Many to blame as New York Giants drop another one to Eagles
By Curt Macysyn
In one respect the New York Giants deserved a better fate, but in another way they didn’t.
The Philadelphia Eagles must be snickering, because no matter how poorly they play, at the end of the day, they will vanquish the New York Giants. Besides upsetting the football gods, there were a multitudes of reasons why Big Blue dropped its fifth straight decision to the Birds 25-22 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Mostly, the G-Men could not get an important play from its offense or defense when it needed it most. Conversely, the Eagles played poorly enough to lose, but also they intercepted Giants quarterback Eli Manning in the end zone to end the first half, converted (2) two-point conversions and connected on a critical fourth down play.
Even the officials got into the act, ignoring obvious fouls on running back Saquon Barkley and wide receiver Odell Beckham. Both plays a warranted pass interference calls, but at the very least illegal contact penalties.
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Neither call was made. In addition, both penalties were committed in the end zone, robbing potential scoring chances.
Overall, it was a typical Giants- Eagles clash, whatever could go wrong for the New York Giants did eventually go wrong. It should make the average Giants fan wonder what transgressions they’ve committed to warrant this continued Charlie Brown treatment.
Shurmur vs. Pederson
Some folks like to throw darts at Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. Ironically, at least when it comes to the New York Giants, Pederson seemingly makes all the right moves. An important fourth down play, near midfield, with time running down, and without hesitation he goes for it.
Does he have that little respect for the Giants defense?
No problem, the Birds flip the rock to Nelson Agholor, who spent the entire game in the witness protection program. Check out the box score – Agholor: 1 catch on 1 target for 12 yards.
Are you kidding me?
Other perplexing issues for the G-Men include: your veteran quarterback getting a needless delay of game penalty (maybe Ben McAdoo was onto something), disturbingly inefficient use of time-outs, veteran quarterback throwing a careless interception at the end of the first half, play-calls that acted like the team was trailing instead of leading, and totally forgetting about Saquon Barkley in the second half.
Like a dog with a bone, this team, Manning most of all, has a serious addiction to dump downs to Barkley, when down field plays are required (i.e — third and long).
There’s also a serious lack of awareness that star receiver Odell Beckham keeps pointing out. The game plan seems to be created in a vacuum.
Odell Beckham: “Knowing they were struggling (with injuries) in the secondary, personally I would’ve loved to attack them. But that wasn’t in our game plan.”
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) November 25, 2018
We haven’t even touched upon the subject of the defense, who looked like a Pop Warner front four trying to hold off the Eagles offensive line. Wasn’t the d-line supposed to be a team strength?
Before we dump on the offensive line, let’s point out that the New York Giants had more sacks than the Eagles (3 to 2). And Carson wentz was no worse for wear. Meanwhile, Manning hits the turf and Twitter explodes.
I guess it would be bad timing to point out that the G-Men could have used both cornerback Eli Apple and interior defender Damon Harrison this week. Harrison could have bolstered an ineffective defensive front, while watching B.W. Webb ply his trade (I’m being kind) has gotten truly painful these past two weeks.
When a team plays this poorly, it is a reflection on the head coach? Of, we almost forgot to add that another 11 accepted penalties for 91 yards lost. Right here and right now, Pat Shurmur has to own and somehow rectify that continued problem.
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Nothing should surprise anyone about the outcome. What will surprise New York Giants fans is the day when the team gets out of its own way, and really makes the Eagles beat them, instead of handing the South Philly crew opportunity after opportunity. A guy can dream, can’t he?