Introduction: The New York Giants continue their losing ways as the Philadelphia Eagles clinched a playoff berth with a 34-29 victory. The 29 points was the most scored by the Giants offense this season, however; 23 of those points came in the 1st half and only 6 points in the 2nd half. Quarterback Nick Foles did a great job subbing for Carlson Wentz throwing four touchdowns with no interceptions for 237 yards. Eli Manning also had a solid game (his best of the season) going 37/57 for 434 yards with 3 touchdowns and one interception. The Giants running attack was a non factor (75 yards); which is why Manning had so many passing attempts. This was a great game to watch despite the outcome for Giant fans and with the loss; the Giants still maintain the 2nd overall pick in the draft.
Top Reasons Why the Giants Lost:
- Giants Defense-vs-Eagles offense: Nick Foles is a very capable backup quarterback, but he is not Carlson Wentz, someone forgot to tell the Giants that as they let Foles dissect the defense and convert 66% in the red zone (4/6).
- Turnovers: Both teams did very well in the turnover department with only the Giants committing the only turnover (interception by Manning) in the game; which eventually led to an Eagles score.
- Red Zone: The Giants had a respectful red zone percentage 50% (2/4). Unfortunately; the Eagles were better at 66% (4/6). This was arguably the deciding factor in the outcome of the game.
Hero: Quarterback Nick Foles gets my pick by going 24/38 for 237 yards and 4 touchdown passes. The Eagles could have easily lost this game without their starting quarterback, as this game went down to the wire. However; good teams find a way to win and bad teams find a way to lose.
Goat: The Giants Defense: When your top 3 tacklers are either cornerbacks and/or safeties then there’s a problem. This would indicate either too many completions and/or the defensive front 7 not doing their job against the run. In this case, it was a little bit of both for the Giants.
Final Thoughts: At 2-12 now, it only makes sense for the Giants to audition rookie quarterback Davis Webb for the remaining two games. The Arizona Cardinals will be the Giants next opponent as they travel to the west coast. The Cardinals have been struggling since starting quarterback Carlson Palmer went down for the season (6-8), but have a winning record at home (4-3) and will be a tough opponent for the Giants.