NY Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Breaking Down New York's Game Plan
The weather might be cooling down, but the race in the NFC East is heating up—and we are not even at the halfway mark yet.
These next two weeks are critical for the New York Giants, who hope to kick things off with a win on Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Giants, who after the Eagles will visit the Dallas Cowboys, can gain significant ground in the division race if they are able to keep up their winning ways.
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A win over the Eagles will give New York a half-game lead thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Is a win in the cards for New York? Let’s break everything down and see who has the edge.
The Series
This will be the 159th regular-season meeting between the Giants and the Eagles, with New York leading the series, 82-74-2.
The Giants are 37-40-1 on the road against the Eagles, having won the last two regular-season games played at Lincoln Financial Field.
| Quarterback | X | |
| Running Backs | X | |
| Receivers | X | |
| Tight Ends | X | |
| Offensive Line | X | |
| Defensive Line | X | |
| Linebackers | X | |
| Defensive Secondary | X | |
| Special Teams | X |
Unit Snapshots
Quarterbacks
Eli Manning has completed 66.5 percent of his pass attempts this season but has been victimized by 11 dropped passes, tied for third most in the NFL among quarterbacks who have taken 75 percent or more of their team’s offensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
Nick Foles has seen his interceptions increase—he has five in five games—and his success with the deep ball decrease.
Per PFF, he is 11-of-42 (26.1 percent) for 296 yards on passes of 20 or more yards this season. Last year, he finished 26-of-58 (44.8 percent) for 843 yards on passes of 20 or more yards.
Running Backs
The Giants will be without their leading rusher, Rashad Jennings (knee), this week. That means the running game is now in the hands of rookie Andre Williams, who has 170 yards on 54 carries but whose pass protection and receiving skills are not yet where they need to be.
The Eagles’ rushing attack is led by LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles. The unit is averaging 3.8 yards per carry and has three rushing touchdowns.
Sproles and McCoy are also capable of contributing as receivers out of the backfield, with Sproles having shown on his 57-yard run in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts that he has some speed in space.
Tight Ends
Zach Ertz’s 16.2 yards-per-catch average is second behind receiver Jeremy Maclin’s 17.2 (based on 15 or more catches).
Ertz also provides the Eagles with a deep-threat target; per PFF, he has caught five of 10 deep passes of 20 or more yards for 123 of his receiving yards and one touchdown this season.
Larry Donnell was quiet last week in the receiving game due to the Atlanta Falcons jamming him off the line of scrimmage and taking away his pass routes.
He could be in line for a productive game given that the Eagles linebackers are banged up.
Receivers
Odell Beckham Jr. had a successful NFL debut against the Falcons, drawing extra men placed in the box away. That helped to open things up for the running game and the underneath stuff.
Beckham’s presence will also probably mean that someone is going to benefit from single coverage, likely Rueben Randle or even tight end Larry Donnell. That is a plus for the Giants offense.
An Eagles receiver who seems to be slipping under the radar is Jordan Matthews. Per PFF, the rookie has caught 19 out of 27 pass targets for 176 yards and has two touchdowns.
Quarterback Nick Foles has a 112.6 rating when he targets Matthews.
Offensive Line
The Giants currently have the third-best pass-blocking efficiency rating (87.2) behind the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals. New York, whose starting offensive line combination is now going on its sixth straight week together, has allowed just 29 total pressures, tied for the third fewest in the NFL.
The Eagles offensive line is now on its fourth different combination this year, this due to injuries. Per PFF, Philadelphia’s offensive line has allowed 58 quarterback pressures, tied for fourth most in the NFL (with Atlanta and the Minnesota Vikings).
Defensive Line
The Eagles’ run defense has allowed opponents 132.0 yards on the ground per game, the eighth-highest total in the NFL.
The Giants defensive front is not only rising to the occasion against the run, allowing an average of 99.0 rushing yards per game, but it is also getting after the quarterback and finding success with its pass rush.
The Giants have 20 quarterback hits this season, nine of which are sacks.
Linebackers
Of the Eagles four linebackers—they run a 3-4 defensive front—only inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans ranks among the top four on the team in total tackles (49).
The next three are members of the defensive secondary, which is often a good indication that plays are getting past the linebackers; a unit which, by the way, is banged up.
The Giants, who have been without middle linebacker Jon Beason, have been more productive in their unit. Jacquian Williams and Jameel McClain are ranked second and third on the team in total tackles with 25 and 24 respectively.
Defensive Secondary
The Giants defensive secondary might still be susceptible to giving up the big play, but for the most part, it has been able to overcome this deficiency.
One interesting stat, according to the numbers provided by team’s weekly game release, is that the secondary has broken up 30.4 percent of the opponents’ 69 incomplete passes.
By contrast, the Eagles defensive secondary has only broken up 23.8 of the opponents’ incomplete passes.
Special Teams
Philadelphia is second in the NFL with a 30.9 kickoff return average. It has a 102-yard return for a touchdown this season and six returns of 20 or more yards, per NFL.com.
