in the NFL. Right now, they are middle of the pack. There is too much talent here to think this is where they are. They are relatively healthy, too. There is a string of games coming up that could really elevate the confidence of this unit.  It’s not coaching or play calling, these guys simply need to beat their respective opponents.