Not a Jolly Holly victory — 5 observations from Giants-Eagles a day later
Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images
The Eagles came away with a win over the now 5-10 New York Giants Monday night. However, it was not so jolly and holly as a Christmas Day victory may seem.
The Eagles ended their three-game losing streak with a 33-25 nail-biting win over the Giants in South Philadelphia on Monday night. Wins over the 3-12 Arizona Cardinals at home Sunday and these same Giants at the Meadowlands a week later give the Eagles their second-straight NFC East title, a title no one has been able to earn since 2005.
The Eagles seemed to be trying to lose. But it was a win in which the Eagles desperately needed. And as bad as it may seem, 11-4 is much better than 10-5.
Here are my five observations a day after the win:
A win is a win? Right?
Monday’s win was huge for the Eagles, but, the only difference between this game and the last three was that the Eagles won it.
The Eagles are much better than the Giants, and they sure looked it while building a 17-point halftime lead. And then they just reverted back to how they looked against the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and Seattle Seahawks. Lousy mistakes, rotten turnovers, and wretched decisions.
That 17-point lead turned into a two-point lead, and then a 12-point lead turned into a five-point lead and the Eagles barely hung on before Kelee Ringo finally let Eagles fans exhale with an interception in the end zone to end it. This game should have never come to that.
A win is a win, that is what we were saying a month ago. But let us be honest here, there is no excuse for hardly beating this bad Giants team who started the game with Tommy DeVito behind center, and then benched him for Tyrod Taylor.
The Eagles are heading to the playoffs, and they will probably win the NFC East. But they are not a Super Bowl team. That was the goal this season. And right now, it looks like they will fall well short.
A full-season problem
The Eagles making games close like how they did Monday has been a problem all season.
Up 16 on opening day against the New England Patriots, settled for a five-point win. Up 27-7 against the Minnesota Vikings, and just hung on to win by six. Up 11 against the New York Jets and outscored 17-0 the rest of the way to lose. Up 10-0 in Seattle last week and outscored 20-7 to lose to Drew Lock.
These occurrences cannot happen.
The Eagles did just enough to beat a dreadful Giants team, but the Eagles have still not put together a complete game. Most of these blown leads have been more about what the Eagles have done poorly than anything the other team did well. They are handing teams chances.
It is Week 16, and the 2023 Eagles still have no identity. It is a problem.
Turnovers
It seems as if Sam Heine and I have talked about it every week on the SeatGeek pregame show, and that is to win the turnover battle every week. However, they never do it.
Turnovers are a huge problem for this team.
That disastrous kick return to open the second half where Boston Scott and Olamide Zaccheaus ran into each other gave the Giants an easy touchdown and Jalen Hurts’ pick-six that was mainly on a slipping-Dallas Goedert were the Eagles’ 22nd and 23rd turnovers this year. Over the last 10 games, the Eagles have had 18 interceptions. This is now eight games with multiple turnovers.
It is not just Jalen Hurts, the two turnovers Monday night, one was on special teams and one was on Goedert slipping. But whoever it is, 23 turnovers in 15 games is way too many, and the Eagles will not beat anyone in the playoffs if it is not cleaned up.
A better Hurts
Hurts looked much better against the Giants.
The interception was more on Goedert slipping, and Hurts made some big throws in big situations and was sharp when he had to. He made good decisions, avoided throwing into traffic, and looked comfortable.
This was the best he had looked in a while. He put up 33 points, threw for 301 yards, and did not fumble. Still, some things to work on of course, but after the way the last few weeks went this was a positive sign.
Hurts’ 32-yard strike to A.J. Brown on that 3rd-and-20 early in the fourth quarter when everything was going wrong for the Eagles may have been the reason the Eagles won this game.
Let the fans call plays
The playcalling has been brutal all year, and it got to the point on Christmas Day that the fans started to call the plays.
In the third quarter, as things were starting to slip away from the Eagles, every single fan at Lincoln Financial Field chanted “run the ball” profusely.
Eventually, they got their wish. The Eagles ran the ball four times over the next five plays, and D’Andre Swift ended the drive by getting into the endzone for a nice response after allowing the Giants to score.
“I don’t really pay too much attention it. I’m just trying to operate it,” Hurts said postgame about the chants. “…Kind of [got] loud on offense. They’re supposed to get loud for the defense, not us.”
Not exactly what you want to hear from your star quarterback, taking a shot at the fans, but it is what it is.
This team may be broken. This was a win that the Eagles needed, but it did not make you have more confidence.
