It was just two weeks ago that the Philadelphia Eagles (5-2) were trounced by the New York Giants (2-5) by a score of 34-17 at MetLife Stadium on Thursday Night Football in Week 6. The setback marked back-to-back losses for a team who lost just once in their previous 21 games.
Now back in the win column after a road win in Minnesota, the Eagles return home after a two-week road swing to take on their NFC East rivals looking to avenge the loss and maintain their lead in the division when they welcome the Giants.
New York looks to bounce back after one of the biggest collapses in recent memory at Denver last week, allowing 33 points in the fourth quarter to blow two large leads late in the game, ultimately falling 33-32 on a last second field goal.
The Giants certainly will come in to South Philly eying a surprising regular season sweep despite the gut-wrenching loss and will have a lot of confidence coming into the hostile Lincoln Financial Field knowing how they played against the Eagles recently.
Here are five key matchups to watch in this rematch:
Dart was given the reins of the starting job in Week 4 and has had success since taking over for Russell Wilson. The 22-year-old first-round pick has given the Giants and fan base a reason to believe the future is bright.
He was a menace against Philadelphia in the Week 6 battle, racking up 253 total yards (195 passing, 58 rushing) and two touchdowns in the win. The rookie completed 68% of his passes and was elusive when he used his legs, getting sacked only twice. He racked up numerous explosive plays which helped the Giants earn the surprising win.
Since becoming the starter, Dart has thrown for seven touchdowns and just three interceptions in his four starts for 791 yards. New York is 2-2 since Dart became QB1 after starting off the season 0-2 with Wilson. With his fearless style of play, Dart has provided a noticeable spark to the team and it is clear that his teammates believe in their young quarterback.
The rookie also earned high praise from Eagles’ Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio earlier this week.
“The teams that needed quarterbacks that bypassed him, they’re going to regret that,” Fangio said.
This will be the second time in three weeks Fangio’s defense will see Dart, but now on full rest. If the longtime coordinator and his defense are unable to limit the playmaking abilities of Dart, it could lead to another big day for the Giants offense.
It is well known seven weeks into the season that the Eagles have not been able to run the football nearly as efficiently or successfully as they did last year when Saquon Barkley became just the ninth running back in NFL history to join the 2,000-yard club.
Philadelphia comes into Sunday with the third-worst rushing attack averaging just 88.1 yards per game only ahead of Tennessee and Cincinnati. Barkley is averaging just 3.3 yards per carry after gaining just 44 yards on 18 carries. It was clear last week that Kevin Patullo and the offense made it a point to feature Barkley, but despite that, he once again did not have a productive game. Barkley has yet to rush for 100 yards in a game this season with his season-high set at 88 yards back in Week 2 at Kansas City.
Barkley took ownership for why the rushing attack has not been as potent as it was a season ago, but Nick Sirianni said that it is an all around effort on getting back on track.
“This is team football. It’s on all of us. The coaches, players, it’s never on one person,” Sirianni said.
“That’s Saquon. He’s always going to take accountability and that’s why you love him and respect him so much. We are working like crazy to figure it out. We have some good thoughts here and now we gotta go put it to work.”
The Giants have been solid stopping the rush, ranking 11th in the NFL allowing 125.1 yards per game this season, but when the two teams met two weeks ago, it looked like Barkley was poised for another big game against his former team, gashing the Giants for 31 yards on the first two carries of the game before finishing with just 27 yards the rest of the way for a total of 58 in the loss.
Perhaps this is the week Barkley and the rushing attack finally get it going.
Like Dart, rookie running back Cam Skattebo has infused the Giants with energy with his bulldozing runs, bashing his body off would-be tacklers and lowering his head as if he was a bull charging at a matador.
The Eagles felt the wrath of that style of running coming off a short week in the first meeting and the defense at times did not look like they wanted much of anything to do with Skattebo. The
The fourth-round pick out of Arizona State ran for a career-high 98 yards and three touchdowns against the Eagles doing most of his damage after contact, racking up 79 of those 98 yards after contact per NextGen Stats.
Philadelphia will have some reinforcements in the rematch with Nakobe Dean now back on the field and the possibility of Brandon Graham returning as well. Sticking with Dean, he made an impact in his first full game back, playing 45% of the defensive snaps and was third on the team with six tackles.
He helped slow down the Vikings’ rushing attack as the Eagles held Minnesota to 89 yards in the win marking just the second time in seven games they’ve held opponents under 100 yards on the ground.
What was a strength for the defense last season, has been a bit of an issue here this season. The Eagles allow 127.9 yards per game which is 22nd in the NFL and gave up 172 to the Giants in the Week 6 loss. They will need to limit Skattebo and Dart this time around.
There are some injuries to keep an eye in this matchup including A.J. Brown who missed the last two days of practice with a hamstring injury while the Giants are hoping they will have their top cornerback in Paulson Adebo (knee) and safety Jevon Holland (knee) ready for this game.
Both Adebo and Holland left last week’s game resulting in Bo Nix and the Broncos to find the success they did in that 33-point fourth quarter.
Brown and Smith are coming off their best games of the season, combining for an absurd 304 yards and three touchdowns. Brown accounted for 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns on just four catches while Smith set a new career-high with 183 yards on nine catches and also found the endzone. Smith is on pace to set a new single-season high in receiving yards at the pace he is currently at, ranking 7th in the NFL with 504 yards.
Adebo shadowed Brown in the Week 6 showdown and allowed four catches for 55 yards on seven targets across 22 matchups per NextGen Stats. If he cannot go, the Giants will hope that Deonte Banks can bounce back and turn his season around.
He replaced Adebo last week at Denver and on the has allowed nine catches for 126 yards and two scores on just 12 targets so far this season according to NextGen Stats. He also allowed the crucial 22-yard reception to Courtland Sutton with 18 seconds left to set up the game-winning field goal last week.
Brown and Smith combined for 129 yards on 10 catches in the first meeting against the Giants, but will look to keep the momentum going from their monster games last week against a weaker Giants’ secondary.
It is trending that Cam Jurgens will not play in this game after leaving last week’s win with a knee injury and has missed time at practice this week. Brett Toth has been taking snaps at center this week in practice which could be a potential mismatch for the Eagles going up against this talented defensive line of the Giants.
The offensive line has not been playing particularly well this season, and they will need to deal with the likes of Brian Burns, who is tied for the league lead with nine sacks, along with rookie Abdul Carter, Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux who have been creating havoc for opposing offenses. Burns was responsible for two of the three sacks of Jalen Hurts in the first meeting while Lawrence, the nose tackle, will line up across from Toth.
The Eagles will most likely need to double team the talented lineman just like most teams have this season. Per NextGen Stats, Lawrence has been double teamed on a league-high 61.2% of his pass rushes this season, which marks the second season he has led the league in double-team rate.
Toth will need to hold his own throughout this game to allow ample time for Hurts and the offense to let down field plays develop to attack the secondary they should be able to exploit.
