Giants vs. Eagles: Philadelphia Grades, Notes and Quotes
The Philadelphia Eagles came out on top in an ugly game as they defeated the New York Giants 27-7 Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Giants started the game as well as they could have hoped. New York marched down the field moving the ball 80 yards on eight plays. Manning completed all five of his completions on the drive and capped it off with a touchdown to Odell Beckham Jr. However, this touchdown would be the only points scored by the Giants all game.
The Eagles continued their slow start with a three-and-out on their first possession, but the defense came up with a big play to jump-start the offense. DeMeco Ryans ripped the ball away from Larry Donnell.
On the ensuing possession, the Eagles moved the ball for a few first downs before taking a shot downfield. Bradford lined up under center in a two-tight end set. The quarterback used the play-action pass and then found Riley Cooper deep for a 32-yard touchdown.
The touchdown was Philadelphia's first touchdown scored in the opening quarter this season. Up to this point, the Eagles had only scored three points combined in the first quarter through the first five games.
Then in the second quarter Philadelphia's defense came up with another big play. Nolan Carroll jumped a bubble screen to intercept Manning. The University of Maryland product returned the interception for a touchdown to give Philadelphia a 14-7 lead.
The Eagles then added three points at the end of the second quarter following a strange possession. Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz came up big with receptions on the drives, but the referees also helped by stopping the clock due to confusion. Caleb Sturgis gave the Eagles a 10-point lead heading into the half following his 37-yard field goal.
The first half turned into a contest of who would make a few mistakes. Then it looked like neither team wanted to be on the field in the second half. New York never looked likely to come back, and it essentially conceded victory to Philadelphia.
The Eagles put the game out of reach in the third quarter with an 11-play drive that went 85 yards. Philadelphia wore down New York's defense with an uptempo mix of both run and pass plays. DeMarco Murray had what looked to be his best performance all season on the drive. The tailback contributed three carries of over 10 yards, including his 12-yard touchdown run.
Chip Kelly continued to use all three running backs in the fourth quarter as the offensive line consistently pushed back a lifeless New York defense. Caleb Sturgis added a 39-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 20-point lead. Following New York's touchdown on the opening drive, Philadelphia scored 27 unanswered points.
Philadelphia needs a win Monday night, and they took care of business against their divisional rivals in front of the home crowd. Neither team played to its fullest potential, but Philadelphia executed well enough to get the victory.
Position Grades for Philadelphia
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| Position | Grade |
| QB | C- |
| RB | B+ |
| WR/TE | B- |
| OL | B+ |
| DL | A+ |
| LB | A |
| DB | B |
| Special Teams | B |
| Coaching | A- |
Quarterback
Sam Bradford finished the game 24-of-38 for 280 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Through five games, the quarterback now has nine interceptions through six games this season.
Bradford no longer purely looks for the checkdown receivers, and now he takes a few shots down the field. The problem is the signal-caller does not look comfortable in the pocket. When under pressure he tends to looks like a deer in the headlights and takes his eyes away from the field. Additionally, rather than trusting his arm and his decisions, Bradford looks like he is trying to aim the ball, which greatly hurts his accuracy.
Running Backs
Philadelphia did not establish a steady running game until the second quarter, but the ball-carriers came up big late in the game. The Eagles ran the ball 37 times for 155 yards and a touchdown against the Giants. With only one more pass play than run play, New York's defense had to respect the play-action pass all game.
DeMarco Murray had his best performance in an Eagles uniform as he finished with 109 yards and a touchdown. In the second half, Murray glided through the tackles and pushed defenders away as he helped Philadelphia run out the clock.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Depth at the wide receiver position seemed to be a problem for Philadelphia throughout the entire game. Already without Nelson Agholor, Josh Huff battled injuries the entire game, and Jordan Matthews also remained on the sideline for a while following a big hit in the first quarter.
Drops continue to be a problem for Philadelphia's wide receivers, especially Jordan Matthews. There were several occasions when the second-year player dropped passes that many would expect the top receiver on the team to make. Matthews also fumbled the ball in the second half when he was fighting to get a first down.
