ClutchPoints
When the New York Giants handily defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football, it felt like an inflection point for the NFC East.
Coming off a commanding Super Bowl win where Vic Fangio didn’t send a single blitzer after Patrick Mahomes, the Eagles lost a close game to the Denver Broncos at home before taking the short trip up I-95 for Thursday Night Football, where they looked thoroughly lost against Jaxson Dart, Cam Skattebo, and company. Down Quinyon Mitchell and Jalen Carter with an offensive line dealing with a string of injuries, the Eagles threw the ball more than in any other game up to that point, but barely got anything going with the uptick in opportunities, forcing the defense to be increasingly stressed by Brian Daboll’s offensive attack.
For the home team, the dynamic duo of Dart and Skattebo absolutely cooked against Fangio’s defense, running wild on a defensive front that is usually pretty good against the run while hitting just enough shots down the field to pretty much do whatever they wanted on the way to one of the biggest Giants wins in recent memory.
Suddenly, the Giants were next, and the Eagles were old news, with the former looking to capture momentum against the Broncos as Philadelphia was being predicted to lose a third straight game, this time to Carson Wentz and the Minnesota Vikings, as pundits smelled blood in the water.
Fast forward to Week 9, the Eagles are coming off their best game of the season, with Jalen Hurts throwing for 326 yards and three touchdowns on the way to a perfect passer rating. The Giants, by contrast, suffered one of the most demoralizing losses in NFL history, allowing the Broncos to put up 33 points in the fourth quarter while New York watched now-former kicker Jude McAtamney miss two extra points to drop the game 33-32.
Can the Giants rebound in Week 8 like the Eagles in Week 7 and go 2-0 against the Super Bowl champs? Or will the Eagles prove that Thursday Night Football was a fluke and they are still the NFC’s premier team?
When Cam Jurgens left the game for the Eagles in Week 8, it looked like Brian Flores’ defense was about to absolutely feast on Hurts.
Turning to veteran journeyman Bret Toth, who played in relief of Landon Dickerson at left guard earlier in the month, the Army product immediately had fans in their feeling, shooting off errant shotgun snaps to Hurts that Jurgens would never dream of.
A disastrous turn? It certainly looked like it, but in a true twist of football irony, Toth’s issues with shotgun snaps turned into a surprising benefit, with the Eagles calling more play-action passes and Hurts connecting with DeVonta Smith and company on some major strikes down the field. Suddenly, the threat of Saquon Barkley running the ball, which he hasn’t done effectively all season long, was drawing defenders in like...
