Divisional Round 2023 Comparisons: Front Seven

Leading up to the Eagles match-up with the New York Giants on Saturday, Sports Talk Philly and Eagledelphia will compare the personnel of the two teams each day until gameday is here.

In this edition of our week-long comparison, we will look at the defensive fronts that the Eagles and Giants will field on Saturday.

Philadelphia DL/LB | Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Josh Sweat, Jordan Davis, Robert Quinn, Milton Williams, Ndamukong Suh, TJ Edwards, Haason Reddick, Kyzir White, Nakobe Dean, Christian Elliss, Kyron Johnson, Patrick Johnson

The Philadelphia defensive front has genuinely been unstoppable this season with the exception of their three losses. Early in the season, the defense settled into a rhythm of creating takeaways and turnovers and never looked back. There’s not really a standout player that had a season above the rest, but each player contributed greatly when it mattered most. 

Brandon Graham, who really built a case for Comeback Player of the Year with 11 sacks, 35 tackles and 16 quarterback hits, among other great stats, came off an ACL injury last season. One player that’s been stable on the Eagles for years has been T.J. Edwards, continuing to fly under the radar having a fantastic season with 99 solo tackles, two sacks and five quarterback hits, among other stats.

Offseason additions contributed greatly to the success of the team. Haason Reddick and Jordan Davis, just to name a few, brought some much-needed help to the Eagles defense. 

Giants DL/LB | Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, Henry Mondeaux, Justin Ellis, Ryan Anderson, Landon Collins, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Jihad Ward, Azeez Ojulari, Oshane Ximines, Cam Brown, Carter Coughlin, Jarrad Davis, Micah McFadden, Tomon Fox

The New York Giants’ defense come into the Divisional Round being the 8th-ranked defense in all of the playoff teams left. A lot of the Giants games are close when it comes to wins and losses. The Giants defense gave up an average of 21.9 points this season. 

A few standout talents stepped up to help the team just enough to get to the playoffs and scraped by the Vikings. Dexter Lawrence had seven and a half sacks, 68 tackles and 28 quarterback hits. 

Kayvan Thibodeaux is another star talent who’s been able to get it done for the Giants. He has two fumble recoveries with one for a touchdown, four sacks and 49 combined tackles. He’s someone the Eagles are going to need to keep an eye on.

Edge

The Eagles have the clear edge here. If for no other reason, they’ve given up fewer points on average this season. The team has too many big-bodied guys who’ve been able to halt the run game and take care of the pass. Though the team doesn’t blitz much, they’ve still been able to win the turnover battle.

An interesting matchup heading into this game will be between Dexter Lawrence, who had eight pressures in the Wild Card Round versus Jason Kelce who allowed only 11 pressures in 652 pass-block snaps.