Offensive Line
The offensive line seems to be gaining continuity as the season progresses. The big boys up front protect Bradford throughout the game and opened up holes for the running backs to run through. The line only gave up one sack on the day, and it wore down New York's defenders as the game progressed.
Jason Kelce is the one player still struggling on the offensive line. The Pro Bowl center gave up some costly penalties that thwarted Eagles' drives. In the second quarter, Kelce also snapped the ball when Bradford was not looking, and the quarterback had to fall on the ball for an 18-yard loss.
Defensive Line
Besides the opening drive, New York could not establish any rhythm on the offensive side of the ball, and the defensive line was a big part of the equation. Bennie Logan and company consistently blew up the offensive line and brought down the ball-carrier for minimal gains.
As the game progressed, Philadelphia's front line looked more and more energized. Fletcher Cox and company consistently collapsed the pocket around Eli Manning, and Vinny Curry also picked up his first sack of the season.
Linebackers
DeMeco Ryans changed the game's momentum in the first quarter. New York moved the ball with ease down the field until Ryans wrestled the ball away from Larry Donnell for the interception. The inside linebacker also recovered a Malcolm Jenkins forced fumbled in the second quarter. However, Ryans suffered a hamstring injury and did not play at all in the second half.
Jordan Hicks continues to impress as he led the team with 10 tackles, and he looks like a veteran out on the field in a big divisional game. Outside linebackers Brandon Graham and Connor Barwin also consistently penetrated New York's backfield to make big plays. In the first half, Graham burst into the backfield to stop the ball-carrier on New York's fourth-down attempt.
Defensive Backs
The combination of a good pass rush and quality downfield coverage limited New York's offense to 189 yards in the air on Monday night. Nolan Carroll came up with big play when he jumped a bubble screen to intercept Manning and return it 17 yards for the touchdown.
Although the defense limited Odell Beckham Jr. to only 61 yards on seven catches, Byron Maxwell still looks suspect in coverage. The big offseason signing failed to press receivers early and gave up big chunks of yardage. The cornerback was also called for a few penalties against New York's receivers.
Special Teams
The special teams units did not see a lot of action in this game. It seemed like the changes of possession usually came due to a turnover or a score. However, Caleb Sturgis converted all of his extra points and made two field field goals from 37 and 39 yards out.
Coaching
A game with this many mistakes makes it difficult to discern whether the blame falls on the coaching staff or the players execution. However, the coaches called an effective game from the sidelines.
Chip Kelly adjusted his tactics to the moments in the game. In the third quarter, he used a balanced long drive to put the game out of reach. Then in the final quarter, he effectively ran out the clock by relying on his running game and keeping the defense honest with short, high-percentage completions.
Billy Davis also corrected his mistakes as the game progressed. New York marched right down the field on their first drive, and the defense knew they had to change something. Philadelphia's coverage shifted to take away the short passing routes. This stifled the Giants offense as it could not keep Manning upright long enough to look downfield.
Important Note No. 1: Sloppy Play
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Philadelphia's offense continues to improve, but the unit still commits too many mistakes to put together a complete performance.
The Eagles turned the ball over four times in the game, leaving points on the board several times. Quarterback Sam Bradford threw three interceptions in the game, but only two were his fault. The quarterback overthrew Zach Ertz in the first half and then short-armed a pass intended for the tight end in the second half that led to an interception in the second half.
However, Bradford was not the only person responsible for Philadelphia's turnovers. On Bradford's second interception of the day, the quarterback launched a deep ball down the center of the field, but Riley Cooper cut his route short. The wide receiver's failure to complete his route led to Brandon Meriweather's easy interception. Jordan Matthews also fumbled the ball following a reception when he was fighting for extra yards.
Between injuries, turnovers and penalties, Monday night's game seemed disjointed, and it affected both sides. Philadelphia consistently set itself back as it committed nine penalties that cost it a total of 72 yards.
Normally, four turnovers and a high number of penalties would cost a team a game, but New York suffered from similar sloppy play. New York turned the ball over three times and committed 12 penalties that cost it 92 yards.
