Eagles-Giants Winners and Losers

The Eagles fell to the Giants 28-23 in a game they probably should have and nearly did win.

Winners

The Giants

They won. Good for them.

Bryce Treggs

Treggs missed the start of the season recovering from a hamstring injury and then was a healthy scratch. With perhaps the worst and slowest group of WRs in the league, many were curious if Treggs could provide a much needed vertical threat. The release of Josh Huff opened the door for him to get playing time, and almost immediately gave the Eagles offense another dimension. In the 2nd quarter he caught a 58 yard pass and in the 3rd and 4th he should have easily drawn pass interference that bizarrely went uncalled. Those plays showed that his speed is to be respected by opposing defenses, something the Eagles offense sorely needs to open up the field. He’s earned a bit more playing time next week.

Jordan Hicks

No one on the Eagles defense had a really strong game, but Hicks’ late game interception was a terrific play at a crucial time. After a slow start, the Hicks that Eagles fans got excited about in 2015 is showing himself.

Neither

Zach Ertz

Statistically, Ertz had a really good game with 8 catches for 97 yards, and getting him more involved is good for the Eagles offense considering their struggles at WR. But almost all of his receptions came with no yards after the catch as Ertz was again unable to break any tackles or create separation against defenders. His tackle by Nat Berhe, who Ertz has 7” and 50 lbs on, was particularly bad. For the money they’re paying him, he needs to be making plays.

Losers

The Eagles

The Birds lost another game they should have or could have won, just like their other three losses. At 4-4 the playoff hopes that seemed real earlier in the year are fading fast.

Doug Pederson

We can argue if Pederson should have gone for it twice on fourth down instead of attempting a field goal, hindsight being 20/20 the would have won the game if Caleb Sturgis had converted them. But the play calls Pederson went with were awful. The Giants had already stopped two Carson Wentz runs before Pederson, who had an end of quarter TV time out to think it over, called a Wentz run. And he continued to call Wentz runs. On the second fourth down attempt, Pederson went with a run between the tackles with Darren Sproles rather than Ryan Mathews. This season is a learning experience for the rookie head coach, and he’s given himself many teaching moments in recent weeks.

Carson Wentz

His first quarter interceptions were bad decisions and throws that directly put the Eagles in a hole to start the game. Later he ran out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage when he should have just thrown it away. These are rookie mistakes, but he wasn’t making them earlier in the year.

Leodis McKelvin

McKelvin has been dealing with a lingering hamstring injury all season, hopefully for his sake that was the case today because he was repeatedly roasted.

Jaylen Watkins

The Eagles defense was put in a tough spot with the early turnovers, but Jaylen Watkins did them no favors with poor decisions that led to blown coverages.

Ryan Mathews

Riding a hot hand of Darren Sproles is one thing, but that wasn’t the case today for Mathews five carries. As noted earlier, Pederson keeping Mathews on the bench for a key short yardage play was questionable at best, and then Pederson continued to lean on Sproles over Mathews even when circumstances didn’t dictate it.

Eagles WRs that aren’t Treggs

We could write this after every loss. Dorial Green-Beckham should be physically dominating CBs, instead he’s letting them push him around. Nelson Agholor continues to provide nothing. Jordan Matthews had a chance to win the game but somehow expected a fade route to go to his inside. The Eagles offense is going to struggle all year due to the extremely low talent ceiling of the WRs.