Week 6 in the NFL opens with your New York Giants hosting the Philadelphia Eagles. The 1-4 Giants are 7.5-point underdogs to the 4-1 Eagles. Can the Giants pull off a major upset? See what your Big Blue View staff writers think about that game and the rest of the Week 6 action in our staff picks.
Chris Pflum
Had Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton not gone down, I might have said that the Giants have a path to victory in this game. Even now, I can’t say that the Giants winning would be a mind-blowing upset. I view them as a team that can play with — and even beat — any team in the NFL. On the flip side of that, I think this is a team that can lose to any team in the NFL.
If I’m being honest, I’m more interested to see how Jaxson Dart and the Giants respond after the collapse against the Saints than I am in the outcome of this game. Can Dart put it behind him and take it as a learning experience? Can Kafka and Daboll adapt to their new Naber-less reality and find ways to move the ball through the air? Can the defense rebound and play like they did against the Chargers and in the first half against the Saints?
I can’t in good conscience pick the Giants in this game. They’re too good at beating themselves, at finding ways to lose games they can or should win.
Pick: Eagles
Tony DelGenio
Amazon has announced a deal to pay the void year costs of another Eagles free agent signing, and in return Nick Sirianni promises to sit his starting defense and play all backups against the Giants as an enticement to get anyone to watch this otherwise probably uncompetitive game. The shame of it is that despite being undefeated until the 4th quarter last Sunday, this Eagles team is not (yet) the 2024 juggernaut. Their passing game has been underwhelming…if only the Giants had a defensive coordinator who would disguise defenses and give Philly and Jalen Hurts a little of its own Vic Fangio medicine. Even their running game hasn’t been great, whether because of cracks in the vaunted offensive line or Saquon Barkley spending too much time watching his new documentary. When the Giants are on offense, the question is whether Jaxson Dart will be able to complete any passes at all to his wide receivers, even though CB2 is a weakness with Kelee Ringo or old friend Adoree Jackson. Most likely we’ll see more 2-tight end sets with Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger being Dart’s prime targets. Any chance the Giants have will have to revolve around those two, plus Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy (if he plays) being able to move the chains. The Eagles have one of the better linebacker pairs in the NFL, rookie Jihaad Campbell and risen-from-the-dead Zack Baun, and of course a stout defensive line with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, so don’t count on it. One thing I’m interested to see is whether Dart is completely baffled by what Fangio does, or whether he can show evidence of being able to read a challenging defense. The other is whether this will be the last game of the Daboll-Schoen era in New York.
Pick: Eagles
David Hartman
Well, that was a short winning streak. The Giants reminded us this past Sunday that they’re still a work in progress, with a rookie QB who is missing his best weapon and still getting his feet wet. Perhaps the most telling statistic from Big Blue’s disappointing road loss to the previously winless Saints is that each of the Giants’ last six possessions (which includes every one of their second half possessions) ended in a turnover or a turnover on downs. Needless to say, you can’t win NFL games if you can’t protect the football.
It’s a short turnaround for the Giants, who welcome the Eagles to MetLife on Thursday night. The Eagles had their own late meltdown last week, as they went into the fourth quarter ahead 17-3, and got outscored by the Broncos 18-0 in the final period for their first loss. Something isn’t right with the defending champs, whose offense has been stagnant, boring, and predictable through five games.
Philly has won 19 of its last 23 against the G-Men. This hasn’t been much of a rivalry for the last decade. New York might be without Darius Slayton (hamstring), and I just can’t see their very young offense scoring enough points to beat the Eagles, who will look to bounce back from a disappointing home loss. Saquon Barkley hasn’t been anything close to the monster he was last season, but facing his former team might be the tonic he needs to get it going.
Pick: This week’s pick is an easy one. Eagles by at least a touchdown.
James Hickey
The current state of the the two franchises meeting on Thursday is this simple: The Eagles win these games and the Giants don’t.
Both teams come off losses that has them in turmoil in different ways: The Giants fanbase is feed up with a football team that finds ways to loose, casting blames everywhere it can think of— a favorite target this week among online content creators like BBV’s Nick Falato is Shane Bowen. But it was the rookie mistakes of quarterback Jaxson Dart, running back Cam Skattebo and WR Beaux Collins that cost the team the win as much as vet Darius Slayton or the defenses abilities to not give up the big play. Talented rookies costing you a game is a part of the normal learning process in the NFL.
But down the Turnpike, there is uneasinesses again in Philadelphia. Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown met among themselves for two hours to discuss offensive frustrations after the team’s loss to Denver last week. On the other side of the ball, the Broncos scored 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. So the defending Super Bowl champions are not exactly coming in to this national prime time road game hitting on all cylinders.
But playing the team they have beaten 16 out of the last 20 times, this has all the makings of a get-right game for the Eagles.
Pick: Eagles 30, Giants 13
Valentine’s View
Is there any way the Giants can defeat the Eagles on Thursday night? Sure. Any given Sunday (or Thursday) and all that stuff. Can I possibly drink enough blue Kool-Aid to pick a Giants team that just lost to the previously winless New Orleans Saints to defeat the defending Super Bowl champions?
Not. A. Chance.
This feels like a get-right game for an Eagles team not happy with how it has been playing despite its 4-1 record. It feels like it might be more nationally-televised embarrassment for the Giants.
Pick: Eagles
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