Observations from the Eagles’ Thursday night win over the Giants, 22 to 21

Hey, the Philadelphia Eagles won another game! The Birds beat the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football.

Things were looking pretty bad with the Eagles trailing by 11 points with 6:18 remaning in the fourth quarter. But they found a way to respond and get it done!

Final score: 22 to 21.

The Eagles are now 2-4-1 on the season. And first in the NFC East (for now, at least)!

Read on for some observations and postgame thoughts!

FIRST QUARTER

• The Eagles received first. They officially started Sua Opeta at left guard and Nate Herbig at right guard. They got the ball to Jackson on an end around and then threw to him for two straight first downs. Efficient. The Eagles got to a 4th-and-1 and Carson Wentz ran it for the conversion. Wentz throw to Richard Rodgers got the Eagles to the 1-yard line. Wentz punched it in himself for the first touchdown. Strong opening drive. EAGLES 7, GIANTS 0.

• Alex Singleton and Shaun Bradley combined for a nice special teams tackle on the Giants’ first return. Big hit.
• Singleton, not Duke Riley, got the start next to Nathan Gerry at linebacker. Nickell Robey-Coleman, not Avonte Maddox, was on the outside opposite of Darius Slay.
• The Giants got to 3rd-and-3 and got called for offensive pass interference. Instead of declining to bring up 4th-and-1, Doug Pederson opted to set up 3rd-and-13. Daniel Jones ran for 10 yards to bring up a punt. The Giants originally faked like they were going to go for it but had then had the punt team run on to confuse the Eagles. Philly left one of the Giants’ gunners uncovered out wide but luckily the punter didn’t throw it to him.

• Wentz overthrew an open Travis Fulgham along the sideline. He held on to the ball too long on third down and got sacked at the Eagles’ own 4-yard line. Bad Carson.
• The Giants took over with good field position at the Eagles’ 39-yard line. Cre’Von LeBlanc got Moss’d by Cre’Von LeBlanc to give Daniel Jones just his fourth down pass of the season. Welp. EAGLES 7, GIANTS 7.

• The Giants tried a short kickoff and Jason Huntley muffed the bouncing ball before picking it up and actually taking it out to the 30-yard line. Salvaged a play that could’ve been worse!
• The Eagles lined up Jalen Hurt as a receiver and faked an end around to him. The Giants got sucked into Hurts and the Eagles ran a screen to Scott to the area Hurts came from. Nice play design. JJ Arcega-Whiteside caught a pass for a first down. Wow! His second of the year! Got left hanging though.:

Corey Clement (!) made a defender miss after a short catch to pick up 12 yards. First play he’s made since ... Super Bowl LII? Wentz got flagged for intentional grounding to knock the Eagles back to 2nd-and-26 at the Giants’ 46-yard line. Bad.

SECOND QUARTER

• Wentz then hit Dick Rod and Greg Ward on back-to-back plays for a first down. Good. Then the Eagles’ drive stalled and they had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Jake Elliott. EAGLES 10, GIANTS 7.

• The Giants got to a 3rd-and-5 and converted with a throw to Sterling Shepard. Then he hit an open Evan Engram for another first. On a 3rd-and-7, Jones threw a quick pass that got deflected off a Giants receiver and into the arms of a diving Jalen Mills. Pretty fortunate but ultimately a nice effort from the Green Goblin.

• Wentz almost made a wild completion to Fulgham after running backwards and away from pressure before throwing across his body to the other side of the field. Dangerous! Fulgham almost caught it but couldn’t hold on. The Eagles got to 3rd-and-4 from the Giants’ 25-yard line and Wentz hit Fulgham to move the Birds into the red zone. Wentz scrambled away from pressure allowed by Jordan Mailata and threw into the end zone only to get picked off by James Bradberry for a touchback. Terrible decision. It was only second down. Wentz has gotta play smarter. Just throw the ball away.

• Rodney McLeod prevented what could’ve been a long touchdown with NRC whiffing big on tackle attempt after giving up a long completion. Derek Barnett dusted Andrew Thomas with a spin move to bring up 3rd-and-17. The Giants had to punt.
• The Eagles went three-and-out. Opeta ... yeesh.
• The Giants took over at their own 35-yard line with 0:57 remaining in the second quarter. Josh Sweat forced Dion Lewis to fumble and Rodney McLeod recovered it before bizarrely lateraling to Duke Riley in traffic. Could’ve given it back to the Giants but fortunately didn’t!
• Wentz threw two great passes Jackson and Fulgham. Gorgeous.

The Eagles got to 3rd-and-10 from the 11-yard line with 0:22 remaining and called their second timeout. Then the Giants called a timeout. Wentz’s third down pass to Fulgham went through the receiver’s hands ... but it might not have been in-bounds if caught anyway. Elliott came in for the 29-yard field goal and ... missed it?! What the hell, Jake. The Eagles managed to get zero points off two Giants turnovers. Terrible.

