Eagles Postgame Report: Saquon Dominates In Return To New York

The Giants were geared up for the return of Saquon Barkley to MetLife. The Eagles (or at least our slow-starting QB) were not.

The first quarter was a whole lot of nothing on offense. The Eagles offense managed just three drives and a total of 30 yards after Jalen Hurts came out with another slow start. He missed his open targets on each drive instead taking three sacks, none of which were necessary. On the first drive, he pulled the ball down to run instead of just throwing the ball away (after he missed the quick out to Barkley). That was followed by a great 10-yard catch and run by Barkley, which would have been a first down on any team with a QB competent enough to throw the ball away on the previous play.

Then on the next two offensive drives, Hurts ignored the lane that opened up right in front of him and decided to run backward for major losses on third down instead of scrambling through the gaping holes or stepping up to make the throws.

The defense allowed a few gash plays in the passing game, but never consecutively. They also mixes in three sacks and multiple pressures that kept the Giants from reaching the other half of the field, largely abusing New York’s backup left tackle and some blitzing.

It was not until Hurts’ decision making was removed from the gameplan entirely that the Eagles could put up points. The offense finally called five straight runs where Hurts didn’t even have an option and they pushed the ball 74 yards down the field for a touchdown behind, particularly, a 55-yard rush to the outside by Barkley.

The Eagles offense looked like they would stall out on their next drive after Hurts passed up a choice at a scramble and a wide-open shot to Devonta Smith that would both have gotten the first down. Instead, he chose to tuck and step sideways for both of those to get covered before he made a decision that was in line with the rest of his bad decisions. The Eagles kept the offense out on fourth and three and it resulted in Hurts’ best play of the entire half with a nice ball that actually hit AJ Brown in stride for a 41-yard touchdown pass to stretch the lead.

The Eagles defense kept up the pressure and forced multiple three and outs, but they were dinked and dunked for 29 yards before they allowed a 14-yard reception to Nabers to setup the Giants in the red zone with 28 seconds left. While they were able to keep the Giants out of the end zone thanks to a penalty, they did allow New York to put up three as the half ended.

There wasn’t too much change in the third quarter as the defense held the Giants to just 28 yards and two punts while the Eagles went back to the ground with 8 runs on 10 plays for a 77-yard touchdown drive with a huge 38-yard run by Barkley and a big scramble by Hurts with all the time in the world to convert on fourth down before the tush push put the ball in.

Hurts also had a huge scramble on a would-be sack to move the ball 16 yards and keep moving the chains as the ground game got into rhythm with yet another ground and pound drive. With 4th and goal inside the Giants one-yard line, the Eagles pushed it in with another tush push to bring the lead to 28-3 with 11:26 left in the game following a drive that was over 6 minutes long.

By that point, the Eagles and Giants each went to their backups as the game was essentially decided and they didn’t risk the health of their top players.

The Eagles move up to 4-2 while the Giants fall to 2-5. They are at the Bengals next week and move into a tie for first place in the NFC East (with Washington playing the Panthers this afternoon for a chance to keep that half game lead).

Offensive MVP: Saquon Barkley

The Penn State product’s return to MetLife went almost as well as he could have anticipated. He had the major play on at least two of the Eagles’ biggest drives. By the end of the Giants first drive in the fourth quarter, the tally was: Saquon Barkley: 176 rush yards + 11 receiving yards, Giants (EXCLUDING the sacks): 159 total yards. Barley also had a touchdown, which was more than the Giants offense could manage as a unit.

Defensive MVP: Jalen Carter

This was a big game for Carter, who broke through for sacks twice and totaled four tackles. The reason Carter’s day was more impressive was because he wasn’t a blitzer and wasn’t on the outside going up against a backup left tackle, so this was starter on starter and he was able to dominate those match-ups. It’s something he’s done before but it’s nice to see it again and if he can figure out how to keep that level of play week after week, he’ll be a game breaker for the next decade.

Game Notes

• How many weeks will Hurts come out like he’s a rookie quarterback before he’s actually prepared to play the game and make decent reads? A QB can’t have their offense looking like garbage for a quarter to half of a game each week because he’s that poor at making reads and decision making. It was just before the half before he had a pass that was truly on target with that beautiful rainbow to Brown.
• The defense allowed just four rushing yards to running backs in the first half, which was perhaps their most dominant half of the season.
• Though it was on a penalty and didn’t count, we saw another nice catch by Reed Blankenship for a would-be interception. CJGJ deflected it with his inability to catch and Blankenship hauled it in and that’s a nice ability to see.
• Not only that, but they totaled five sacks spread out to five different players, which was also the most dominant showing by their defensive line.
• Jahan Dotson was not worked into the gameplan at all. Neither was Grant Calcaterra, who filled in well for Goedert last week. The pair who has show the ability to step up received just one target from Hurts in the first half – that’s as many targets as backup running back Kenneth Gainwell received. They went to Dotson on the first drive after the half on vertical routes, which is probably the least effective way to use him when the offense already has AJ Brown.
• LB Ben VanSummeren hasn’t gotten much play on defense, but he got some run as a fullback in the offense this week. He’s got the football IQ, so it’d be nice to let the Eagles see him get more game action even if that’s how they do it. 
• Cooper DeJean’s returns looked pretty odd – it’s almost like he wasn’t avoiding defenders and so they didn’t know what to do as he’d run right next to them. There wasn’t a bad return, so he’s certainly got the talent for it, they just look very different than the typical return.
• Bryce Huff, Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat, Jalyx Hunt and Nakobe Dean (blitzing) joined in on the eight sacks recorded in this one.
• Dean showed great prowess as a rusher in this one, but he once again showed the ability to see and get to the play otherwise, but missed several opportunities to bring the guy down behind the line or before the line to gain. It’s now a routine issue and it’s a problem that his one ability is also the thing that Baun excels at (and they can’t both be blitzers).
• The usage Gainwell gets is still confusing.  There was an instance at the start of a drive where the team inexplicably went to Gainwell three straight times. It doesn’t seem like that should happen at all, but if it does why isn’t rookie Will Shipley getting any opportunities to prove himself since they are similar players?
• Sydney Brown did get a pass break up in his return to action with the second team on the field. With CJGJ’s struggles, it’ll be interesting what Fangio does when Brown is believed to be back at 100%, but it could become crucial depth for the team and it was great that he got some game reps.

Injury Notes

• Mekhi Becton went out with a concussion at the end of the first quarter and was replaced at left guard by Tyler Steen.
• Darius Slay was shaken up with his knee injury just before the half.
• Zack Baun exited late in the second half, but with the teams each going to second teams there wasn’t any reason for him to return at that point, so it’s uncertain how significant (or insignificant) the injury might actually have been at this point.

Philadelphia Eagles @ New York Giants – October 20, 2024