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

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.