After a week of rest, the Eagles are back in action against the New York Giants once again this weekend. It’s been a little over two weeks since their last matchup, so there hasn't been anything new in the matchup other than a few guys coming back from injury. The Giants are coming off a win against the WFT and will welcome the Eagles to MetLife Stadium on Sunday to try to go on a little bit of a winning streak and gain ground in the NFC East.
In their matchup last week against Washington, Daniel Jones completed nearly 68% of his passes, resulting in 212 yards and a touchdown. Jones is beginning to get his bearings, as he has completed at least one touchdown pass in four straight games. His performances have been a big reason for their offensive success in recent weeks, but their running game has begun to pick up speed (pun intended) as well. They have been averaging 130.7 yards per game on the ground in the last six weeks. The Eagles are currently ranked 24th in the NFL in run defense with its 130.8 rushing yards allowed, so they will need to be stout and prevent New York from establishing the run. In contrast, the Giants defense excelled in stopping the rushing game last week against WFT, limiting Washington to only 37 rushing yards total for the game, marking the lowest number their defense has allowed all season.
It seems like everyone on the Eagles is playing much better than they were at the beginning of the year, but Carson Wentz still seems to be the main player struggling. Wentz leads the league with 16 turnovers (12 INTs, 4 fumbles), and his poor decision-making abilities almost cost them the game against the Dallas Cowboys, which will arguably be the easiest game they will play this season. Plain and simple -- he’s been holding onto the ball for way too long and not throwing it away. Half of the season is gone, so it’s time for Wentz to step up and be the quarterback we’ve seen in the past (and be the quarterback the front office is paying him to be).
As previously mentioned, the Eagles are coming off a bye that could not have come at a better time. They are going to be welcoming back some familiar faces this week that could be a big help on offense, possibly making a victory over the Giants much easier. Miles Sanders, Alshon Jeffrey, and Isaac Seumalo all appear to be on track to suit up this weekend.
With Sanders returning, it will give the Eagles’ offense a huge boost against a Giants team that has been allowing only 3.7 YPC in 2020. The Eagles do not like running the ball against the Giants because they're big upfront on the defensive line, but I believe they should change that to just throw them off, especially with Sanders returning at full health.
Zach Ertz is still on the IR, so Dallas Goedert will look to put on a dominant performance against the Giants defense like Ertz tends to have against them every year. Although it did not look like he was 100% against the Cowboys in Week 8, Goedert should be much healthier in this matchup. If the Eagles are going to pass the torch from Ertz to Goedert, it’ll be nice to see if he can step up and face a team Eagles tight ends have played fairly well against in recent years to see if he can have similar success. If the Birds want to do well in the passing game, they should attack Giants cornerback Isaac Yiadom. He has proven to be ineffective when it comes to fighting through blockers and had allowed a perfect passer rating of 158.3 when targeted this season.
The Eagles defense has arguably been the best part of this team this year. They rank fourth in the league with 209.4 passing yards allowed per game, 13 passing touchdowns allowed, and are ranked third with 28 sacks. They'll need another big performance if they want to leave New York with a victory.
Will the Eagles go 2-0 in their matchups and sweep the Giants? Or will New York start to go on a winning streak and make the NFC East more competitive? Find out at 1PM on Sunday..
