An inside have a look at Sunday’s Giants-Eagles Week 14 matchup at MetLife Stadium.
Marquee matchup
Eagles C Jason Kelce vs. Giants DT Dexter Lawrence
You understand the road so many players use about going against a highly expert teammate day-after-day in practice?
Iron sharpens iron. Here we go. Kelce, 35, will likely be a Hall of Famer sooner or later. He’s in his eleventh season, and his 171 games for the Eagles passed Philly legend Chuck Bednarik’s franchise record for offensive linemen. He’s an absolute stud in every way.
Lawrence’s fourth yr with the Giants has been his best, with a career-high (and team-leading) six sacks and unusual hustle for a 342-pound yet nimble behemoth. Watching these two knock heads every snap will likely be definitely worth the price of admission.
Paul’s pick
The necessity to decelerate this game and keep possession so long as possible is imperative for the Giants, and which means Saquon Barkley has to grind out yards. That has not happened recently. Jalen Hurts is on fire as a pass-run threat. Can Daniel Jones, without nearly as much support, use his right arm and each legs to maintain things interesting?
Eagles 31, Giants 16
4 downs
Downward sure: There are all the time explanations hidden underneath the numbers, and there are definitely the reason why Saquon Barkley’s production has taken a nosedive. His past three games: 44 rushing attempts, 124 yards — a mean of two.8 yards per carry. Along with a lingering shoulder issue, Barkley is now coping with a sore neck, which could lead on to rushing attempts for Matt Breida.
“Unique player,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said of Barkley. “Obviously, he got picked that top for a reason. He has a really unique skill set. He’s explosive. He’s big. He’s strong. He can hit home runs. He can break tackles. We’re going to must be on it.”
Dual threats: This has happened just twice before within the history of the NFL. The Eagles of their past two games rushed for 363 yards in a victory over the Packers, and the subsequent week passed for 386 net yards in beating the Titans. The primary team to exceed 350 yards in a single game and 350 passing yards in the subsequent was the Giants — in 1959. The one other team to perform this was the Los Angeles Raiders, in 1987. What do the Eagles do best? Whatever they need to, it seems.
Closed or business: How will the Giants complete many passes? Darius Slay and James Bradberry might be one of the best cornerback duo within the league. The Giants have Darius Slayton as their No. 1 receiver then Isaiah Hodgins and Richie James. Bradberry is second within the NFL (to Sauce Gardner of the Jets) with 14 passes defensed, and he and Slayton know one another well from the past two seasons along with the Giants.
“A whole lot, hundreds, probably,” Slayton said of the practice reps he’s taken against Bradberry. “I’m sure he feels conversant in me, I do know needless to say I feel conversant in him.”
The blueprint: What they did made sense. The Giants knew they needed to surround Daniel Jones with more talent, so the previous regime hit the free-agent market to sign Kenny Golladay and used a first-round draft pick on Kadarius Toney. Swings and misses. Have a look at how the Eagles fortified their receiver corps for Jalen Hurts: Traded for A.J. Brown and traded up to pick out DeVonta Smith in the primary round of the 2021 draft. How big was the deal for Brown? The Titans fired GM Jon Robinson last week after Brown torched his former team with two touchdown receptions.