By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor
The Eagles are coming off a very short week. Normally, five days between games is considered a short week and an advantage for the opposing team. Due to the Washington Nameless Team having players on the COVID reserve and the NFL deciding at the last minute to reverse it’s policy of not postponing games, the Giants get the Eagles with only four days between games.
The Birds have next to no time for injuries to heal and just two days of normal practice this week.
Despite that, the Eagles have a pretty clean injury report this week with COVID being the main issue.
Injury Report
Eagles
The Eagles have no players with injury designations.
For now, Shaun Bradley, Andre Dillard, Ryan Kerrigan and Le’Raven Clark remain on the COVID list, but they could certainly come off the list before the game.
Nick Sirianni was cleared and will be on the sidelines for the game.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 25, 2021
That leaves the Eagles absences focused around special teams and offensive line depth.
Giants
Out
G Ben Bredeson
Bredeson isn’t a starter, but is one of the Giants top interior options off the bench. He has just one start, but has played significant snaps in five games this season despite his own injury issues. This will test the Giants offensive line depth.
RB Gary Brightwell
A sixth-round pick, Brightwell only has two offensive touches on the season despite the injury issues the Giants have had on the season. His absence is more likely to be felt on special teams.
Questionable
DL Austin Johnson
The Penn State product has started all 14 games for the Giants this season in his second year for the team. He’s been effective particularly in the run game registering 61 tackles and 3.5 sacks from the defensive tackle position. He’s also the only questionable player due to something other than COVID ramp up. He could be a big loss for the Giants defense.
WR Kadarius Toney
Toney is the Giants consolation prize after they selected him in the first round of this years draft following the Giants reportedly being furious that the Eagles got DeVonta Smith. Toney has been much hyped by places like Pro Football Focus and the New York Media, but he has just 392 yards on the season. What makes that so bad is that he had 189 yards in a single week five matchup against the Cowboys. That means he’s had just 203 yards across eight other games (or 25 yards a game). He hasn’t played since week 11 due to an oblique issue in addition to his recent return from the COVID list.
DB J.R. Reed
Reed was with the Rams to start the season, but was cut. He’s been with the Giants for five games and has 13 tackles, but a good portion of that is from special teams. He has just two games with significant defensive snaps (one against the Eagles), but would not figure to play defense this week unless the Giants had other injuries pop up even if he were healthy.
LB Oshane Ximines
Ximines plays very little special teams and is at most a rotational linebacker for the Giants. He has just 12 tackles on the season.