The New York Giants fell to 2-6 after losing 38-20 in Philadelphia against the Eagles on Sunday. It was a frustrating and emotionally heavy game for a few reasons, none more obvious than the tragic Cam Skattebo ankle injury. Prior to the injury, Skattebo scored on an impressive rail route touchdown from Jaxson Dart. I hope nothing but the best for the rookie running back in his recovery.
The officiating in the game was horrible, and the legitimacy of the tush-push will be further evaluated after the Kayvon Thibodeaux situation in a tie game – more on that later. Independent of the terrible Brad Rogers officiated game, the Giants’ defense was torn to shreds by the Eagles on the ground. Philadelphia had 277 yards on the ground; the Giants had 246 total offensive yards.
The Eagles controlled the line of scrimmage, and the second-level defenders the Giants were forced to play due to injury did not perform well in their run fits. Some of the Giants’ starters were unsound in the run game as well. The Eagles’ offense outmatched the Giants’ beat-up defense. Here are five plays, or sequence of plays, that led to the Giants’ defeat.
Play 1: What are we doing here?
In a tie game with the Eagles driving on fourth-and-one and Kayvon Thibodeaux stole the football from a live Jalen Hurts, but somehow the Eagles retained possession of the ball. As if the tush-push didn’t already have enough questions, we add this instance into the equation, which may ultimately be the impetus to significant changing of how the play is officiated. It’s silly, stupid really.
It’s obvious the officials have no clue how to officiate this play; that has been apparent for years now and RJ does a good job succinctly delivering that message in the post above. Another massive moment in the game flies the way of the Eagles because the NFL has no clue what they’re doing. Still, the Giants were thoroughly defeated by the Super Bowl champions.
Play 2: Quick start for Philadelphia
Saquon Barkley reminded everyone that he’s still good at football on the second play of the game.
Single back, under center, rush and Barkley bounced it away from the sixth offensive linemen and the tight end toward the boundary. Kayvon Thibodeaux (5) was blocked well by Jordan Mailata (68) and Darius Muasau (53) was picked up by the double-team, which left Tyler Nubin (27) in the tough position to fill from depth. Nubin is not primarily culpable, but his deficiencies are exposed too often, and those deficiencies are athletically related. Barkley scampered for 65 yards and a score to put the Giants down a touchdown two plays into the game.
Play 3: A pair of touchdowns for Dallas Goedert
Dallas Goedert caught nine passes for 110 yards with a score two weeks ago against the Giants. He only caught three passes in Week 8, but two of them were touchdowns, as the Eagles leaned on the mismatch of Goedert against the Giants’ second level defenders in the red area.
Both touchdowns were man coverage; the first is a quick outside slant against Tyler Nubin for a quick score. Another in-breaking route held up Muasau, and Goedert secured the first down but was not to be deterred as he lowered his shoulder through contact for his first touchdown of the game. Nubin stepped back with his inside foot, which gave Goedert slight leverage inward and led to the score.
Okereke lost his balance through a rub concept where Goedert sold the split-zone look to the flat. Goedert avoided contact with Abdul Carter (51), and Okereke presumably tripped over DeVonta Smith (6), who was engaged with Tae Banks (2). Goedert easily secured the pass and drove the dagger of victory into the corpse of the New York Giants.
Play 4: Saquon Barkley’s second touchdown
Barkley matched the Giants and Cam Skattebo’s touchdown with the same rail concept:
A condensed set where Goedert cleared out the safety from a minus-split of about three yards. Barkley ran a wheel around the clearout against a Giants’ defense that blitzed the boundary side linebacker, toward Barkley’s route. Nubin was occupied by Goedert’s clearout and there was no Giants to assume the responsibility of Barkley, who was away from the BUNCH and presnap motion used to the field. New York blitzed and the Eagles made them pay. Barkley finished with 150 yards on the ground and 24 yards through the air, including a pair of touchdowns.
Play(s) 5: The Giants can’t stop the run
The run game woes were well beyond Barkley’s 65-yard touchdown. Barkley had 150 total yards on 14 carries, and Tank Bigsby picked up 104 yards on nine carries – both averaged more than 10 yards a carry, which is inexcusable. Below are several blown run fits by the Giants:
(65 yard touchdown above)
New York surrendered eight runs of 10 or more yards to Barkley and Bigsby. Philadelphia averaged just 88 rushing yards per game prior to this matchup; that ranked 30th in the NFL.
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