However, the Eagles cannot continue to hurt themselves if they wish to win against the league's better teams.
Important Note No. 2: Billy Davis' Defense
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With Chip Kelly as a head coach, the offense would likely be the team's focal point, but Philadelphia's defense this year is greatly outshining its counterpart.
On the first drive of the game, New York marched 80 yards on eight plays to score. Manning completed all five of his passes, and the offensive line created a push for the ball-carriers. Philadelphia's looked like they could be in for a long day.
Instead, defensive coordinator Billy Davis adjusted his side, and New York did not score another point on Monday night. Philadelphia forced three turnovers in the first half to help give the Eagles the lead.
DeMeco Ryans intercepted a pass to set up Philadelphia to score their first touchdown in the opening quarter this season. Then Nolan Carroll intercepted a pass and returned it to the house for a quick 14-point swing in the first half. Malcolm Jenkins also forced a Rashad Jennings fumble that Ryans recovered.
Beyond the turnovers, Philadelphia's defense thwarted all of New York's attempts to get anything going. The Eagles shut down New York's short passing game and challenged Manning to test them deep. Due to New York's ineffective running game, Philadelphia pass-rushers could focus on rushing the passer. The Eagles sacked Manning three times and hit him seven times. The front seven also forced the quarterback into two intentional-grounding penalties.
On the back end of the defense, the secondary limited Beckham's impact on the game. The superstar wide receiver finished with only seven catches for 61 yards. In fact, Beckham did not catch a pass in the second half as it looked like Davis opted to blanket the receiver with two defenders for most of the snaps.
During Davis' three years in Philadelphia, the defensive coordinator has received a lot of criticism, but his game plan and adjustments against New York were spot-on.
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Quote: DeMarco Murray
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"We know what's at stake. We're taking this one game at a time, and we know there's a long way to go," said DeMarco Murray (via the Philadelphia Eagles' Twitter account).
Philadelphia's 27-7 victory over the Giants not only gives the Eagles a 3-3 record, but it also means they are in first place in the NFC East.
Coming into the game, the Giants held sole possession of the division lead, but following the loss Philadelphia has the slight edge. New York and Philadelphia boast the same overall and divisional record, but the Eagles won the head-to-head matchup.
The race to win the NFC East is very tight, but Philadelphia could have fallen significantly behind with a loss on Monday night. If New York had won, they would be two games ahead of Philadelphia, with a 2-1 record, in the division. Philadelphia would have fallen to 2-4 and would be winless through three divisional games.
Fortunately for Philadelphia, they pulled out a victory over New York and now sit atop the division along with the Giants. The Dallas Cowboys had a bye week and are just slightly behind with their 2-3 record. Meanwhile, the Washington Redskins fell to 2-4 following their 34-20 loss to the New York Jets.
All four teams are still alive in the NFC East, and it may all come down to the final week of the season when Philadelphia travels to MetLife Stadium to take on the Giants once again.
Quote: Chip Kelly
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"DeMeco Ryans is our Mufasa. He's the leader of this defense. He's the leader of this football team," said Chip Kelly (via the NFL's Twitter account).
DeMeco Ryans' future was in doubt following a season-ending injury last season, but Philadelphia decided to re-sign the veteran inside linebacker despite other talented players at the position.
Ryans continues to prove he still has plenty left in the tank with his play on the field. The inside linebacker changed the game's momentum with his first-quarter interception.
New York's offense was clicking following a touchdown on the opening drive. The Giants immediately got the ball back following an Eagles three-and-out, and they looked likely to score again. However, Ryans muscled the ball away from the tight end Larry Donnell to stop the drive. On the ensuing possession, Bradford found Riley Cooper for a touchdown, which helped tie the score.
However, Ryans suffered a hamstring injury in the second quarter and did not return to the game. The linebacker finished the day with five tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery. Najee Goode stepped in and filled his spot for the second half.
Injuries continue to be a concern for Philadelphia as it is already without Kiko Alonso and Mychal Kendricks at the inside linebacker position. Ryans stepped up in these players' absence, and his loss could prove vital for this defense because of his play and his locker-room leadership.
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