Eagles Drop Thursday Night’s Match to Giants

It wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t any relief from the Phillies’ devastating loss.

The Eagles dropped their week five game to their NFC East Rival, the New York Giants, 34-17.

Within the first five minutes, the Eagles were down, and for only two minutes did they hold a lead in Thursday night’s football affair.

As we have seen all season, the Eagles struggled with the run game and had four three-and-outs in this game. The passing game wasn’t strong, but perhaps better than before, and the running game looked just as poor as it did the week before, when Saquon Barkley had five carries.

The first quarter concluded with a three-point deficit for the Eagles, though they looked more promising. Jalen Hurts was throwing alright, and Barkley had broken out a run to open the game. Hurts’ passing ability showed in their last drive of the first with a 30-yard deep ball to A.J. Brown.

The player’s meeting held between Brown, Barkley, and Hurts looked like it was going to pay off.

Prior to the second half, that meeting still looked promising. Hurts led a six-pass drive, including a few 15+ yard gains that concluded with a few tush pushes for six points, topped off by Jake Elliot for seven total.

It was the best the Eagles looked all game.

In the second half, Quinyon Mitchell headed to the medical tent to have his hamstring checked out. An already injured defense — Jalen Carter did not play — was going to lose its best secondary player.

Coming out of halftime, Mitchell was ruled out, and just like that, the Eagles’ weakest position had to start its weakest players. Kelee Ringo and Adoree’ Jackson played the secondary for much of the remainder of the game, and Jaxson Dart took advantage of it.

It wasn’t just Dart, though. Cam Skattebo rushed for 98 yards on 19 carries and scored three times. Averaging 5.8 yards per carry, Skattebo had his way with the Eagles.

A typically strong defensive line definitely felt the absence of Carter.

On top of Skattebo, Dart found his targets most open with Wandale Robinson, the Giants’ now No. 1 receiver. Robinson collected 84 yards on six receptions with a touchdown.

He racked up a few receptions late in the fourth to put the game out of reach.

The defense wasn’t strong, likely their worst showing of the season, but the absence of Carter and Nolan Smith was unhelpful.

As mentioned before, the offense was abysmal. As we’ve seen in previous games, they looked good in one half and the next — not so good. Hurts had close to 200 yards at halftime, leading a few drives down to the red zone and bringing the game close.

In the second half, the offense stalled. Two, three-and-outs in the third quarter with only 12 yards of offense to show.

In the fourth quarter, when the Eagles needed to mount a comeback, they turned the ball over twice. It was Hurts’ first interception of the season, and it was on the Giants’ half of the field.

After further review, Hurts missed Brown for a wide-open touchdown on that play. He forced a target to Jahan Dotson, and Cor’Dale Flott picked it off. He took it within the Eagles’ 30-yard line.

It was the first time this season that Hurts noticeably missed Brown for a touchdown.

Later in the fourth quarter, AJ Dillon got the ball near the red zone on a relatively irrelevant drive, and the ball got punched out of his possession.

It may not have mattered much then, but the fumble was certainly indicative of how the night was going.

The Eagles suffered an ugly loss, Thursday night. The offense played poorly, as it has for weeks, and the defense was unable to support the lack of offense, as it has for weeks.

The Eagles will move on to week six with a 4-2 record, one of the best in the league. It may have been an ugly loss at MetLife, but the silver lining is that no major Eagles’ injuries occurred on the turf, as players have suffered before.

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