Bluster in air, on sidelines ... or another game against Giants
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » Something raw and very personal happens here when it’s cold, it’s late in the season and the Eagles play the New York Giants. Something unforgettable.
There’s the Miracle of the Meadowlands. DeSean Jackson’s walk-off punt return for the Eagles. The unceremonious end for Hall of Fame worthy coaches Andy Reid and Tom Coughlin, who coached their teams in this series on a Sunday, and were fired the next day.
This was another one of those manic Sundays in the MetLife Stadium.
Eagles quarterback Nick Foles looked good, not so good and finally as ordinary as you can slinging four touchdown passes and not turning the ball over in his first start in place of the injured Carson Wentz.
It’s tough to argue with the numbers. But in a 3429 victory, he needed a short field to set up 10 of those points. That said, it was a decent start. The last thing Foles needed was to throw four TDs and lose.
“This whole journey and being back in Philly, it’s crazy,” Foles said. “I can’t say enough about our guys. They made some big plays today to help with those touchdowns. It’s a special moment for me.”
The Eagles defense that was supposed to step up this week stepped on each other’s toes. The defensive backs crashed into each other on Giants picks, rub routes and crossing patterns. Patrick Robinson wound up with a head injury.
The generous Birds gave up 504 yards, including 434 passing yards to Eli Manning, who threw for three touchdowns. The Giants are 2-12. In two losses to the Eagles, they’ve scored their most points of the season.
Defensive disappointment boiled over when Robinson confronted defensive backs coach Cory Undlin on the sideline. The TV cameras showed rookie cornerback Sidney Jones intervening.
“I think everybody was frustrated,” Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said. “We were playing horse-spit at that point in time on defense, especially in the secondary. There’s a lot of frustration and I think that makes it worse when guys lose their cool. So, we had to kind of reel it back in, settle everybody down. And once we did that and got back to playing our technique and our scheme we had success. Moving forward we’ve got to make sure we don’t have any of that.”
All of that said, the play of the special teams shocked the Eagles. The unit was in an extended slump. Last week it couldn’t protect Donnie Jones, who had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown. Adding Bryan Braman this past week yielded immediate energy. The Eagles blocked three kicks, subtracting at least four points from the Giants’ total.
Rookie first-round pick Derek Barnett snuffed the PAT attempt by Aldrick Rosas after the first Giants touchdown.
Later Kamu GrugierHill blocked Brad Wing’s punt to put the Eagles at the 18-yard line of the Giants. A couple of head fakes later, Foles connected with Trey Burton from 10 yards out for a 2120 advantage.
With 11:26 left in the fourth quarter, Jenkins came clean and rejected a 48-yard Rosas field goal attempt that would have staked the Giants to a 3231 lead.
“That changes the entire game,” Jenkins said.
With the short field, Foles marched the Eagles to the two-yard line, setting up Jake Elliott for a 20-yard field goal and a 34-29 advantage.
“Go with five points and a touchdown has to beat you,” Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said.
The Giants reached the six-yard line of the Eagles, only to wind up in fourthand-goal from the 11. Manning threw long for tight end Evan Engram, who thought he was interfered with by Corey Graham.
These weren’t your household name Giants, except for Manning. Yet they jumped out to a 20-7 lead and lugged a twopoint lead into the second intermission with a lineup of skills players few will remember, for the most part, once Odell Beckham Jr. and the rest of the regulars return.
The Giants won’t be coached by interim boss Steve Spagnuolo, who took over when Ben McAdoo was canned.
Hard as it is to believe, this could be the last Eagles-Giants game for the 37-year-old Manning. He has 51 lifetime TD passes against the Eagles, his most against any team. And yes, he added another interception.
Pederson, who lost here last year, thanks to his fourth down management, or lack thereof, got jumpy again Sunday. He challenged what replays showed was an unwinnable challenge, receiver Torrey Smith clearly out of bounds on his knees, and lost.
Pederson also was beaten up on fourth-andone for the first time this season. Even the analytics people didn’t need to tell Pederson to go for it as the Eagles were at the 44 of their opponent, and were 12-for-12 on fourth-andone on the season. LeGarrette Blount made them 12-for-13.
Tough as it was for the Philly secondary, Ronald Darby, of all cornerbacks, gave them life with a 37yard interception return setting up Foles’ second scoring pass, a 10-yarder to Ertz at the front of the end zone. That got the Eagles within 20-14 with 4:49 left in the first half.
Minutes later GrugierHill blocked the punt to put the Eagles at the 18yard line of the Giants, setting up Foles’ scoring pass to Burton for the lead.
In this series, the raw, cold and unforgettable end was inevitable. The Eagles were lucky to survive it.