Eagles-Giants: The good, the bad, and the ugly

It was like an after-school backyard game everyone who loves football used to play, only with helmets and pads in front of silent thousands in a major stadium. That’s the feel Sunday’s game had between the New York Giants and Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

That, and the fact that no one really wanted to be there. It was not exactly a ringing endorsement for NFL Week 18 when the TV cameras caught Eagles’ resting wide receiver A.J. Brown barely awake on the bench. Brown was only expressing the sentiment everyone else suffered.

There was so little energy and noise that the quarterback’s signals echoed throughout what felt like an empty Linc.

Neither team had anything to gain. The Giants were playing to lose, projected to have the fourth overall pick in the 2025 draft and wanting to keep it that way. The Eagles were playing to bang some rust off players like Dallas Goedert, and maybe get a better look at Tanner McKee, and some vital backup players who could play bigger roles in the future.

About the only thing the Eagles were playing for was preventing the hapless Giants to break their 11-year, 11-game losing streak in Philadelphia, including the playoffs, dating back to a dreadful 15-7 New York victory at the Linc on October 27, 2013.

Well, make that a 12-year, and 12-game stretch that the Giants have failed to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia, after a 20-13 Eagles’ victory on Sunday.

The Eagles will host the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of the playoffs next weekend. The Eagles have already been installed as 3.5-point favorites, and Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur has said Jordan Love will be healthy to play against the Eagles, even though Love was taken out with a hand injury in the Packers’ 24-22 walk-off loss to the Chicago Bears.

The Eagles’ 14-3 record ties a franchise record for victories in a season with the 2022 NFC Champion Eagles. The three previous times the Eagles have won 13 or more games in a season they have reached the Super Bowl (2004, 2017, 2022).

There was a ton of good, very little bad, and smidge of very important ugly that went into the Eagles’ mind numbing 20-13 victory over the wretched New York Giants.

Touchdown Tanner. The future looks bright with Tanner McKee, who has now served notice he is a very viable No. 2. He saw the field well, showed patience, and completed 27 of 41 for 269 yards and two touchdowns. He looked sharp completing his first three passes for 48 yards and a touchdown—his third TD pass in his first seven NFL passes. It helped having tight end Dallas Goedert back, and it also helped having the Giants fail to convert a fourth-and-seven at midfield on their first drive. He was 17 for 26 at halftime for a touchdown, and his 190 yards passing was the most by any Eagles’ quarterback in the first half this season. Then again, Saquon Barkley was in street clothes.

Sydney Brown clinching the victory with an interception in the last minute. Drew Lock thought he had Jalin Hyatt open down the left sideline, and Brown came over and made a leaping catch to mercifully end the Giants’ awful season, where they lost a franchise record 14 games.

Ainias Smith and E.J. Jenkins getting their first NFL touchdowns. Smith’s score came on a 15-yard pass from McKee in the first quarter for a 7-0 Eagles’ lead. Jenkins’ TD reception came on a short seven-yard pass early in the fourth quarter, which gave the Eagles a commanding, in this game, 17-3 lead.

Jahan Dotson’s season-best seven catches on 11 targets for 94 yards. On the Eagles’ third-quarter touchdown drive, Dotson had two catches for 31 yards that kept the drive going.

Special teams’ demon Kelee Ringo taking out Giants’ punt returner Ihmir Smith-Marsette for no gain after the Eagles’ second possession of the third quarter. Ringo has been an unsung player all season, frequently getting down first on special teams.

Isaiah Rodgers’ 51-yard kickoff return to start the second half. It brought the ball to the Giants’ 43, but the Eagles squandered the chance to add to their 10-0 lead by moving just eight yards from there. Rodgers looks like a viable option to return kickoffs and punts in the postseason.

Rodgers and Brown crashing down on Malik Nabers on a fourth-and-two at the Eagles’ two on the Giants’ third drive. The Eagles responded by driving down the field and going up 10-0, after Jake Elliott’s 24-yard field goal with 1:44 left in the half.

The Eagles’ first half defense. Rookie linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. led the way with seven tackles over the first two quarters, and linebacker Oren Burks chipped in with six tackles, three solo, and one tackle for a loss. The Eagles shut out the horrid Giants’ offense, holding them to 84 total yards on 28 plays, and four first downs—all rushing. Burks later took down Wan’Dale Robinson for a four-yard loss on the Giants’ second possession of the third quarter. Burks showed great instinct, reading and anticipating what the Giants were doing on the play. He’s done well in a reserve role when he has had the chance to play this season. Burks finished with a game-high 17 tackles, eight solos, and Trotter Jr. ended with 11 tackles, two solos. The Eagles look like they have future depth at linebacker.

Defensive tackle Jordan Davis reading screen, then pulling down Devin Singletary for a five-yard loss on a first-and-10 at the Giants’ 29 on New York’s first play of its third drive. The Eagles got great production in the first half from Davis, who had the best two quarters of his season, maybe in his young career, with four tackles, three solo, one for a loss. Davis ended the five tackles.

The Eagles’ second defensive series. Trotter Jr. knifing through for a tackle for short gain on the first play of the drive, and defensive lineman Milton Williams and reserve linebacker Charles Harris stuffing the Giants’ Tyrone Tracy on third down.

The Eagles’ first defensive series. Cornerback Kelee Ringo came up with the key play on the Giants’ fourth-and-seven at the Eagles’ 49, when he defended a Drew Lock pass intended for Darius Slayton.

The Bad
Goedert dropping a McKee pass on a third-and-four at the Giants’ 15 on the Eagles’ second drive. It could have set up another Eagles’ score, though unfortunately, the Eagles’ 39-yard field goal attempt failed.

The Ugly
Safety Tristin McCollum losing Malik Nabors, only the most dangerous Giants’ player on the field, on the Giants’ 45-yard touchdown pass from Drew Lock. The score, with 10:32 to play, brought the Giants to within 17-10, giving a limp team some hope. It was Nabors’ 109th catch this season, which at the time was an NFL rookie record for receptions in a season.

Jake Elliott’s missed 39-yard field in the opening of the second quarter. The Eagles do not need this right now. Elliott, an historically reliable kicker throughout his career, has been a question this season. The miss was Elliott’s career-high eighth miss in 2024 (26/34). He finished the season making 28 of 36. Prior to this year, the most field goals he ever missed in a season was five, which he did three times, 2017, 2018 and the 2020 seasons. He entered the game with a career-low 1-for-7 from 50 yards and beyond. He is a Super Bowl champion and he was arguably the team MVP in last year’s dreck of a season, about the only reliable player on the 2023 Eagles. With the playoffs looming, do the Eagles and Nick Sirianni behind closed doors feel that secure with Elliott? At this late stage, they have no other choice—and in a way, the Eagles owe it to Elliott to stay with him, considering all he has done for the franchise. He is arguably the greatest kicker in franchise history. That is why this is so hard to fathom. You knew when Elliott lined up, regardless of the spot and situation, he was near automatic. He has certainly hit the most important kicks in franchise history. Elliott came back to hit 24- and 32-yard field goals. Throwing away the past, how much do you trust Elliott to win a game right now?