Eagles vs. Giants Game Preview: 5 questions and answers with the enemy

The Philadelphia Eagles (1-4-1) and the New York Giants (1-5) are set to play each other on Thursday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field. In order to preview this Week 7 matchup, I reached out to our enemies over at Big Blue View. The excellent Ed Valentine kindly took the time to answer my questions about the upcoming tilt. Let’s take a look at his answers. (You can CLICK HERE to read my side of the exchange over at BBV.)

1 - What’s your impression of Joe Judge and his coaching staff so far?

I very much like the job Joe Judge is doing. I think he knows what he wants and, for a really young guy, how he wants to get there.

I believe he has hired a really good coaching staff. I had questions about Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator, but the Giants, to me, look extremely well-coached on defense.

I think he has a good offensive staff, too. I know there are mixed feelings about Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator, and I have my issues, too. However, he doesn’t have Saquon Barkley, he has a second-year quarterback who is still learning, an offensive line that is young and developing, and without Sterling Shepard since Week 2 not a whole lot at wide receiver.

Back to Judge, though, if I had to guess right now I think he might have a pretty long run as Giants head coach.

2 - What’s the level of confidence in Daniel Jones as the team’s long-term quarterback? Why has he struggled so much?

There are, of course, Giants fans who want to Tank for Trevor. I get it, but the Giants are going to win too many games — as bad as the Jets are everyone may have already won too many games — to have a shot at Trevor Lawrence.

Giants fans who aren’t happy about it will just have to come to terms with the idea that Daniel Jones is likely going to be the quarterback for a while.

Jones does a lot of things well. He’s tough. He can run, he can extend plays with his feet. He’s intelligent. He can make all the throws. I don’t think it’s fair to a second-year quarterback learning a new system without an offseason to ask him to be an offense’s best player, and that is unfortunately what the Giants are asking of Jones due to all of the issues I mentioned in the previous answer. He struggles at times with decisiveness in the pocket. He’s got to learn to see it and throw, and learn when to just shut it down. Most of his problems come when the ball comes out too late, or doesn’t come out at all when it should be long gone.

3 - What is the Giants’ biggest strength? How should they be attacking the Eagles?

The biggest strength is the Giants’ defensive line with Dexter Lawrence, Dalvin Tomlinson, Leonard Williams, B.J. Hill and Austin Johnson. With the state of the Philly offensive line the Giants should feel good about their chances to control the line of scrimmage on defense. I think the Giants will attack that line with stunts, blitzes and all of that and trust that their secondary will hold up.

4 - What is the Giants’ biggest weakness? What should the Eagles be looking to exploit?

The Giants’ offensive line is improving, but it’s still not there yet. What you really want to do more than anything is exploit Daniel Jones’ tendency to make mistakes. Can you cover well enough to make him hesitate or not throw to his first read? Can you make him move around? Can you hit him? His track record at this point is he will eventually make a big mistake or two if you pressure him enough.

5 - Who wins this game and why? Score prediction? And what are your expectations for the rest of this Giants season?

I think the Giants win this game. I’ll say 20-17. Look, the Giants aren’t good. I’m not going to sit here, pond my chest and tell you they are. But, the Eagles aren’t good, either. Sorry, but that’s the truth.

Something I was thinking about the other day when it comes to the miserable NFC East is whether or not any of these teams actually have a chance to improve, actually might be somehow pointed in the right direction. Having watched Judge work, having seen the Giants from Week 1 to Week 6, I think the Giants might be the only team in the division that could make that claim.I don’t think the Giants win more than 5 or 6 games this season, to be honest. Ownership, though, has said that at season’s end they simply wanted to feel like the foundation has been laid for a team that will eventually get back to being a winner. Maybe there is something wrong with my glasses, but I think they are going to get there.