October 22, 2020
Kate Frese/for PhillyVoice
Zach Ertz kneeling on the sidelines during the Philadelphia Eagles game against the LA Rams at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on September 20, 2020.
The Philadelphia Eagles, as always, are one of the most injury-ravaged teams in the NFL, if not the most. For a change, they'll face an opponent with some legitimate injuries of their own in the New York Giants, which is why the Eagles are a favorite in this one for the first time in a few weeks, according to TheLines.com.
Here are the Eagles' and Giants' inactives, with analysis.
• WR Alshon Jeffery: 🙄
#Eagles have ruled out WR Alshon Jeffery and added a calf injury to his previous foot injury. I’m told it’s a minor strain but that’s the reason he’s out vs. the #Giants. They expect him to ramp up next week and play against the #Cowboys.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 21, 2020
• RB Miles Sanders: Boston Scott's best games last year came against the Giants.
• DT Malik Jackson: Jackson's strong season has maybe been overstated a bit. He has 13 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
• OT Jack Driscoll: Lane Johnson is poised to return. Can he last the full game?
• S K'Von Wallace: Wallace was unlikely to play in the regular defense with the Eagles seeing some defensive backs return from injury.
• WR Quez Watkins: Quez is down with DeSean Jackson up.
• QB Nate Sudfeld: Poor Nate.
• WR Jalen Reagor (short-term IR): Reagor tore the UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) in his thumb. We covered his potential timeline for return in greater detail here. In a lost season, Reagor's development might have been some kind of silver lining, but the Eagles can't even get that, for now.
• TE Zach Ertz (short-term IR): Ertz is expected to be out 4-6 weeks.
• TE Dallas Goedert (short-term IR): Goedert has a broken bone in his ankle, which is actually better than a high ankle sprain, but he'll still miss around 2 months of the season.
• LG Isaac Seumalo (short-term IR): With Seumalo out "for the foreseeable future," per Doug Pederson, the Eagles are without three starting offensive linemen.
• LT Jason Peters (short-term IR): Jordan Mailata has played better than Peters.
• LB T.J. Edwards (short-term IR): Not exactly a high bar, but Edwards has been the Eagles' best linebacker so far this season.
• S Rudy Ford (short term IR): Special teamer only, but played well this season in his role before he got hurt.
• LT Andre Dillard (season-ending IR): Dillard struggled mightily as a rookie, and he came into camp as a clear player of interest, as he was poised to start at LT this season. He was up and down in camp, with the "down" moments being very alarming. Dillard injured his biceps, and is done for the season.
• TE Josh Perkins (season-ending IR): He was better than Richard Rodgers?
• RG Brandon Brooks (PUP): Brooks is in the conversation for 'best RG in the NFL," so obviously, losing him for the entire season has hurt.
• DE Daeshon Hall (PUP): Hall tore an ACL on the final play of the 2019 regular season, because Pat Shurmur was calling timeouts to preserve every last minute of his NFL head coaching career.
• WR Marquise Goodwin: Goodwin was a veteran wide receiver with speed that the Eagles took a flier on, as something of an possible in-game replacement for DeSean Jackson.
We'll update with the Giants' inactives when they are made available.
• RB Saquon Barkley (IR): Barkley's season is over after he tore an ACL Week 2 against the Bears. Barkley is obviously the Giants' best player, and someone who has hurt the Eagles in the past. His four career games against Jim Schwartz and the Eagles' defense:
| Year | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| 2018, Week 6 | 13 | 130 | 10.0 | 1 |
| 2018, Week 12 | 13 | 101 | 7.8 | 1 |
| 2019, Week 14 | 17 | 66 | 3.9 | 0 |
| 2019, Week 17 | 17 | 92 | 5.4 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 60 | 389 | 6.5 | 3 |
He also had 22 catches for 166 yards and a TD in those games.
• WR Sterling Shepard (IR): Shepard began practicing last week, but he did not play against the Football Team and remains on IR with turf toe. He's a solid No. 2 receiver, who had a pair of big games against the Eagles in 2017, racking up 18 catches for 272 yards and 2 TDs. In 2018 and 2019, he was quiet against the Eagles, posting 16 catches for 141 yards and no TDs in four games.
• LT Nate Solder (COVID opt out): As we showed in our Giants dumpster fire piece in June, Solder was brutally bad in 2019. He was poised to retain his starting job at LT, however, but he opted out of the 2020 season.
• S Xavier McKinney (IR): McKinney broke his foot, and had surgery to repair it. He was projected to start at safety for the Giants as a rookie this season. McKinney was a versatile playmaker in college who drew comparisons to another former Bama DB in Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Giants selected him in the second round (36th overall), which was a good value, in my view. McKinney could return later in the season, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN:
There is hope that McKinney can return and his rookie season is not totally lost, sources told ESPN. A late-November return -- after the Giants' Week 12 bye week -- seems possible if all goes well with his recovery.
Of course, that would be after each of the Eagles' matchups against the Giants.
• CB Sam Beal (COVID opt out): The Giants selected Beal with a third-round pick in the 2018 supplemental draft. He missed the entire 2018 season with an injury, and only played in 6 games (3 starts) in 2019. With DeAndre Baker having been released, Beal might have won a starting job, but he opted out of the 2020 season. The Giants subsequently signed veteran CB Logan Ryan.
• Edge Oshane Ximines (IR): Ximines had 4.5 sacks as a rookie in 2019. He injured his shoulder against the Rams and went on IR.
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