The surprising New York Giants (10-7-1) head down the turnpike to face the top seed in the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles (14-3), in the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs this Saturday night.
Here are five storylines we are following.
The series
This is the fifth time the Giants and Eagles have met in the postseason — they met in 1981, 2000, 2006, and 2008 with each team winning twice.
The Eagles are 16-4 in their last 20 games against the Giants, including the last three.
In Week 14, Philadelphia scored a season-high 48 points against the Giants and then defeated them again, 22-16, in Week 18.
The Giants have never lost three times to the Eagles in a single season.
In addition, the Eagles are 9-0 at home against the Giants since 2014.
What's at stake
The Eagles have flown high all season, setting a franchise high for wins with 14 and shattering many long-time franchise marks in the process. They ended the season, however, by losing two of their final three games with their only victory coming in Week 18 struggle over a Giants’ team playing predominantly backups.
They have a lot to lose in this game and a loss to the Giants here would be a major upset as well as a major disappointment.
The Giants, on the other hand, have navigated through another spate of key injuries in head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen’s first season with the club.
The Giants ended a five-year stretch of double-digit loss seasons and qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2016. They are playing with ‘house money’ and, as 7-5-point underdogs, have very little to lose.
A different Giant team awaits
The Eagles have had their way with the Giants over the past decade, as noted, but the Giants will be featuring several players the Eagles haven’t seen this season.
The Giants played the first two meetings against Philadelphia this season without three of their top defenders: defensive lineman Leonard Williams, cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, and safety Xavier McKinney. As we have stated ad nauseum all week, the Giants are 8-2 in games where McKinney starts.
In the Week 18 game where the Eagles played their starters deep into the second half, the Giants held steady and battled in a 22-16 defeat in which they played without the above three players plus…
Quarterback Daniel Jones, running back Saquon Barkley, safety Julian Love, defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, linebackers Azeez Ojulari, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Jaylon Smith, wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins, tight end Daniel Bellinger, defensive backs Fabian Moreau and Darnay Holmes and offensive linemen Andrew Thomas, Mark Glowinski, and Jon Feliciano.
The world is interested in seeing how the Giants will match up with the Eagles at full strength this week.
Hurts not the injury report
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (shoulder) is not listed on the final injury report this week. Philly is 14-1 this season when Hurts starts, which includes two games against the Giants.
Hurts missed the Eagles’ Week 16 and 17 games (both losses) and returned for the season finale against the Giants’ backups. He completed 20 of 35 passes for 229 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
In that game, Hurts appeared reluctant to do what he does best — run — as he gained just 13 yards on nine attempts. The Giants sacked him three times.
The Giants are set to test Hurts this week. Giants safety Julian Love said on WFAN this week, they plan on getting after the MVP candidate.
“We’re definitely going to test him out and see how good he’s actually feeling. He makes their offense go, he’s a talented player, like you said he’s been playing at an MVP pace all year, and he’s gonna have to earn it. That’s as simple as I can put it. Whether he’s hurt or not, whether he’s feeling it or not, he’s going to have to earn everything he gets because that’s our approach going into this week.”
NFC East are beasts again
For the better part of the last decade, the NFC East has fallen off a bit from a competition point of view. Those days are apparently behind them.
The NFC East in 2022 was by far the most competitive division. All four teams finished .500 or better and three qualified for the postseason.
The Eagles gained the top seed in the NFC with a 14-3 record and earned a bye in the Super Wild Card round. The Dallas Cowboys finished the season at 12-5 and nabbed the fifth seed. The 9-7-1 Giants snared the sixth seed and the Washington Commanders ended just outside the playoff bubble with an 8-8-1 record.
The Giants and Cowboys won their Super Wild Card games last week, placing three teams from the same division in the Divisional Playoff round for the first time since the NFL realigned to eight divisions in 2002 and for the first time overall since 1997.
