NY Giants Can't Stop Philadelphia Eagles

The expected smashmouth, defensive, low-scoring NFC East battle never materialized in the Giants-Eagles game, as it looked more like an old AFL contest.

It was George Blanda vs. John Hadl. Well, the Giants defense made it seem that way because they can’t stop anybody. If the 82-year-old Blanda stepped on the field against them today, he’d pass for 400 yards. Sure, both starting safeties are injured and they have a corner playing safety, but last night’s performance was downright ridiculous.

Does it even matter what the Giants did well—Eli Manning threw for 391 yards and three touchdowns (with no interceptions); Brandon Jacobs was back to being his old physical self, dragging six defenders with him as he gains eight yards; Hakeem Nicks had a great TD reception; Domenik Hixon came up with an impressive TD catch and run; Ahmad Bradshaw had some nice runs and a few good blocks; Steve Smith broke the franchise single-season reception record—because it was all offset by bumbling errors?

Manning fumbled twice (can’t any quarterback in New York slide?); Jacobs fumbled, which led directly to a Philly TD; Nicks comically dropped one pass after another; Hixon fumbled about eight different times and missed a tackle on DeSean Jackson’s punt return TD; and Mario Manningham just couldn’t keep his feet in bounds.

But it was the defense that lost the game.

With all their mistakes, the offense did score 38 points and racked up over 500 yards. Shouldn’t that be enough to win? The Eagle receivers were wide open all night, with the Giants secondary looking like they didn’t have a clue as to where they should be on the field or who they were suppose to cover.

The Eagles are a big-play team, and the Giants D sure made it easy for them. Shouldn’t somebody have told them that it would make sense to, oh, maybe cover Jackson (or anybody else for that matter) instead of letting him run wild, without a defender anywhere in sight? He is pretty good after all, setting records for longest TD receptions and all that.

Bill Sheridan might want to start polishing up his résumé.

After quickly falling behind 14-0 (how’s that for a tempo-setting start?), the Giants did fight back and showed some resilience in the wild and wacky game, but at this point in the season, they need wins not character. They are amazingly still in the playoffs picture, though, with Dallas in the midst of their annual December swoon.

One Cowboys loss (vs. New Orleans next week) and one Giants win (vs. Washington next week), and Big Blue has their fate in their own hands once again.

But they have to actually win some games.

And make some stops on defense.

Right now, neither of those things look very promising.