Eagles

Eagles Evaluation: Offense Breaks Out Against Giants

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Paul Bowman
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Paul Bowman Sports Editor

Penn State Great Valley MBA, Penn State Berks Undergrad, Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor, IT Service Manager. I joined Sports Talk Philly in 2017 and root for all the Philly teams (as well as their minor league counter parts).

All posts by Paul Bowman
Sports Editor

Published14 Oct 2018

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By Gia Lanci, Sports Talk Philly Staff Eagles Evaluation: Offense Breaks Out Against Giants

It was a rainy night for the Eagles first divisional game against the Giants. There were a few players out with injuries. The Eagles were looking to get a win since they had difficulty doing so the last few weeks.

Below are my drive by drive analyses:

First Quarter

Drive One (Defense)

  • After the kickoff, Davis ran the ball and fumbled it before being tackled by Jalen Mills. The call was reversed, starting the Giants at their 25-yard.
  • There was a short pass thrown to the sideline and Jalen Mills had a great tackle to start off the drive.
  • Eli passed to Simonson and it bounced off his hands. Grugier-Hill picked it off to turn the ball over to the Eagles. Jordan Hicks had an impressive block to escort Hill down the field.

Drive Two (Offense)

  • They started at the Giants 16-yard line. They made a pair of quick throw to reach third down. On third down, the defense was putting a lot of pressure on Wentz and he scrambled to throw a great touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery. Jeffery did an excellent job of getting open for Carson and Wentz threw the ball in just the right amount of time before the defense hit him.

Drive Three (Defense)

  • The Giants started off by running the ball, which was rejected quickly by the Eagles defense. Then Saquon Barkley ran right through the defense. He is going to be an issue for the defense.
  • Jalen Mills had a huge mis-tackle which allowed the running back to get 46-yards down the field.
  • There was a huge pass attempt which ended up being incomplete thanks to great coverage by Sidney Jones. This forced the Giants to kick a field goal..

Drive Four (Offense)

  • Deandre Carter returned the ball for only 14 yards. There needs to be some more plays made by the special teams.
  • A short pass was thrown to Agholor, who ran it for 32 yards, to keep the Eagles moving down field. It was a freak play as the ball was tipped and way off target. Agholor did a nice job of breaking back to what would have been an easy interception into a huge gain.

  • Carson got tremendous pressure from the defensive line. He was sacked. They could not convert, forcing a punt.

Drive Five (Defense)

  • After a touchback, the ball was fumbled but recovered back by the offense. Michael Bennett sacked Manning to force the fumble. Then they ran the ball, not getting too far. Finally, the defense stopped them on a screen pass to Beckham.

Drive Six (Offense)

  • The Eagles started in great field position. Carter put them on the Giants 44-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, there were defenders trying to deflect the ball that was perfectly placed to Jeffery, but it was still caught. This put the Eagles inside the 25-yard line.
  • Smallwood carried the ball further down the field with a great run. Corey Clement, with his first carry back from his injury, also had a great run.
  • Corey Clement ran the ball in for a touchdown. The Eagles lead 14-3 with a minute and a half left in the first quarter.

Drive Seven (Defense)

  • A pass was thrown down the field that was blocked by Ronald Darby. The defense held them to a three and out and forced the punt.

Second Quarter

Drive Eight (Offense)

  • There was tremendous pressure on Wentz after he fumbled, but he picked up the ball and quickly got it away to Smallwood. Connor Barwin, former Eagle, made the tackle of Wentz.

Drive Nine (Defense)

  • The Giants could not pass the Eagles defense. Although they had a few good attempts with Barkley making some good runs, he was stopped by Fletcher Cox.
  • The secondary looks better as a group than past games. However, the defensive line is getting to Eli and the offense so quickly that it made the secondary look better than they appeared.

Drive 10 (Offense)

  • Corey Clement attempted to carry the ball without much success, gaining only 6-yards. Then Carson threw an incomplete pass followed by a short pass to Ertz that was not enough to get past the first down marker.

Drive 11 (Defense)

  • The defense put a lot of pressure on Manning. He looked a little shaken up.
  • Barkley ran for 9 yards. There were at least 5 mis-tackles. He brushed the defenders off of him. Eli could not complete a pass due to immense pressure from the defense on the next play.
  • Michael Bennett hit the quarterback and got a roughing the passer call for the second time in two weeks.
  • The Giants continue to give the ball to Barkley, who continued to run through the defense. He made the whole Eagle Defense look bad.

  • The Giants failed to score on a pass which was blocked by Sidney Jones. They were forced to kick a field goal.

Drive 12 (Offense)

  • After the touchback, Wentz got hit on the first play because Brandon Brooks was not covering his man. He ran right through the center to get to Wentz. Thankfully, he threw it away on a short pass to Smallwood.
  • Carson Wentz threw it to Ertz who then pitched it to Jeffery. There was no gain on the play. This was a dangerous play by Ertz that could’ve ended badly.
  • A pass to a wide open Agholor for 58-yards. This brought the Eagles in great position for a touchdown.

