Big Blue View
The New York Giants fell to 2-6 after losing 38-20 in Philadelphia against the Eagles on Sunday. It was a frustrating and emotionally heavy game for a few reasons, none more obvious than the tragic Cam Skattebo ankle injury. Prior to the injury, Skattebo scored on an impressive rail route touchdown from Jaxson Dart. I hope nothing but the best for the rookie running back in his recovery.
The officiating in the game was horrible, and the legitimacy of the tush-push will be further evaluated after the Kayvon Thibodeaux situation in a tie game – more on that later. Independent of the terrible Brad Rogers officiated game, the Giants’ defense was torn to shreds by the Eagles on the ground. Philadelphia had 277 yards on the ground; the Giants had 246 total offensive yards.
The Eagles controlled the line of scrimmage, and the second-level defenders the Giants were forced to play due to injury did not perform well in their run fits. Some of the Giants’ starters were unsound in the run game as well. The Eagles’ offense outmatched the Giants’ beat-up defense. Here are five plays, or sequence of plays, that led to the Giants’ defeat.
In a tie game with the Eagles driving on fourth-and-one and Kayvon Thibodeaux stole the football from a live Jalen Hurts, but somehow the Eagles retained possession of the ball. As if the tush-push didn’t already have enough questions, we add this instance into the equation, which may ultimately be the impetus to significant changing of how the play is officiated. It’s silly, stupid really.
It’s obvious the officials have no clue how to officiate this play; that has been apparent for years now and RJ does a good job succinctly delivering that message in the post above. Another massive moment in the game flies the way of the Eagles because the NFL has no clue what they’re doing. Still, the Giants were thoroughly defeated by the Super Bowl champions.
Saquon Barkley reminded everyone that he’s still good at football on the second play of the game.
Single back, under center, rush and Barkley bounced it away from the sixth offensive linemen and the tight end toward the boundary. Kayvon Thibodeaux (5) was blocked well by Jordan Mailata (68) and Darius Muasau (53) was picked up by the double-team, which left Tyler Nubin (27) in the tough position to fill from depth. Nubin is not primarily culpable, but his deficiencies are exposed too often, and those deficiencies are athletically related. Barkley scampered for 65 yards and a score to put the Giants down a touchdown two plays into the game.
Dallas Goedert caught nine passes for 110 yards with a score two weeks ago against the Giants. He only caught three passes in Week 8, but two of them were touchdowns, as the Eagles leaned on the mismatch...
