The Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 8 win over the New York Giants was the most complete offensive performance of the season by a distance. I called the offense boring a few weeks ago (a statement I stand by), but this week was anything but boring. We saw a lot of new stuff in this one, which we will get into. It was the best blend of sequencing and intent to establish the run that we’ve seen, and when you add in the top individual performances from multiple players, you get a blowout!.
Offense
Where else to start but the Saquon Barkley touchdown? The Eagles have six offensive linemen out there (Fred Johnson was always the 6th) and run duo from under center. We haven’t seen the Eagles run duo very much over the past few years, but they committed to it this week. All it took was one decisive cut from Saquon and Landon Dickerson impacting three defenders on the same play, and Barkley was off. Dickerson looked healthy for the first time all season. Tyler Nubin’s angle was poor (if you read the Giants’ preview from a couple of weeks ago, I specifically mentioned him struggling to prevent explosive plays), but it’s Barkley’s speed that forces the mistake. The ground game finally came alive with 276 rushing yards at 9.3 YPC, and for the first time since 2013, the Eagles had two 100-yard backs in the same game! Most importantly, the run game was varied and unpredictable, which made the line look like itself again! I have been blaming the scheme rather than individual performances this season, and I believe this week showed that the Eagles are still talented up front.
On the next drive, it’s once again six OL under-center duo, but from a different formation, and it hits a different gap. The Giants have struggled with contain all year, and Tank Bigsby punished it by bouncing outside. We will get into Bigsby’s performance later, because he was awesome. There were some new runs in this game, but it wasn’t radically different in many ways. The main ideas were dressed up differently and sequenced better, so the Giants couldn’t sit on tells like they could do a couple of weeks ago. This week was mainly duo and pin/pull runs.
Then came the start of the pin-pull wave. The Eagles have prioritized athletes up front for a reason, and this is where it pays off. Pin/pull runs obviously come with a risk, as a quick defensive lineman or linebacker can blow the play up in the backfield, but they give you better angles in the run game. It made life easier for the offensive linemen and guess what, they looked good again!
Bret Toth was legitimately fantastic. I felt bad for Cam Jurgens as he must have wondered where this game plan was with him in the starting lineup! Jurgens is an incredible athlete, so it wasn’t like they changed the game plan. The Giants played some light boxes, and the Eagles punished them. The shotgun run game wasn’t a brand-new scheme; it was a better presentation of familiar concepts and a commitment to hitting the same runs from different formations, which created better angles. We have seen the Eagles run pin/pull concepts for years; they just made it a major part of the game plan this week.
What is this?! A successful screen?! I can count on one hand the number of successful screens I’ve seen by this offense the past couple of years. This offense has been poor against two-high zone from 2×2 formations, but they do run them a lot, so the Giants would not have expected a screen. The screen caught the Giants staring at routes, and let the OL (Toth again!) get out and block for Barkley in space. There’s no reason the screen game should be a weakness with this athletic line. I love it as a change-up because the Eagles see a ton of two-high zone coverage to stop their vertical passing game. Zone coverage obviously has natural “soft spots” that a screen can exploit. If a defense is sitting back in zone to protect against deep throws, the screen can get the ball quickly to a back or receiver in space, with fewer defenders nearby. Hopefully, we see more of this from the Eagles. Imagine not wanting to get Barkley the ball in space?
Under-center play-action finally looked like proper play-action because they had established the run! Earlier in the game, the Eagles had run the same under-center look with Cameron Latu twice as a lead blocker, so this time they sold it and came back with a post/cross combo. The linebackers bit harder and Hurts, who supposedly can’t throw between the hashes, dropped another strike. The run game set up the pass game, which I think should be the case with this offense, far more than it has this year.
Even inside the shotgun pin/pull run game, there was variety to what the Eagles were doing. We saw different linemen pull (sometimes one or two), and the Eagles ran it from a standard shotgun look (the back running to the opposite side) and also from the same side. Same side shotgun runs are a great change-up because they stop the run game from becoming predictable from the shotgun. The Giants never got a read on where the run game was attacking. It wasn’t 12 different runs; it was the same 3–4 runs from different looks, which resulted in the line looking cleaner because they weren’t being asked to block defenders who knew what was coming.
As always, empty remained a cheat code. I wish we ran it more. The Eagles had a lot of success with double slants and free access throws as Hurts plays in such good rhythm in empty. For the majority of the game, Hurts was very good once again. Dallas Goedert had a great game, too. He only caught three balls, but his all-around game was excellent.
