EAGLES GO TO 2ND GEAR
Blue: No answer for Philly’s rushing game
PHILADELPHIA — Giants linebacker Connor Barwin, a longtime Eagle, perfectly described how his new team let Sunday’s game slip through their fingers from a defensive perspective. “It was a tale of two halves,” Barwin said. “They decided that they were gonna run the ball in the second half, and they had two or three drives at the end that they were able to do that, and that made the difference in the game.” Blunt, and painfully true. Undrafted Eagles rookie Josh Adams (Notre Dame), who had four rushes for four yards at halftime, carried 18 times for 80 yards in the second half, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion to spearhead Philly’s comeback.
The Giants defense had limited the Eagles to three points for most of the first half, helped by a Jason Kelce holding penalty that nullified an early Adams 51-yard touchdown run. But in the second half Philadelphia imposed its will on the ground.
“We just didn’t get off of blocks, didn’t make tackles and didn’t do enough,” linebacker Alec Ogletree said. “They didn’t do anything we weren’t expecting. We just didn’t do enough on our end to stop them from doing what they wanted to do.”
Corey Clement added five carries for 45 yards for the Eagles offense, which also punched the Giants defense in the mouth to close out the game.
Aldrick Rosas’ third field goal of the day tied the game at 22 all with 5:49 to play. But then the Eagles bled down the clock with a 10-play, 50-yard drive, and Carson Wentz’s 12-yard conversion to Nelson Agholor on 4th-and-1 from the Giants’ 42-yard line devastated the Giants.
That took the game to the two-minute warning, and Pat Shurmur didn’t have enough timeouts remaining to do anything but hope Jake Elliott would miss.
“We didn’t do enough,” said a frustrated and curt Olivier Vernon, who for a second straight week incurred a roughing the passer penalty for making contact with the QB’s helmet. THE INJURY LIST
Tight end Evan Engram was scratched before the game even started because he injured his hamstring in warmups … Punt returner Quadree Henderson hurt his left shoulder with what was initially announced as a “burner” and had his left arm in a sling after the game.