Eagles Practice Squad Defeats Giants in Final Game Before Playoffs

Tanner McKee is good at football. Like, really good at football.

The second-year quarterback completed 27/41 passes for 269 yards, two touchdowns, and no turnovers as the Eagles took down the Giants 20-13. In a game that didn’t mean anything to most people, a lot of young Eagles players showed out, because it mattered to them. The Eagles finished the year 14-3 for the second time in four years under head coach Nick Sirianni, and most important of all, every player walked off the field completely healthy. I know that it stinks that Saquon Barkley did not get the chance to break the all-time single-season rushing record, but this is why you do it. Now the Eagles will be rested and at 100% for their first playoff game next week, assuming Jalen Hurts clears concussion protocol.

The Giants showed how little they cared about this game right away when they went for a 4th and 7 conversion right away at midfield, which immediately failed. Once the Eagles got the ball McKee needed only three throws to collect his third touchdown in only seven completions. The touchdown went to rookie receiver Anais Smith, for the first NFL touchdown of his career.

The Eagles’ defense absolutely stifled Drew Lock and the Giants’ offense through the first half. New York only gained 84 yards of total offense through two-quarters of play, with just four first downs.

One lingering concern in this game was Jake Elliott, who again missed a field goal in this game with his first attempt of a 39-yarder. However he had two more attempts before the game ended he had two more field goal attempts and nailed them both, though they were only 24 and 32 yards respectively. Elliott has been very inconsistent this entire year, and in the postseason, when every single point matters, he may give Eagles fans collective heart attacks every time he has to step on the field.

In the second half, the Eagles defense showed a little bit of their inexperience by letting the Giants push the ball down into the red zone following a Philly three and out. Still, though, they were able to hold New York to a field goal, putting the score at 10-3.

The offense similarly seemed to drop off a bit as the game went on, generating strong drives but being unable to cap them off with any points. As a result that early Giants field goal would be the only points scored in the third quarter.

Philly rectified this immediately in the fourth, as the first play of the quarter was a seven-yard touchdown pass from McKee to E.J. Jenkins for what was also his first career NFL touchdown.

The Giants offense similarly seemed to find its groove in the fourth after going down 17-3. They responded on the ensuing drive with a touchdown of their own from their standout rookie receiver Malik Nabers, once again making it a one-score game at 17-10 with just over 10 minutes left to play. The momentum seemed to be squarely on the side of New York as they forced a three-and-out and drove down the field for a field goal, bringing the score to 17-13.

It was here that the Eagles closed out the game though, as they put together a 6:34 minute drive where they ate the clock, forced the Giants into burning timeouts, and benefitted from their unforced penalties. This resulted in the aforementioned 24-yard Jake Elliott field goal that put the Eagles up 20-13 with just 47 seconds left to play.

As some Eagles fans may remember, Drew Lock is no stranger to driving down the field for a game-winning last-second touchdown against the Eagles, as he did so last year with the Seahawks. This, however, is not that team, and just three plays into the drive Lock threw up a deep ball that safety Sydney Brown read perfectly, picked off, and ended the game. Brown has dealt with injuries all year so it was great to see him get this huge interception for the second one of his career after such a rough season.

A major positive in this game was the use of Dallas Goedert and Jahan Dotson. This was Goedert’s first game back from the injured reserve and he showed out with four catches for 55 yards. Coming into this game Dotson had just 122 receiving yards on the season. In this game alone he had 94. Both of these players will be starting come playoffs and to see such a high level of offensive production from both of them is a fantastic sign.

The regular season may be over, but now the real fun begins. Now it’s time for the Eagles to prove to the rest of the world what we fans already know, that this is the best team in the NFL.

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