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4 NY Giants who embarrassed themselves vs. the Eagles in Week 14

Desmond Novack
Desmond Novack

GMEN HQ

Dec 4, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants linebacker Jaylon Smith (54) gestures to the crowd against the Washington Commanders during the second half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into the NY Giants matchup against the Eagles, it was expected that Big Blue would have to play near perfect if they wanted a chance to win. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. The Giants lost this game 48-22 in embarrassing fashion. While the Eagles may be arguably the best team in the league, that’s no excuse for how horrid certain members of the Giants performed.

It’s very obvious that this Giants team needs their injured players back in order to be competitive, as the replacements for these players had a big role in the team’s downfall on Sunday.

The Giants play the biggest game of their season next week against the Commanders, if they win, they will likely make the playoffs, if not, it may be over. One thing is certain though, if these four players have repeat performances, the team will be in big trouble.

4. OG Mark Glowinski

It has been a very long season for Mark Glowinski, who joined the Giants last offseason on a three year, $20 million contract. Since then, Glowinski has allowed five sacks, which ranks third among guards, and 27 combined pressures.

This week was no different, as Glowinski just looked useless out there. Yes, the Eagles defensive line is no joke, however, it’s hard to tell if Glowinski even had a single positive play. Glowinski made it known it was going to be another stinker from him right from the start.

The entire offensive line played horribly this game, so it’s hard to pin it all on just Glowinski, however, with how much money Joe Schoen invested on him, he must play better. He has been the opposite of reliable for Daniel Jones.

Entering the Giants matchup against the Commanders next week, Glowinski must step up against their incredibly talented defensive line. Considering he allowed two sacks in the Giants last matchup against Washington, though, we doubt that happens.

Dec 11, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) catches the ball and runs for a touchdown against safety Julian Love (20) and cornerback Darnay Holmes (30) during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tom Horak-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 11, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) catches the ball and runs for a touchdown against safety Julian Love (20) and cornerback Darnay Holmes (30) during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tom Horak-USA TODAY Sports

3. S Julian Love

It has become incredibly clear how important Xaver McKinney is to the Giants defense since he went out with his hand injury. Julian Love has done very well since becoming the new leader of the Giants secondary, however, this week was rather rough for the 24 year old.

Love did make a couple of nice plays and even racked up 10 combined tackles, but his play in coverage was rather abysmal. His showing on the long touchdown pass to Devonta Smith still has fans out there in disbelief.

This was the most obvious moment of poor coverage out of Love, but there are simply no excuses for what he did. Love should have tried to knock the ball down instead of trying to post the interception. He thought the ball was going to just drop into his hands? Come on, dude.

It is hard to be critical of Love, who has made a massive leap this season and could potentially make the Pro Bowl, but this play was absolutely inexcusable. Hopefully he can pick things up in the coming weeks, or at least until McKinney returns.

The Giants defense as a whole has not been the same since McKinney went out – his ability to limit big-time plays is what kept the team afloat against some of the better offenses in the league. Hopefully the Giants can regain their star safety as they continue their playoff push.

Micah McFadden, New York Giants
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – AUGUST 21: Micah McFadden #43 of the New York Giants (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

2. The NY Giants linebacker core as a whole

The horrid play of the Giants linebacker core has haunted the team all season and has been arguably the biggest reason as to why the defense has had such limited success. Not only do the Giants have undoubtedly the worst linebacking core in the league, but they are stuck with this crew for the remainder of the campaign.

Jaylon Smith, Micah McFadden, and Tae Crowder have all looked horrific this season and have done very little to actually help the Giants defense be any better than they currently are. All three of these players lack the proper read and react ability, are all bad in coverage, and at times can’t even tackle opposing players properly.

This game was no different than any prior matchup for the NY Giants, as it honestly seemed like the team didn’t even have anyone trustworthy at the position. Sure Smith and McFadden had 15 tackles between them, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned about linebackers since the team drafted Crowder, it’s that tackles don’t mean much at face value.

Philadelphia has been one of the best teams on the ground over the last couple of seasons and that didn’t stop this week as the team ran for a combined 254 yards and four touchdowns with a yards per attempt average of 8.5.

Sure, some of the blame can be put on the defensive line for not putting any pressure on the Eagles offensive line, but when you have linebackers who seem lost every play it’s hard to make a stop. The linebackers have been a massive problem all season for the Giants and it is a position that must be fixed in the offseason.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – NOVEMBER 13: Jamie Gillan #6 of the New York Giants punts the ball during the first quarter of the game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium on November 13, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – NOVEMBER 13: Jamie Gillan #6 of the New York Giants punts the ball during the first quarter of the game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium on November 13, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

1. P Jamie Gillan

Who would’ve thought that the Giants would have issues punting the ball against the Eagles in December?

Compared to Riley Dixon, the Giants punter from last season, Jamie Gillan has done a rather solid job kicking the ball away for the Giants offense. This week, however, Gillan delivered arguably the worst play for any team all season.

This was the last thing the Giants needed to happen given their 14-point deficit, especially considering that the Eagles scored on the very next play to put the Giants down 21-0. With all the issues the Giants have had on special teams this season, it seems like there may be a massive overhaul of that entire section of the team. Honestly, the only player that should be staying is Graham Gano, who remains one of the best kickers out there.

It seems like the Giants can never fully get things right against the Eagles and this week was no different. This was the exact opposite kind of game the G-Men wanted to have before they enter the most important game of the season against Washington next week.

Hopefully the team can take this loss and manifest it into a reason to go and blow out the Commanders in order to force their way into the playoffs in a season where no one thought it was possible. Right now, however, there’s not a ton of confidence for Big Blue.

Desmond Novack

Desmond Novack

Desmond has been a contributor at FanSided for three years now. During this time he has primarily covered the NY Giants and spent the 2022-23 NBA season covering the Knicks and working with nine other teams as well. He is currently studying at SUNY Plattsburgh for a degree in Broadcast Journalism and Audio/Video Production.