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Eagles vs. Giants: 12 winners, losers, and I dunnos

Allegedly, it was football

New York Giants v Philadelphia Eagles Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images

Winners

Nobody

There were absolutely no winners from that game.

Boston Scott

Okay, Boston Scott was a winner, we love Boston Scott, what a great catch, they should make him the primary running back in every Giants game for the rest of time.

Nobody else though!

Losers

Us

For having watched that game

Doug Pederson

Every game that the Eagles offenses produces with their current roster is a pretty substantial win, so there’s more nuance that should be afforded Pederson beyond a frank “they sucked in the red zone, Pederson is the worst” assessment. I wouldn’t have called the Hakeem Butler 4th and 3 fade route, but it was a pretty terrible throw from Carson and a pretty blatant flag. I wouldn’t have called the Carson Wentz QB run on the 21-16 2-pt conversion behind Boston Scott and Matt Pryor, but with teams overloading against the QB sneak and Wentz running tough over the last few weeks, I understand the instinct.

But the challenge flag was late on a pretty clear fourth down on the Sterling Shepard catch early in the fourth; the play-calling on the presumably final drive in the second half was cowardly, the abandonment of tempo offense was inexplicable after a strong opening drive, they seem to have maxed out their Jalen Hurts ingenuity in Week 7, the struggles with lining up on offense, special teams, and defense all persist, and on top of it all...the red zone offense really did suck!

The unfortunate reality of head coaching is that the buck stops with you. The Eagles were sloppy and mistake-riddled for much of the game, once again surging late when they dug a nearly insurmountable hole for themselves. While the way the team rallies for Pederson is impressive, their execution, at large, disappointed.

Jake Elliott

Jake Elliott has never missed a kick.

(But for real, he should stop missing kicks.)

Sua Opeta

Sua Opeta is the ninth offensive lineman the Eagles have started this year, so it was tough to have high expectations for him, but he was big-boyed all night against the Giants’ defensive tackles. The Eagles need to find a way to get him off the starting lineup, but for as long as Lane Johnson and Jack Driscoll are both unavailable due to injury at right tackle, Pryor will play there, and Opeta will probably be the best option at guard.

This is attrition in a nutshell: you have to start bad players. With the bye week coming after the Eagles’ Cowboys game, there’s a chance they only need him for one more contest.

Jordan Mailata

You can have higher expectations for Mailata than you do for Opeta after his few starts, though a performance like this was certainly on the way. Mailata is still so raw as a technician and doesn’t have the experience to understand how he’s being attacked, which is how he loses to players like Kyler Fackrell or Markus Golden. He’s still a work in progress.

Most of the secondary

The defense largely performed as expected: the defensive line had wins across the board, with Derek Barnett feasting on the struggling rookie in Andrew Thomas. The linebackers had a standout play here or there against the run, but offered little in coverage. The defensive backs? Darius Slay was solid, Rodney McLeod is flying around, and everyone else...well.

Jalen Mills had the pick, but also failed to stick to anyone in man coverage, particularly getting embarrassed by Sterling Shepard; Will Parks was toasted on the potential dagger pass to Evan Engram, eventually dropped; Nickell Robey-Coleman was the roughest of the lot. Poor zone awareness, grabbed a PI flag in the end zone, and didn’t look like a full bore hustler on the Daniel Jones would-be touchdown run.

Avonte Maddox was only available in emergency capacity coming off from injury, so there are still reinforcements coming. But this is a limited unit that gave up a couple of explosive passes to a team that was otherwise lacking them — and couldn’t chase down Daniel Jones to boot.

Daniel Jones

I Dunnos

Carson Wentz

Not the worst game from Wentz this year, and not the best. He made some excellent throws, and his wild inaccuracy from the first few weeks of the season continues to evaporate over time — though he’s still missing more throws than you’d like for him to. As a passer, he looks more familiar.

But he also is burdened with tremendous responsibilities and continues to cope poorly. His interception in the Eagles’ first fruitless red zone drive was as egregious as any in his career, the impermissible overreaction to a frustrating first-and-10 sack on the previous down. Wentz wanted it all back in one play, and that instinct sometimes creates unbelievable plays — the final Boston Scott TD was on 1st and goal from the 20 after a 15-yard penalty, mind you — but it often creates backbreakers as well.

On top of the one poor decision that likely cost the Eagles 3, if not 7 points, Wentz was buffeted by pressure for the entire game and responded by falling away from his passing attempts, bailing out of the back of pockets, and taking three sacks.

There have been games this season in which he’s been a bigger detriment, and certainly games in which he’s made fewer poor plays. But he made big throws when it counts, as has been the standard for him this year, and was rewarded with the win.

Travis Fulgham

I don’t know why they won’t throw this dude the football in the first quarter, but if this is the deal with the devil they signed to get one good receiver, so be it.

Richard Rodgers

I don’t know if Dick Rod has ever had a better game in his life.

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