Eagles vs. Giants: Five matchups to watch

The 10-4 Philadelphia Eagles are limping toward the finish line during this 2023 regular season that was once so promising. After dropping three straight games, they will face their "get right" rival in the 5-9 New York Giants, who the Birds have beaten 10 straight times at home, and 25 times in the last 31 matchups overall. Here are our five matchups to watch.

1) Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, and Brian Johnson vs. the Giants' blitz-heavy defense

The Giants have the second-highest blitz rate in the NFL, per pro-football-reference.com. In fact, there are 6 NFL teams that blitz on at least a third of their defensive snaps:

The Eagles have already faced the Vikings, Buccaneers, Chiefs, and Patriots this season, so blitz-heavy defenses are nothing new for them.

Blitzing has not led to sack production for the Giants, who have just 24 sacks on the season, second-fewest in the NFL. And on the back end, pro-football-reference has the Giants down for 97 missed tackles, seventh-worst in the NFL. 

In other words, the Giants send a lot of pressure, but they don't get home, and when you complete passes they don't do a good job of wrapping up and getting guys to the ground. 

Opposing offenses have out-schemed this Giants defense all season. The Eagles haven't out-schemed anyone on either side of the ball in recent weeks. Something has to give.

2) The Eagles' sluggish rushing attack vs. the Giants' bad run defense

The Eagles annihilated the Giants on the ground last season. In the two games the Giants weren't resting their starters, the Eagles rushed 75 times for 521 yards (6.9 YPC) and 7 TDs.

In 2023, the Giants have one of the worst run defenses in the NFL: 

There will be some differences in personnel for this game compared with last season. The Giants still employ Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Azeez Ojulari up front. They dealt Leonard Williams at the trade deadline, and signed a couple of free agent busts in Rakeem Nunez-Roches and A'Shawn Robinson. The Eagles' guards will be different, as Cam Jurgens (pec) and Landon Dickerson (thumb) could both be out. That would likely mean starts for Sua Opeta at LG and Tyler Steen at RG. (This is probably where we should mention that Lawrence vs. a couple of backup guards is a potential matchup disadvantage for the Eagles.)

Still, it's been a long time since we've seen the Eagles' rushing attack look dominant, and this Giants run defense has consistently stunk for a while now.

The Eagles showed some glimpses of run success against the Seahawks on Monday night. Perhaps that's something to build on.

3) The Eagles' run defense vs. Saquon Barkley

The Eagles played very good run defense over roughly the first half of the season. Since their bye, they have allowed 145 rushing yards per game, and 6 rushing TDs. For context, the Broncos have the worst run defense in the NFL. They are allowing 146.9 rushing yards per game this season.

• Chiefs: 168 yards, 0 TDs.
• Bills: 173 yards, 2 TDs
• 49ers: 146 yards, 2 TDs
• Cowboys: 138, yards, 1 TD
• Seahawks: 100 yards, 1 TD

The Giants' best offensive skill player remains Saquon Barkley, even if Barkley isn't the explosive player he once was. On the season, Barkley has rushed 194 times for 797 yards (4.1 YPC) and 3 TDs. He has also chipped in 33 catches for 206 yards (6.2 YPR), and 4 TDs. That would be 1003 yards from scrimmage, a far cry from his 2028 yards from scrimmage his rookie season.

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Still, here is our obligatory mention that the Eagles' focus will likely be on shutting down Barkley. It should also maybe be mentioned that third-string quarterback Tommy DeVito can run around, too. In his last two games, DeVito has 14 carries for 107 yards. He ran a 4.66 40 at Illinois' pro day. 

4) The Eagles' embattled secondary vs. the Giants' unthreatening receivers

The Giants haven't had a 1000-yard receiver since Odell Beckham, in 2018. Actually, they haven't even had an 800-yard receiver since 2018. Since then, here were their receiving leaders each season:

• 2019: Darius Slayton, 740 yards
• 2020: Darius Slayton, 751 yards
• 2021: Kenny Golladay, 521 yards
• 2022: Darius Slayton: 724 yards

Slayton leads the Giants in receiving in 2023, and once again, they are unlikely to have anyone top 800 receiving yards this season.

Slayton has been the Giants' best receiver over the last half decade, by far. Out of curiosity, I took a peek to see what percentage of leagues roster him in fantasy football (Yahoo). 2 percent! Lol.

Of course, the Giants entered the 2023 season with high hopes for tight end Darren Waller, who they acquired from Las Vegas for a third-round pick. Waller was praised throughout the summer for being unstoppable during training camp, but that has not translated to the real games.

There's perhaps an argument to be made that the Giants' most dangerous receiver is rookie Jalin Hyatt, who has good speed and the ability to take the top off the defense, but again, low bar here. He has 2 catches for 13 yards in December.

Pass defense has been the Eagles' biggest weakness this season, but it should be noted that they have faced guys like (in chronological order) Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Terry McLaurin, Cooper Kupp, Puka Nakua, Garrett Wilson, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, CeeDee Lamb, Travis Kelce, Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, DK Metcalf, and Tyler Lockett.

I'd take about 15 of those guys over the Giants' entire wide receiving corps.

This will be a good opportunity for the Eagles' secondary to lick their wounds from a rough stretch and perhaps build some confidence for the playoffs.

5) Where might the Eagles go feastin'™️? 🍗

The Giants have given up a staggering 76 (!) sacks this season, by far the most in the NFL:

The Jets, Commanders, Panthers, and Titans have all been eliminated from the playoffs, and the Giants will soon be as well. If you can't protect the quarterback, you're probably not going to be a very good team. #Analysis.

The Giants have already given up the third-most sacks in a season in NFL history, with three games to play:

Their offensive line looks like this:

Thomas is a good player, but one who has been victimized by Josh Sweat in the past. For example, here, with speed:

The rest of the line is a mess:

• LG Justin Pugh: Pugh was originally drafted by the Giants in 2013, and played in New Jersey for five seasons. In 2018, he signed with the Cardinals, and played in Arizona for five season. In 2023, Pugh was unemployed until the Giants signed him in October. PFF has him down for 7 sacks allowed, an extraordinarily high number for a guard who has only played in 9 games.

• C John Michael Schmitz: Schmitz is a second-round rookie. In college at Minnesota, his calling card was physicality in the run game. He had some rough games early this season, but has played better of late. Still, for now he is a below average center trying to adapt to the NFL.

• RG Ben Bredeson: Bredeson has played 187 snaps at LG, 279 at C, and 345 at RG this season, and has started 13 games. He is a backup-quality interior lineman with some versatilitybut one who ideally would not be starting.

• RT Tyre Phillips: Phillips was actually on the Eagles' practice squad for about a month and a half earlier this season before the Giants poached him. He has filled in for second-year disappointment Evan Neal, who is injured and might not get his job back when healthy.

#FeastinMeter™️: The Eagles' defensive line has been disappointing in recent weeks. It would be especially alarming if they couldn't beat up on this group. A year ago, this might've been the rare 10/10 turkey legs, but I think I can only go 6/10 until I see them have a dominant performance, which we just haven't from this group in quite some time. 🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗

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