  • Carson Wentz threw a touchdown pass to Zach Ertz to keep the lead up against the Giants. Jake Elliott kicked a field goal that was good.

Drive 13 (Defense)

  • After a touchback, a long pass was intended for Beckham, but Darby had great coverage, which made it incomplete.
  • Vaeao sacked Eli Manning with no hesitation. They went three and out.

Drive 14 (Offense)

  • Carter returned the ball to the fifty. Wentz got hit. It was definitely roughing the passer, but a second penalty by the Giants for pass interference was picked up. This moved the Eagles into better position.
  • Smallwood carried the ball with a good run. He is consistently making good plays.
  • The ball was handed off to Smallwood and there was no gain on the play. The Giants actually stopped the offense for once.
  • Jake Elliott attempted a 33-yard field goal which was good.

Drive 15 (Defense)

  • Jalen Mills blew coverage on a long pass for 39 yards that moved the Giants down the field. They are targeting whoever Mills is covering to hope for blown coverage. They went for a field goal which they missed.

Drive 16 (Offense)

  • The Eagles had good field position, getting within field goal range quickly. Jake Elliott attempted a 52-yard field goal that was no good.

Drive 17 (Defense)

  • The Giants tried to run a play which was quickly shut down by Jordan Hicks. That ended the first half.

Third Quarter

Drive 18 (Offense)

  • Jeffery and Smallwood carried for a good catch and run respectively to start the momentum off in the second half.
  • Corey Clement had a great run swerving through the defense for 20 yards. He looked great after his injury.
  • Alshon Jeffery ran in a short pass for a touchdown. The Eagles have a huge lead on the Giants.

Drive 19 (Defense)

Drive 20 (Offense)

  • Wentz started off by throwing a long incomplete pass that was intended for Jeffrey. Wentz took a little too long to throw.
  • Wendell Smallwood carried the ball and fumbled it, but he fell back on it. It was a play that was reviewed that ended up still being the Eagles ball.
  • Carson Wentz got sacked because of the lack of protection by Vaitai, who came in when Jason Peters left the game with an injury.
  • Jordan Matthews kept the momentum going with two catches for a total of 26 yards on this drive.
  • A pass was thrown to Zach Ertz to gain 15 yards. The offense got close enough to attempt a field goal. Jake Elliott’s kick was good.

Drive 21 (Defense)

  • Eli and his offense could not make any plays this drive. He threw two incomplete passes and a few short passes. He was not stepping out of his comfort zone at all. The defense has scared him into only attempting safe plays.
  • Jordan Hicks made some great tackles. He made sure there was no gain when Barkley was pitched the ball. He seems to be one of the only defenders able to make a play on Barkley.

Drive 22 (Offense)

  • Smallwood attempted two runs and did not get very far. The pass to Ertz following did worse and lost yardage. This forced a three and out.

Drive 23 (Defense)

  • The Giants continuously used Barkley to try and turn the game around. He made several good plays. He was stopped by Jordan Hicks, Michael Bennett, and Jalen Mills.
  • Fletcher Cox sacked Manning pushing them back six yards.
  • Manning threw four incomplete passes on this drive. This drive ended with the quarterback and offense unable to beat out the defense. The defense stayed on their game making no mistakes.

Drive 24 (Offense)

  • Corey Clement got a lot of action back on the field after his injury. He made some decent runs for the offense as the game was winding down.
  • The offense was unable to execute. They took it easy and were looking to run down the clock since they were leading by so much.

Drive 24 (Defense)

  • Jordan Hicks made three tackles to end the game. The Giants were making safe plays. They had already given up at this point. They were unable to finish with any momentum.

Offensive MVP

Alshon Jeffery had a great game and is consistently making offensive plays. He had two touchdown receptions in this game. One for one yard and the other for 13 yards. He had another great catch for 17 yards. There were a few passes to him that were incomplete, however he is able to make a lot of plays. He is a great receiver for the offense to be able to look to.

Defensive MVP

Jordan Hicksis a dependable resource in the Eagles front seven. In the beginning of the game, he escorted Grugier-Hill when he intercepted the ball that Hicks deflected. For this game especially, he was the one who could stop Saquon Barkley. He assisted the secondary a few times to get the tackle. He is always there wherever the tackle needs to be made to complete the play. He made consistent tackles from the beginning to the end of the game. It is especially impressive that he came off an injury from last season and has been so strong this season.

Game Notes

  • The offense looked really good this game. Hopefully they keep up the good work throughout this season. The Giants defense is pretty bad though, which made the offense look much better. Most offensive players made some great plays at some point in the game.
  • The secondary seemed to improve from the last few games. I use the word “seem” since it could just be because the Giants offense is weak, making the secondary look better.
  • The secondary still had issues covering Barkley. That is when Fletcher Cox or Jordan Hicks stepped in to get the job done.