Eagles Opponent Film Room: Scouting the New York Giants’ offense

I’ve watched the most recent games of the opponents, focusing on specific areas: touchdowns, deep passes, turnovers, sacks, and explosive runs. Think of it less as a prediction piece and more as a scouting report. Each week, I’ll publish two articles on the opponent’s offense and defense to give a picture of what the Eagles will be up against.

Giants Offense

The Giants don’t have much talent, but that almost makes them more interesting, as it forces them to be creative. Without Malik Nabers, they’ve become one of the most limited passing teams in football, yet they still find ways to scheme life into drives through motion, tight-end usage, and a zone-heavy run game.

Touchdowns

Despite their low touchdown total, the Giants aren’t completely hopeless near the red zone. What they lack in perimeter talent, they make up for with creativity. The offense leans heavily on 12 and 13 personnel, and much of their scoring success runs through tight ends Daniel Bellinger (82) and Theo Johnson (84). Bellinger is a very useful blocker, and they use him to create lanes for Cam Skattebo, who is playing pretty well!

They also use Jaxson Dart’s legs in short-yardage and goal-line situations. Designed QB runs, particularly draws and RPO keepers, show up multiple times on film. Dart runs with confidence (if not a little bit of reckless abandon at times), and Cam Skattebo acts as a physical lead blocker who punishes defenders when needed. It’s a scrappy but functional formula. It’s not pretty, but they can cause you some issues if you are not careful in the red zone.

The red-zone design is imaginative, and they use shovel passes, misdirection, fake tosses, and motion-heavy disguises that hide simple concepts. A great example came against the Saints: a fake toss into a shovel pass to Johnson for a touchdown. It’s not always pretty, but it’s smart football from Brian Daboll, knowing he can’t just line up and win outside with his talent level. The offensive line is pretty good, though, which keeps them from completely melting down on offense.

If the Eagles hold firm on early downs and close off Dart’s scrambling lanes, New York’s creativity will hit a ceiling quickly.

Explosive Passes

This is where the problems are. Without Malik Nabers, this group lacks a true matchup winner anywhere on the perimeter. It’s an incredibly poor group of receivers. They cannot separate vertically on the outside. The Eagles’ cornerbacks should have very strong games this week. In the games I watched, I saw…

Darius Slayton drop two crucial deep balls against the Chargers.Wan’Dale Robinson drop a potential fourth-down touchdown.Jalin Hyatt struggle to track the ball and play through contact.Dart is 0-for-9 (!) on throws traveling 20+ yards. That’s not a typo… Even when Dart puts it in a catchable window (which isn’t very often), his receivers have let him down. If Slayton doesn’t play, this is almost certainly the least threatening outside unit the Eagles will face all season. Dart deserves some of the blame as well. His mechanics are messy, and he relies on arm talent to drive the ball down the field, which has led to some underthrown deep shots, such as this one…

When he’s not missing deep, Dart’s forcing balls into tight windows or late reads. He’s a little reckless. I feel bad for him because the lack of talent on the outside almost forces him into a lot of tight window throws.

He’s a one-read quarterback at this stage. If the first option isn’t there, he panics, scrambles, or throws into coverage. The result is a passing attack that feels like watching a rookie improvise every play. I do think he has talent, but this year is going to be tough for him.

Turnovers

If you watched their loss to the Saints, you saw a masterclass on how to turn the ball over. Five turnovers (two fumbles, two interceptions, one red-zone giveaway by Skattebo) all came in important moments.

Dart’s gunslinger mentality is both his appeal (I love QBs like this, I always have, and I can’t help it) and his weakness. He possesses real arm talent and fearlessness, but lacks situational awareness. When blitzed, he often doesn’t know where his hot route is. Against the Chargers, he repeatedly failed to identify free rushers and took unnecessary hits instead of dumping the ball. The Eagles should be rotating defenders down to the LOS at the snap and trying to confuse Dart with sim pressures all game long.

The Giants have one of the highest turnover rates in football, which is not surprising considering the lack of talent. Dart’s processing collapses under pressure, and his footwork can let him down. The Eagles’ disguised looks, especially Fangio’s late safety rotations, should bait him into at least one giveaway.

Sacks

The Giants have surrendered 14 sacks this year, six in the past two weeks, and five of them against the Chargers alone. You would think they have a bad offensive line. But this isn’t an offensive-line issue. In fact, their tackles, especially Andrew Thomas, have held up well.

The problem is Dart himself. He doesn’t get rid of the football. He drifts backward in the pocket, second-guesses throws, and bails too early. When pressured, his production plummets (2.9 yards per attempt under pressure vs. 6.1 when kept clean), which has to be one of the steepest drop-offs of any starting quarterback.

When defenses crowd the line of scrimmage, he doesn’t know who is coming and who isn’t. The Chargers and Saints both attacked with disguised pressures that forced Dart into slow-developing reads. I expect a few “coverage sacks,” but they will probably be as much about Dart’s hesitancy as they are defensive brilliance. If the pass rush stays disciplined in its lanes, the opportunities for negative plays will come naturally. I expect Fangio to have some fun on Thursday night…

Explosive Runs

If there’s one thing the Giants do well, it’s staying on schedule through the ground game. They rank 12th in rushing yards and 13th in rushing touchdowns, thanks mainly to Skattebo’s physicality and Dart’s mobility. Dart has had a positive impact on this rushing attack.

This is a zone-heavy rushing attack. Inside zone, duo, and outside zone are the most frequently called plays. Cam Skattebo isn’t flashy but plays with balance, toughness, and decisive vision. He’s a grinder who can turn a two-yard hole into a five-yard gain. Watch any of his runs, and he hits the line with authority, keeps his legs churning, and finishes with power. He’s not an easy back to bring down.

They use their tight ends effectively to help create angles and often use motion to window-dress basic zone plays, occasionally pairing them with Dart keepers or shovel-action fakes near the goal line. It’s not an easy running game to stop, but it isn’t particularly explosive, either.

The Eagles must maintain rush-lane integrity. Dart can turn broken plays into chunk gains. Right now, his legs are their best “explosive” weapon.

If Philadelphia’s interior defenders (Carter, Davis, Ojomo) control the line early, and the edge rushers maintain contain, this run game will struggle. I expect the Eagles to use some 5-man fronts and worry less about having extra defenders in coverage because the Giants’ talent is so limited on the outside. If you can force this offense into 3rd and long, they will struggle, big time.

Overall

This offense just doesn’t have enough pieces to be really threatening. The line is better than advertised, the backs run hard, and the quarterback has some fun moments, but the receivers can’t separate and the vertical game is non-existent.

Without Nabers, this group is purely schematic: a mix of zone runs, QB draws, shovel passes, and desperation trick plays. If the Eagles stop the run on early downs and keep Dart in the pocket, they should dominate. I expect the Giants to move the ball in spurts, mostly through Skattebo’s grind-it-out runs or Dart’s improvisation, but not enough to sustain drives. For the Eagles’ defense, just stay disciplined with their rush lane integrity, play patient football, and they should have enough talent to stop this offense.

Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here. If you would like to support me further, please check out my Patreon here!