At least the Week 16 matchup between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles matters for one of the teams.
The Giants head to Lincoln Financial Field with their season firmly dead and buried — a 21-6 loss to the Dallas Cowboys clinching a fifth-straight season of double-digit losses to cap off a miserable decade that has featured just a single playoff appearance.
They meet an Eagles team who will have quite a short week of rest to contend with after defeating the Washington Football Team 27-17 on Tuesday night in a game that had to be rescheduled due to WFT’s issues with COVID-19.
The victory catapulted the Eagles into second place in the NFC East as they inch ever-so-closer to the No. 7 seed and the final playoff spot in the conference. They are only looking up at the Minnesota Vikings, who share the same record as Philadelphia at 7-7.
They’ll be keen to exact some revenge on a Giants team that completely shut them down last month in a 13-7 result that saw Big Blue pick Jalen Hurts off three times.
Hurts, who was subsequently sidelined due to an ankle injury, returned on Tuesday and put together one of his stronger passing showings as of late, completing 20-of-26 passes for 296 yards, one touchdown, and one pick to go with two rushing scores.
It will at least silence some of those who have raised questions about the team’s quarterback situation, especially after Gardner Minshew put together such a strong showing against the Jets in Week 14.
But the Eagles’ offense has proven during its recent 5-2 stretch that it is predicated on the run game. Out of the team’s season-high 519 total yards on Tuesday, 238 of them came on the ground with Miles Sanders accounting for 139 of them. It was the seventh consecutive game in which the Eagles had rushed for 175 yards or more, including 208 against the Giants in Week 13. So despite just the 7 points scored against New York, they know they’ll be able to run the ball effectively.
If Hurts has any sort of a competent afternoon on Sunday, the Eagles should cruise to a relatively easy victory considering the Giants’ offense is in shambles.
With quarterback Daniel Jones now out for the season due to a lingering neck injury that had sidelined him the previous three games, the Giants are likely going to make yet another change under center.
Veteran backup Mike Glennon struggled mightily during his three games as the Giants’ impromptu starter — completing just 50.9% of his passes for 477 yards, two touchdowns, and five interceptions with a 50.0 quarterback rating.
The Giants’ offense has averaged just 11.8 points over their last five games which has helped plummet their standing in the league toward the very bottom. New York ranks 30th in points scored and 27th in total yards gained.
It’s opened the door for Jake Fromm to make his first career NFL start just a few weeks after being signed off the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad. After Glennon’s miserable outing on Sunday against the Cowboys (13-of-24, 99 yards, three interceptions), Fromm saw his first-ever regular-season action on the Giants’ final offensive possession of the game. He completed 6-of-12 passes for 82 yards.
This first appeared on AMNY.com
