The Giants basically run the Eagles defense. Jim Johnson protege, Steve Spagnuolo has installed the same pressure defense based on getting after the pass that we run. Problem is, they haven't gotten to McNabb this year. In the last game McNabb tripped after the snap and was touched down by Justin Tuck, but otherwise the Giants have yet to record a real sack against the Eagles' QB this year, and to a man they know it.
DT Barry Cofield
“You don’t really sit back and think about why you didn’t get the sacks,” defensive tackle Barry Cofield said of the lack of production against the Eagles. “You think about getting the sacks the next time. You very rarely get an opportunity to play a team three times, so if I had to choose to get sacks in any game, it would be this one. So this is the game we are looking forward to and we know that if we’re able to pressure McNabb then that will slow the whole offense.”
DE Justin Tuck
“They are pretty good at what they do,” said Tuck, who led the Giants with 12 sacks. “I think after last year when we had the 12-sack game against them they made a true emphasis on protecting their quarterback. They are keeping a lot of guys in. But that is no excuse for it. We just have to play better. It is as simple as that.”
DT Fred Robbins
“Our job is to generate pressure and harass the quarterback a little bit and sack him and frustrate him a little bit, and we haven’t done that in two games,” Robbins said. “It makes it easy on our defensive backs when we get the quarterback rattled. When you don’t get to the quarterback, it gives him confidence when he is not rattled and not getting hit a lot. That’s the major issue for us. We have to do a better job this time around of putting pressure on McNabb.”
DE Matthias Kiwanuka
“They just out-executed us,” Kiwanuka said. “That is the bottom line. It is always going to be a physical game whenever these two teams meet each other, but a lot of what it comes down to is stopping big plays and, like you said, getting off the field, especially on third down. We just didn’t do that. They did a lot of good things, you have to give them all the credit in the world, but we understand that we did not play a good game that time.”
So the Eagles' pass protectors won rounds one and two in this heavyweight matchup... The Eagles are going to have to do a better job protecting McNabb than they did against the Vikings. If the last two matchups against NY have taught us anything, they have that ability.