Revenge on the Mind: Giants-Eagles Week 8 Preview

For the second time in three NFL weeks, the Eagles will face off against their division rival, the New York Giants.

In their first matchup of the season, the Giants beat the Eagles handily, 34-17. Because the Phillies were playing Game 4 of the NLDS at the same time, many people did not see the first matchup of these two teams. The score of that game will tell you it was ugly, but it was uglier than the score.

The Eagles will look to get revenge against their foes from up the turnpike and hope to enter their bye week at 6-2

Slowing Down The Giants’ Rushing Attack

Jaxson Dart, who was the 22nd pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, has played well since becoming the starter for the Giants. In his four NFL starts, Dart is 2-2 with 791 passing yards, 7 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. In his victory over the Eagles, he was 17/25 for 195 yards and 1 touchdown. While those numbers don’t jump off the page, where he really hurt the Eagles was in the run game. He rushed for 58 yards on 13 carries for 4.46 yards per carry. Dart has done a good job so far in his young career of extending plays with his legs, but he also takes some big hits doing it.

The Eagles will have to keep Dart in the pocket if they want to win on Sunday. Like all rookie quarterbacks, Dart is still developing as a passer. The Eagles did a good job last week against Carson Wentz, disguising defenses, one of which led to a Wentz pick-six. Hopefully, the Eagles will use Nakobe Dean, or one of their very talented linebackers, to spy Dart and make him stay in the pocket.

Another rookie who has played well since entering the league is running back Cam Skattebo. Skattebo had his best game of the season against the Eagles when he ran for 98 yards on 19 attempts and scored 3 touchdowns. Skattebo is a very physical runner, and the last time these two teams played, it seemed like some Eagles players were making business decisions. That cannot happen again on Sunday.

If the Eagles want to win this game, they have to slow down the Giants’ rushing attack.

Will the Eagles’ Run Game Ever Get Going?

While Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ passing offense were amazing last week, the Eagles still struggled to run the football. In the first quarter, it looked like maybe they had figured something out, but then some injuries started to pile up on the line, and they were not getting anything on the ground. With just one week until the bye, I don’t know if it will happen until this team has some time to fully rest and reset.

The biggest problem with the run game, in my opinion, has been the health and play of the offensive line. Too many times, Saquon Barkley is being smashed behind the line-up scrimmage without even a chance to get anything going. While the Giants rank 25th in run defense, allowing opponents to rush for 130.7 yards per game, they have a ton of talent on their defensive line. Dexter Lawrence III, Brian Burns, and Abdul Carter are three very good defensive linemen, and while Burns and Carter are edge rushers, the way the Eagles’ offensive line has been playing, I still think they can play the run decent enough. The Giants seem like the perfect team on paper to get the running game back on track, but I think the coaching staff and the players need a good rest and reset during the bye to get it figured out.

A Long Injury Report for the Eagles

The Eagles will be without a ton of key players on Sunday as the team announced on Friday that A.J. Brown, Adoree’ Jackson, Cam Jurgens, Azeez Ojulari, Jakorian Bennett, and Brandon Graham will all be out on Sunday. Wide receiver Darius Cooper is questionable.

It seems that the upcoming bye week could not come at a better time for the Eagles, with all of these players hurt, but this will make a big impact in Sunday’s game.

We saw last week that Brown had 121 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns, and even when he is not getting the ball, he is still a very impactful player.

The Eagles will be extremely light in the secondary without both Jackson and Bennett. Kelee Ringo will be in line to get the start, but he has struggled mightily this season. The Eagles drafted a cornerback from UCF named Mac McWilliams, who Vic Fangio has talked highly about, so maybe he will get his first action of the year. He is more of a slot cornerback, so if Kelee struggles, you may see Cooper DeJean move to the outside, and McWilliams put in the slot.

A already thin defensive line gets thinner as Ojulari and Graham are out for Sunday’s matchup. In last week’s game in Minnesota, the Eagles used Dean as a stand-up linebacker and moved Jihaad Campbell to EDGE rusher. I was not a huge fan of this move because Campbell was playing so well at linebacker, and as a rookie, the more reps he can get, the better, but at this point, he needs to play EDGE just simply because they don’t have enough bodies at the position. I expect to see a lot more of this on Sunday.

Even with all the injuries, the Eagles are still the better team on paper and should win the game. As we saw in their first matchup that the better team on paper doesn’t always win, but I am confident Nick Sirianni will have this team motivated and ready to play with some revenge on their minds.

New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox: