The New York Giants fell to the Philadelphia Eagles, 48-22, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday, their most disappointing showing of the season.
Here are some things that we learned from the Week 14 loss.
There's a big difference between these teams
The narrative coming into the game was that the Giants were ‘Eagles Lite,’ and were on the same path as their rivals. There were a lot of similarities between the two teams. Last year, Philadelphia made the postseason in head coach Nick Sirianni’s first season and turned the corner as an elite team this season.
The Giants are in Brian Daboll’s first season and stole a bunch of wins early on, but since Week 7 when they were 6-1, they’ve gone 1-4-1 and have not looked like last year’s Eagles, who finished the season strong by winning six of their last eight games.
There’s still time for the Giants to finish strong. There are four games left (Washington, Minnesota, Indianapolis and Philadelphia) and they can still salvage this season with a few wins and a playoff berth.
A long way to go
The Giants were completely outgunned and overmatched by Philadelphia on Sunday. They were embarrassed in the trenches and their skill players failed to step up.
Philadelphia is the class of the NFC and the Giants saw how far away they are from being considered a serious contender. The Giants were beaten in all phases of the game, which was essentially over at halftime.
The NFC stinks
Philadelphia (12-1) may be the best team in the NFC, but what is that saying? Look at the rest of the conference. They’re all flawed.
NFC North leader Minnesota, the second seed with a 10-3 record, could be a paper tiger. They just lost to 6-7 Detroit and have been skating by most of the season. San Francisco (9-4), the NFC West leader, is hot but they are playing with their very inexperienced backup quarterback.
Tampa Bay leads the NFC South but is a very weak 6-7. Dallas is the top wildcard at 10-3, but needed a miracle to overcome the one-win Texans at home on Sunday.
Washington and the Giants are both 7-5-1 and hold the fan on two playoff spots. Neither is close to being championship timber. Seattle (7-6) has surprised but they were slammed by 5-8 Carolina at home this week.
The rest of the conference is littered with sob stories. The Rams have gone from the Super Bowl to the toilet bowl. Green Bay, Atlanta, Arizona, New Orleans and Chicago are all having forgettable seasons.
Outside of the Eagles and 49ers, the Lions appear to be the only team playing like a playoff club.
Hard to evaluate this team
It’s difficult to determine where the Giants really are right now as a team. Their roster is full of holes thanks to another spate of inexplicable injuries.
Their secondary is working with just one starter at the moment (Julian Love) and their defensive line is without Leonard Williams. The result: weaker versus the pass and the run.
The offensive line has never gotten any traction. This week, they finally started the same five from the week before but they were pitted against the Eagles’ front, which is among the league’s best.
They still have no idea how good (or bad) Daniel Jones is because of the uncertainty along the line and the lack of quality playmakers in the receiving corps.
What have the Giants accomplished this year? Well, it’s Year 1 under general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll and they now know they still have a lot of work to do.
What happened to winning graciously?
When the Giants win, their fans rarely get in the face of the opponent. When the Eagles win, their fans make it a point to get in the face of the opponent.
On Sunday, Eagles fans didn’t even wait for the game to start to being their antics. Reports of brawls in the parking lot before the game where law enforcement had to be summoned, spread throughout social media.
What happened to winning graciously? Why can’t everyone just attend the games and root for their team and then go home in peace?
It’s not like the Eagles fans are starved for a championship. They won the Super Bowl in this generation’s lifetime. A few years ago as a matter of fact.
Beating an inferior Giants team should be part of the process of having a great season, not a reason to denigrate their fans in a very ugly fashion.
It’s a bad look that seems to be getting worse.