Hey, another throw to the middle of the field! This time, it’s a double-post variant with a deep crosser that stretched the Giants’ defense out, and resulted in DeVonta Smith winning in the middle of the field. The pass pro picked up five, and Hurts stood in and ripped it. I’m also very intrigued by the funky Grant Calcaterra release through the A-gap. The Rams do this kind of thing a lot, which suggests the Eagles are trying something new. It’s a little odd to see him release through the A-gap, but it’s a clever way to hold the LBs underneath and it can create a natural mesh with Barkley’s route if you get man coverage.
Hurts throwing to DeVonta Smith was awesome to watch in this game. Smith’s footwork was insane. He’s an elite route runner. The ability to mix up his tempo, cut on a dime, left the Giants’ cornerbacks grabbing air at times. Hurts threw this one with anticipation and still put it on the money, despite facing pressure. DeVonta played like a No.1 in A.J. Brown’s absence and the route running was flat-out beautiful.
By the way, I figured there would be some chat about this in the comments, so I’ll get my thoughts out of the way now. The Eagles could have done all of this with A.J. Brown healthy. Nothing about the game plan required his absence. However, I can’t help but feel that maybe the coaches were forced to design better, more balanced plays because they couldn’t lean on Brown’s elite talent to bail them out. Hopefully, this continues with Brown back after the bye.
This is an excellent design, despite it not working. The Eagles overload one side with a three-level stretch, and Barkley runs the intermediate route out of the backfield. This is the kind of spacing concept that’s been missing from the Eagles’ offense. However, there is a trade-off when you flood a zone with multiple receivers. You can get heated up by pressure if you leave no one into block, but I’ll take the occasional negative for the explosives this kind of concept can generate.
Here we have under-center pin-pull, now from 12 personnel, with both tight ends fitting their blocks (a sentence we have not been able to write often this year). The Giants brought pressure to the left, and the Eagles had the perfect play called. It’s amazing how easy everything looks when your runs aren’t telegraphed.
I enjoyed the Eagles’ use of jumbo personnel, but, with six OL and two TEs, your play-action menu narrows. On the sack where Hurts looked bad, there just weren’t any viable outlets. You’re playing with one receiver on a longer-developing concept. I love the jumbo stuff for identity and tone, and it was a big part of why the run game rolled, but you’ve got to be selective about when you pair it with PA shots. Personally, I want two wideouts on the field to create true horizontal/vertical stretch. I prefer the 6 OL packages with 2 WRs on the field, over 2 TEs. That feels almost too heavy!
Bigsby closed the game like a finisher, stringing together runs where defenders bounced off him. He’s the best RB2 the Eagles have had in years. He was physical, decisive, and with enough pop to turn glancing contact into extra yards. The Eagles were bullied by the Giants a couple of weeks ago. Bigsby dished up some well-deserved revenge at the end of the game!
All the hits made an appearance in this one, including the unstoppable split-zone RPO slide to Goedert. This is so well designed. They add in a jet motion (after running a reverse early on in the game) and use DeVonta’s route as a legal rub to nudge the LB’s path. This is what I’ve begged for all year: sweat the small stuff. Landmarks, motion, and window-dressing that actually change how defenders fit. It showed up all over the film this week. The headline numbers tell the story. Hurts went 15/20 for 179 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs. Over the last two weeks, he’s accounted for seven touchdowns with no turnovers, and he is playing great football. Long may it continue.
Just watch DeVonta Smith here. Oh my goodness. Ironically, I thought Dotson’s overall route discipline wasn’t great in this game, but this catch was outrageous.
By the end, the Giants clearly started selling out for pin-pull, with linebackers flying downhill, and Bigsby didn’t care. This is how you close.
Final thoughts
This was the type of game we have all been waiting for from the run game. The Eagles had 10 snaps of true jumbo (six OL) personnel, which produced 114 rushing yards and a TD. Dickerson looked the healthiest he has all year. Jordan Mailata talked about needing to bring back the physical tone after the first Giants game. It was back in this one!
Most importantly, the approach changed. This was the first time all year the offense felt balanced and sequenced well. The same core ideas were dressed differently, the sequencing made sense, and you could feel the defense guessing. Two weeks ago, the Giants bullied the Eagles. Yesterday, the Eagles bullied the Giants. The Giants might suck, but dominance is still dominance. What a lovely performance.
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