The Eagles also have the league’s third-best punt return unit, averaging 15.9 yards per return, and have a punt return for a touchdown—that being an 82-yarder by Darren Sproles.
| LB Jon Beason (foot/toe) | WR Brad Smith (groin) - Out |
| CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ankle/hamstring) | C Jason Kelce (hernia) - Out |
| LB Spencer Paysinger (hamstring) | LB Mychal Kendricks (calf) |
| P Steve Weatherford (left ankle) | RB Chris Polk (hamstring) |
| RB Rashad Jennings (knee) | LB DeMeco Ryans (groin) |
| LB Connor Barwin (knee) | |
| CB Brandon Boykin (hamstring) | |
| TE Trey Burton (Achilles) | |
| CB Nolan Carroll (hamstring) | |
| WR Josh Huff (shoulder) | |
| T Matt Tobin (ankle) |
Giants’ Key Injury: Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
The Giants’ top cornerback is dealing with a hamstring/ankle problem, an injury that, per PFF, likely contributed to his lowest grade (minus-1.1) in pass coverage this season and his lowest percentage (68.1 percent) of game snaps.
The primary reason why Rodgers-Cromartie is this week’s injury concern is the depth at cornerback. If Rodgers-Cromartie cannot go, the next men up would be Trumaine McBride and Zack Bowman respectfully.
If it is McBride, take heart in knowing that the two games last season against the Eagles, PFF credited the 5’9” McBride with allowing eight of 14 passes to be completed for 127 yards and no touchdowns.
Still, while McBride and Bowman are serviceable corners, neither can make quite the impact that Rodgers-Cromartie has so far.
The Game Plan
Giants on Offense
The Giants are so loaded on offense right now that it is a challenge for opponents to figure out who to double-cover and who to trust in single coverage.
The addition of rookie receiver Odell Beckham Jr. doesn’t help opposing defensive coordinators because his speed and quickness almost force a defensive unit not to overload the box.
“He is athletic, he can get in and out of cuts, he is very sudden, he’s got outstanding hands, he shows it not only as a receiver but as a returner,” Eagles head coach Chip Kelly told the New York media via conference call.
“He showed in college he can make tough catches, we were real high on him, he never got to where we were, but we were very high on him coming out.”
Let’s look at what Beckham can do for an offense.
Note how the free safety is back 20 yards; this is about five yards deeper than what the free safety was playing earlier in the game with Beckham on the side.
Because the opponent respects the speed now on the field, there is a wide-open area of field for Beckham (circled in red) to exploit on a crossing pattern.
Giants on Defense
Darren Sproles.
Remember that name because he is a key part of the Eagles offense.
What makes Sproles so dangerous? His speed—get him into space with an open lane and he is as good as gone.
He is also shifty—he can cut on a dime, juking a defender out of his cleats with ease.
Let’s look at a couple of Sproles’ biggest plays this season to understand what the Giants need to do to minimize his impact.
The first play is Sproles’ 49-yard touchdown run against Jacksonville in which his offensive line splits the defense to create a huge lane.
Notice how the Eagles offensive line walls off the Jaguars defenders, creating a gaping hole that Sproles takes right up the gut, the Jaguars defenders struggling to shed their blocks.
Now let’s look at Sproles in the receiving game.
On this play, a 57-yard catch against the Indianapolis Colts, the cornerback, thinking Sproles is coming his way, starts to drop back, leaving almost 10 yards of cushion between him and Sproles.
However, Sproles jukes to the middle of the wide-open field, where quarterback Nick Foles hits him in stride for the big gain.
So how can the Giants limit the impact of what might be the Eagles’ most dangerous all-around weapon?
The linebackers cannot abandon their areas of responsibility prematurely because Sproles will slip into the vacated area. Again, he has the shiftiness to break things wide open if given gobs of space.
Don’t be surprised if the Giants assign weak-side linebacker Jacquian Williams—who, per PFF, has the fourth-highest overall grade of any NFL 4-3 outside linebacker (based on 60 percent or more of his team’s defensive snaps)—to cover Sproles.
Williams, whose 5.8 run defense grade puts him second behind the Detroit Lions’ DeAndre Levy (based on 75 percent or more snaps taken), is the most athletic and the quickest afoot of the Giants linebackers.
If he plays a smart, fundamentally sound game and trusts what he is seeing—at times when in coverage Williams is a split-second too late, mostly likely due to some doubt on what is before him—he should be able to minimize the damage done by Sproles.
Prediction
The Giants are going to need a continuation of the last two quarters from Week 5’s showing against the Falcons to keep pace with the Eagles.
The big concern remains special teams, where the Giants are shaky. Unfortunately, the players on special teams are what the team has to work with, and the coordinator, Tom Quinn, already has his game plan in place.
All the Giants can hope is for the best-case scenario, which would be a draw in the battle for field position.
When the dust settles, this will probably be a high-scoring, close affair that will likely come down to a late-game score to decide it.
Prediction: Giants 37, Eagles 34; 2014 win-loss prediction record: 3-2
Advanced statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus (subscription required) unless otherwise noted.
All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.
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