Giants-Eagles, Week 8 Q&A: Philly won’t be surprised this time

It is Eagles week — again — for the New York Giants. Just 17 days after a stunning 34-17 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium that got the attention of the football world, the Giants and Eagles are set to do it again. This time, the Giants will trek down the New Jersey Turnpike to the not-so-friendly confines of Lincoln Financial Field.

With the teams set for a rematch that is more interesting than many thought it might be, we again turn to Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation, SB Nation’s always well-mannered Eagles website, for Round 2 of our ‘5 questions’ series.

Ed: Did the Eagles take the Giants for granted two weeks ago? Did that game change your perception of the Giants?

BLG: That sure seemed to be the case. And it was weird to see since the Eagles have rarely come out looking unprepared to play in the Nick Sirianni era. The Giants clearly wanted to win more than the Eagles did.

Yeah, that was absolutely an eye-opening performance. Felt like the most meaningful win the Giants have had in some time. Not only did they beat the Eagles … they outright bullied them. It was like Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo got together to say, ‘Hey, no more of this long standing trend of the Eagles owning this team. It’s a new era of Giants football.’ Had to be pretty fun for you guys.

The Giants are no longer the totally unserious team they’ve been for years and years. They’re still flawed (among other things, need a new head coach) and I don’t think they’ll end up with a very good record at the end of this season. But they could finish in a position where they’re primed to take a step forward in 2026.

2) Did Philly figure some things out offensively vs. the Vikings? That was their best offensive output of the year.

BLG: I think there’s more hope that the Eagles figured some things out offensively than there is true belief they figured some things out offensively. Need to see more proof of concept to feel confident about it.

There were certainly some encouraging signs. Many have been calling for the Eagles to utilize under center play-action more than almost literally not at all for some time now. The Eagles trusted Jalen Hurts to throw at the end of the game instead of trying to lean into an ineffective running game. That was also good to see. The coaching staff really needs to lean into trusting their quarterback more, especially as it relates to being aggressive and taking shots down the field. Hurts is a strong deep ball passer and A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are obviously capable of making big plays. Last year, the Eagles were so obsessed with ball protection above all else that they played a conservative brand of football. That 2024 style isn’t the model for success right now in 2025.

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