Eagles-Giants Preview

The Philadelphia Eagles have failed to string together “four” productive quarters in any game so far this season. The team hopes to even their record at 3-3 after a win Monday night, putting them in a share for first place honors in the up for grabs NFC East.

The New York Giants are riding a three game winning streak and their future hall of fame quarterback is playing borderline mistake free football. The last visit for Eli and company to Lincoln Financial Field, the Giants were absolutely embarrassed, shutout, with a final score of 27-0. Head coaches and their quarterback move on but never forget games like that, so a revenge factor certainly comes into play.

The New York Giants are a team that doesn’t give up a lot of sacks on offense and doesn’t produce a lot of sacks on defense. The offense goes through quarterback Eli Manning and his most dangerous receiving threat Odell Beckham Jr. The Giants have an average running game, they use a three man attack much like the Eagles, but they don’t rely on one particular guy, it’s evenly distributed and carries are based on formations and positioning on the football field. Vereen is a guy the Eagles will have to account for, the Giants have recently begun to find ways to involve him more in the passing game much how the Patriots did for many seasons.

On defense the Giants are not a unit that is full of playmakers. Their first priority is to stop the run, and they will often cheat with additional linebackers or bring a safety close to the line of scrimmage to help remove the outside run. Their secondary is their best position group on defense, they have above average cornerbacks but both of their starting safeties can be exposed by speedy receivers.

The Eagles offense has been a different story each week of the season which almost makes it difficult to predict what their identity is. It’s obvious the team wants to establish the running game early, but their offensive line is streaky with how they perform. Last week and for the first time all season, the Eagles were able to get both DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews involved to form an “effective” duo. At the same time, Darren Sproles did not play a role in the passing game with only one reception. The Eagles last year failed to integrate Sproles into the offense on a weekly basis, and Chip must find a way for history not to repeat itself simply because he has two other running backs that are producing. Sproles has the receiving skills and mismatch capability that the “possession” receivers like Cooper, Austin and Matthews lack. It was nice to see the tight-ends involved last week, and more of the same should continue for the Eagles as Bradford grows comfortable with Celek and Ertz.

The Eagles must find a way to get pressure on Eli. Opposing defenses have averaged less than one sack per game against the Giants, so it’s certainly going to be a challenge for the Eagles. How Billy Davis elects to contain both Vereen and Beckham Jr is the number one priority to limit the damage from the passing game. Like the Giants, the Eagles are also very good against the run, which makes the likelihood that this will come down to the play of the quarterbacks.

“X” Factor

There is a good bit of familiarity that surrounds Sam Bradford and the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. Steve Spagnuolo was the head coach of the St. Louis Rams when Sam Bradford was drafted with the first overall selection. The flaws in Bradford’s game have been on display throughout the season, and if any defensive coordinator is going to game plan against Bradford it’s going to be Spagnuolo.

Prediction

I like the Eagles to get their first win against an NFC East opponent. The Eagles defense will find a way to get enough pressure on Eli Manning to disturb his timing, and Bradford will outplay Eli in the prime time matchup.

Eagles 34 Giants 28