THIRD QUARTER

• Nathan Gerry sacked Jones from behind (and then did his Whitesnake celebration) on a blitz to bring up 3rd-and-15. Three-and-out for the G-Men.
• The Eagles got to 3rd-and-1 from their own 31-yard line and a run by Scott got stopped for no gain. Pederson decided to punt on fourth down instead of going for it. Would have liked to see a quarterback sneak.
• Singleton totally wrecked Jones while he was throwing a pass. The Giants went three-and-out again. Eagles defense has showed up all night.
• The Eagles answered with a three-and-out of their own. Wentz threw high and behind a wide open Huntley in the flat. Looked like there may have been a timing/route issue though?
• Jones took off running for an 80-yard gain (WTF) and would’ve had a touchdown if he didn’t stumble. It looked like the Eagles got a stop but NRC was flagged for defensive pass interference. The Giants punched it in with Wayne Gallman for the lead. EAGLES 10, GIANTS 14.

• Another three-and-out from Philly’s offense. Offense is dead.
• Wentz hit Ward for 11 yards on 3rd-and-1 to give Philly their first down of the second half. I was about time. Wentz connected with Fulgham, The GOAT, along the sideline to give the Eagles 1st-and-goal at the 9-yard line. Clement up the middle went for two yards and then a direct snap to Hurts picked up zero.

FOURTH QUARTER

• On 3rd-and-goal, Wentz dropped back and then ran forward to bring up 4th-and-goal from the 3-yard line. On fourth down, Wentz lobbed it up to HAKEEM BUTLER on a fade and it was knocked down. Wow, what a high percentage play! There could’ve been a flag for defensive pass interference. But, I mean, what is that call?! That was Butler’s first offensive snap in the NFL! Ever!

• The Giants took over Vinny Curry missed a sack that turned into a 7-yard gain by the Giants instead. Great. Strap got called for a tacky pass interference penalty that the Eagles. Nice to see the refs not calling it both ways. The Giants moved down to the 2-yard line and Jones hit Shepard for a touchdown. 97-yard touchdown drive. EAGLES 10, GIANTS 21.

• Wentz aired it out deep to John Hightower, who actually caught the ball, for a 59-yard gain. That was nice! The Eagles got to 1st-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Wentz quickly found Ward for a touchdown. The Giants committed a dumb unnecessary roughness penalty that allowed Philly to try a 2-point conversion from the 1-yard line instead of the 2-yard line. It didn’t matter because Wentz’s shotgun running attempt was stopped short of the goal line. Why not a sneak there?! EAGLES 16, GIANTS 21.

• Evan Engram, with Will Parks trailing behind him, dropped a pass that should’ve been caught for a first down on 3rd-and-8. A very fortunate break there. The Giants could’ve run more clock and gone up by 8 points with a field goal there.
• The Eagles took over at their own 29-yard line. Wentz hit Dick Rod twice to move the Eagles into Giants territory. Fulgham drew a pass interference penalty. Scott ran for 12 yards to set up 1st-and-goal from the 9-yard line. The Giants took their second timeout with 1:07 left in the game. Scott ran to bring up 2nd-and-goal from the 5-yard line. The Giants took their third and final timeout with 1:02 left. Wentz threw out of the end zone to bring up 3rd-and-goal. On third down, Wentz’s pass for Hightower was incomplete ... but the Giants got called for defensive holding! Fulgham drew the call. Eagles had 1st-and-goal from the 3-yard line and then Jason Kelce was called for a face mask penalty to knock Philly back to the 18-yard line. And it didn’t matter because Wentz dropped a dime to Scott for a TOUCHDOWN. Great catch by BoSco! HUUUUUUGE! The Eagles failed to pick up the 2-point conversion, though, with Hurts with lined at quarterback. EAGLES 22, GIANTS 21.

• The Giants took over at their own 25-yard line with 40 seconds left. Curry drew a holding penalty on New York to knock the Giants back to the 15-yard line. Brandon Lee Graham (Team BLG) strip-sacked Jones and Curry recovered for an Eagles victory! What an ending.

FINAL SCORE: 22 to 21, Eagles win

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RAPID REACTION

• Lol. What a result!
• This Eagles team ... isn’t good! And yet they won!
• Rollercoaster performance from Wentz. Some real highs and lows. Ultimately did enough to get the win, which is pretty important! That throw at the end was shades of Wentz to Corey Clement against Washington in 2017.
• Missed opportunities and plenty of poor moments from Doug Pederson could’ve lost the Eagles this game. But it didn’t!
• Boston Scott: Giant Killer!
• The Eagles still own the Giants. 21-4 in their last 25 meetings.

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INJURIES

• Lane Johnson limped off during the Eagles’ first drive. Matt Pryor came in to play right tackle. Then Johnson came back in after missing a couple snaps. Johnson remained in the game until getting hurt (knee injury, that’s new) early in the fourth quarter.
• Hassan Ridgeway suffered a biceps injury in the third quarter and was quickly ruled out. The Eagles were down to Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, and T.Y. McGill as their only defensive tackles.
• Craig James got banged up in the fourth quarter.
• DeSean Jackson got hurt while fielding a punt return late in the fourth quarter. Late hit. Jackson slammed his helmet into the ground before tossing it away while on the ground. He was carted back into the locker room.