New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Full Report Card Grades for Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles beat the New York Giants 24-19 at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday Night Football. The Eagles raced out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and did enough to hold on for the win.
The Eagles' much maligned secondary was the key. They were able to intercept Eli Manning three times; Malcolm Jenkins had two including a pick-six and Terrence Brooks' effort to seal the game was also his first defensive action of the season.
The Eagles only manged 286 yards of offense but were able to string enough plays together to get the job done. Even Nelson Agholor came up with a big play.
The Eagles were able to win their first NFC East game, and the victory was their first in a one-possession game.
Quarterback
1 of 10
The Eagles were given a big scare when Carson Wentz exited the game to be evaluated for a concussion. Giants defensive end Olivier Vernon slammed Wentz to the ground on a failed screen pass, and it was unclear whether the Eagles quarterback was being evaluated for a concussion or a shoulder injury. Fortunately, Wentz was fine and returned to the game.
Wentz wasn't great on the day, but he didn't have to be. He finished 13-of-24 for 152 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. The interception was a poor decision to force the ball down the field. Wentz's arm seems to be feeling the toll from the volume of throws he has had to make this year, and his velocity seems to have dipped.
The good from Wentz came in the form of his mobility. He ran for 27 yards and was able to consistently avoid pressure within the pocket. He was able to get Giants safety Landon Collins to bite on Zach Ertz crossing the field and find Nelson Agholor for a 40-yard touchdown.
Chase Daniel was serviceable in his short appearance and helped create a 16-yard Ryan Mathews catch and run.
Grade: C+
Running Back
2 of 10
After an exciting opening drive for the Eagles running backs, they were mostly held in check the rest of the evening. Ryan Mathews gained 28 yards on four carries on the opening drive, but only managed 18 yards on his remaining 14 carries.
Darren Sproles again provided spark off the bench both as a recever and as a rusher, including his 25-yard touchdown on the opening drive. Sproles struggled more once Mathews exited the game and he was called upon to be the workhorse runner.
Grade: C
Wide Receiver & Tight End
3 of 10
The Eagles didn't attempt many passes against the New York Giants. The receiving corps struggled for much of the game and Wentz was often forced to try to create something out of nothing.
Nelson Agholor's performance perfectly sumarizes the performance of this group. Agholor was bad and had two awful drops. He also got behind the defense for a 40-yard touchdown.
Tight ends Brent Celek and Zach Ertz were useful components of the Eagles offense, combining for 50 yards on their five catches. Both provided solid blocking in the run game as well.
Grade: B-
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
With the entire offense being inconsistent on the night, the offensive line was no exception. They opened monster holes during the first drive but struggled to get a consistent push after that. The pass protection was good on the whole, but Wentz did have some interior pressure to deal with.
The failed 4th-and-goal attempt will not look good for them on film. The Giants were without their best defensive tackle and still blew the Eagles off the ball.
Grade: C
Defensive Line
5 of 10
They weren't able to bring him down, but the Eagles defensive line did manage to harass Eli Manning sufficiently. Manning only completed 38 of his 63 pass attempts, and most of the misses came due to a defensive lineman breathing down his neck.
Brandon Graham bullied Giants right tackle Bobby Hart all night, and Beau Allen had a great game as a reserve defensive tackle.
His stat line won't show it, but Vinny Curry has started to return to form the last few weeks.
Grade: B+
Linebacker
6 of 10
Nigel Bradham had 14 tackles. That's an absurd number. Jordan Hicks finished second with seven stops. The Eagles linebackers weren't able to produce the game-changing plays they did last week, but they were just as effective.
The bad version of Mychal Kendricks returned this week. He struggled bringing ball-carriers down and overran plays, as he is wont to do when he's having an off week.
Grade: B
Secondary
7 of 10
Terrence Brooks' first snap on defense the entire season was a game-sealing interception. Not bad.
Malcolm Jenkins was back to the ball-hawk he has the ability to be. He had two interceptions on the night and was generally solid in coverage. He recorded his sixth pick-six of his career, the most by any active safety.
The Eagles corners all swung from excellent to awful and back again throughout the game, but it should be noted that Jalen Mills has consistently improved as the season has progressed.
Manning did manage to throw for 356 yards, but it took him 63 attempts and he tossed three interceptions to his one touchdown. It wasn't always pretty, but the Eagles secondary played well.
Grade: A-
Special Teams
8 of 10
Caleb Sturgis made his field-goal attempt and all of his extra points, even if they were a bit more interesting than they needed to be.
The coverage teams for the Eagles were simply fantastic against a slippery return man in Dwayne Harris. They downed a ball inside the Giants' 5-yard line, Chris Maragos and Terrence Brooks both made fantastic open-field tackles of Harris and Brooks forced a fumble that the Eagles almost recovered.
Grade: A
Coaching
9 of 10
Doug Pederson deserves credit for his performance against the New York Giants. He won both of his challenges, including one at the two-minute warning that forced a Giants turnover on downs the following play. The deep pass for Agholor was an excellent piece of scheming and worked to perfection. Doug is aggressive by nature and it paid off for the Eagles.
Jim Schwartz finally got the defense back to the game plan they had so much success with earlier in the year. Let the opponent get the ball to their star receiver, but to the detriment of a balanced attack. When in the red zone, hold the opponent to field goals and help generate offense with turnovers.
The coaching staff finally got their players to stop committing awful penalties. Jason Peters' league-leading 10th false start was the only infraction of the night.
Grade: A
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Position | Grade |
| QB | C+ |
| RB | C |
| WR & TE | B- |
| OL | C |
| DL | B+ |
| LB | B |
| Secondary | A- |
| ST | A |
| Coaching | A |
Cumulative Grade: B
Divisional games are always tough. Both teams and coaching staffs know each other well. The records don't tend to matter because these games are about respect. The Eagles got the job done against the Giants on Thursday Night Football.
The Eagles have now conquered the Giants in 14 of the last 18 games. The Eagles will finish up their season against the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday. There won't be much on the line with the Eagles out of the playoffs and Dallas having clinched the top-seed in the NFC, but it's Eagles-Cowboys, and that means something.
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