Injury Report: Eagles at Giants

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

While the game is not a must win, the Eagles final game is a win and their in game.

Clinching a victory in the Meadowlands would make the Eagles the 2019 NFC East Champions.

While there is a lot in the report itself, a big development is Jordan Howard being cleared for contact.

Howard may not be 100% for this game, but he gives another option as well as some fresh and rested legs that could prove vital in a potential playoff run. Doug Pederson plans to use him as a third-down and situational back to get him acclimated.

Injury Report

Eagles

Out

Agholor has missed the last three games and his knee is now twice the size it should be, so he is unlikely to play this weekend. The Eagles recently promoted Deontay Burnett, so should have four available receivers even without Agholor for the first time in weeks. At this point, it is really fair to wonder how Agholor would integrate into the game considering his struggles have been blamed on his being moved out of the slot and Greg Ward, who they prefer in the slot, being the clear WR1 with Agholor and the rest of the group out. It would be malpractice to mess with Ward’s snaps at this point.

Ertz suffered fractured ribs in the game against the Cowboys last week. While Ertz returned to the game and made four receptions following the injury, the Eagles did re-sign veteran Richard Rodgers earlier in the week, giving the team three other tight ends.

Questionable

Johnson could be missing his third straight game with a high anke sprain. Big V is his backup and, as much as people in Philadelphia dump on him, Vaitai is a very good tackle. He is certainly not elite like much of the rest of the Eagles offensive line has been in recent memory, but he is at least at the caliber of an NFL starter. Johnson would be a huge boost, but having Vaitai’s talent available has mitigated the severity of the loss of Johnson so far.

Mills popped up on the injury report this week and is the Eagles top corner so far this season. With Darby on IR and Douglas starting, Sidney Jones would be his replacement. After that, they would either play Craig James or move Avonte Maddox to the outside.

Giants

Out

Remmers is the Giants starting right tackle and a big hit to the team. His absence should allow Brandon Graham to get to the quarterback with more consistency. Second-year man Nick Gates should draw the start in his stead. Gates has started two games for the Giants and has played a handful of snaps in each game Giants this season, so they are not bringing in an inexperienced player to cover for Remmers.

Although signed as the back-up, with Evan Engram on IR, Ellison being out drops the Giants to their third tight end.

Simonson is actually the third tight end on this Giants team, so New York will enter the game with their fourth tight end, who is the only other one on the roster as of Friday afternoon, Kaden Smith as the starter.

Smith has actually done fairly well, with 23 receptions for 170 yards and three touchdowns. The rookie had six receptions and a pair of touchdowns last week, meaning that the Eagles will have to be ready for him, especially in the red zone.

Questionable

Beal, a third-round pick in the 2019 draft, was on IR for the beginning of the season, but returned in week 10. Since that time he had come on strong for the Giants, becoming an almost every-down player by the time the Giants traveled to Philadelphia a few weeks ago. He left last week’s game with a neck injury.

Ballentine took on a bigger role following the release of Janoris Jenkins. His questionable tag is of a greater concern because of Beal also being questionable. Antonio Hamilton and Grant Haley are the only two corners on the depth chart behind Ballentine.

The Giants featured Haley quite a bit early on in the season, but he has not played a single defensive snap over the last three games while Hamilton has played 13.

Ogletree would be a big loss for the Giants defensive unit. He has missed quite a bit of time with injury this year, but has missed just four defensive snaps in the 10 games where he was not injured. Partially due to those injuries, his numbers are lower than normal with just one interception, six defensed passes and one sack to accompany 75 tackles. He is fourth on the team in tackles, behind only the Giants safety duo and Daniel Mayo. He did miss week 16.

Rookie Oshane Ximines is a good linebacker that might be able to take over for Ogletree, but he is naturally an outside linebacker. Deone Bucannon, who was released earlier this season, would likely be the Giants best option for an inside linebacker if they aren’t confident in Ximines playing up the middle.