Daboll’s Giants still don’t belong on same field as Eagles
EAST RUTHERFORD >> The scene was so ridiculous and unbelievable, yet still felt miraculous that the Giants managed to dodge one of the biggest miracles in NFL history.
With the Eagles out to a 21-0 lead Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Arryn Siposs lined up to punt from the back of the end zone. What happened next was typical for the last decade of this rivalry: Elerson Smith blocked Siposs’ punt, but the Australian scooped the ball and gained 13 yards before going out of bounds just short of the first down.
It would have been fitting insult to injury on the Giants’ worst performance of the season, which resulted in a 48-22 loss as the Eagles (12-1) continued to cruise toward Super Bowl contention while New York (7-5-1) suffered another setback in the playoff race.
The bottom line is that for all the talk of how feisty the Giants have been under head coach Brian Daboll, they simply did not belong on the same field as the Eagles’ masterclass. Not even close.
Philadelphia cleanly won both lines of scrimmage, quarterback Jalen Hurts dropped dimes and ran through holes all over the field, and the Giants were left dazed and confused while committing a boatload of mistakes.
“Philly definitely set the standard as the top team in the league right now, but we don’t feel like we played to our level of competition,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “Kudos to them, they beat us in all facets. We’ve got to do a better job going forward.”
This is not to say, however, that Giants fans should panic. There figured to be regression after the team overachieved with a 6-1 start because of excellent coaching, and injuries on defense catch up to you when you’re facing elite opponents.
These Eagles very well may go down as even better than the franchise’s 2017 Super Bowl champions, so if this ends up being the lowest point of the Daboll era, then the Giants are in pretty darn good hands.
“Any time you lose in this league, you have to be resilient,” Daboll said. “The last few weeks we’ve lost some games, haven’t had the results we want. So again, you don’t make any excuses. You own it, and everything starts with me, and then we get ready to get to work for the next week. There’s really no secret thing to just flip it right away. Guys are doing what we’re asking them to do, we’ve just got to do it a little bit better — all of us.”
Still, Sunday illuminated just how much work lies ahead for general manager Joe Schoen, who frankly should take a page or two out of Eagles GM Howie Roseman’s book as he rebuilds the Giants’ roster in the upcoming offseason and beyond.
Hurts (MVP candidate with 32 total touchdowns) as a secondround draft pick? Haason Reddick (team-high 10 sacks) as a free-agent signing? A.J. Brown (1,020 receiving yards) as a trade with the Titans? And four starting linemen who have been with the team since at least 2013?
That is all thanks to supreme decision-making and salary cap manipulation which have allowed the Eagles to assemble talent across the board — talent that the Giants simply don’t have right now.
Stopping the likes of Brown and DeVonta Smith is virtually an impossible assignment when the Giants’ best cornerback (Adoree’ Jackson) and safety (Xavier McKinney) are hurt and the drop-off behind them is so jarring — especially when the defense generates virtually no pass rush.
Kayvon Thibodeaux, the team’s No. 5 overall pick this year, had another silent game at outside linebacker. Dexter Lawrence, an All-Pro candidate, made only one tackle on the interior. And Leonard Williams missed the game with a neck injury, which certainly didn’t help matters either.
Offensively, the Giants’ only scores came after the blocked punt on a 2-yard reception by Isaiah Hodgins, a quarterback sneak by Daniel Jones in the third quarter and a garbagetime 19-yard reception by Richie Jones (from backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor).
Hodgins is a former sixth-round pick whom the Giants claimed off waivers on Nov. 2. Meanwhile, Darius Slayton had two catches Sunday and became the team’s first receiver to eclipse
600 yards, which is just pathetic to think about 13 games into the season. The next closest is James (361 yards), a former seventh-round pick.
That says much more about the state of the team’s receiving corps than Jones’ ability as a quarterback. And yet the futures of both Jones and running back Saquon Barkley in this rebuild remain uncertain as impending free agents.
Despite all of that, it was still sobering to see the Giants fall to the Ea- gles for the 10th time in their last 12 matchups, and there are only four games left to salvage the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2016.
The loss dropped the Giants into a tie with the Commanders for the final NFC playoff spot, setting up a seismic game next Sunday night in Washington that could end up being the deciding factor.
If the Giants want to
prove that their highly competitive start to the year under Daboll was no fluke, the time to overcome adversity is now or never.
“We’ve got a big division opponent, a good division opponent, and obviously we all know what that game could mean for us as far as the rest of our playoff aspirations
are,” Slayton said. “Obviously we’ve gonna watch (Sunday’s game) tomorrow and go through the mistakes, but we can’t afford to let it linger and affect us next week.”