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For the first time in 1,470 days, the New York Giants have defeated the Philadelphia Eagles. Daniel Jones had a turnover-free day and Wayne Gallman rushed for two touchdowns as the Giants emerged into the NFC East race with a shocking victory over the Eagles. New York had lost eight straight in the rivalry for the first time since losing 12 straight from 1975 to 1981, but on Sunday the Giants earned their first victory over Philadelphia since November 6, 2016.
New York, which had lost 21 of its past 25 to Philadelphia (including the postseason), last beat Doug Pederson when Eli Manning was the team's quarterback. Sterling Shepard was the only Giants player from that team on the current roster. Jones was excellent in earning consecutive victories for the first time in his career, going 21 of 28 for 244 yards and rushing for a team-high 66 yards in the victory. Jones gave New York the early lead with a 34-yard touchdown run, one the Giants would never relinquish. Gallman has two rushing touchdowns, giving the back five in his last four games, to fuel a New York rushing attack that went for 151 yards and averaged 4.2 yards per carry.
The Eagles, who were coming off their bye, struggled with situational football throughout the game, going 0-for-9 on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth down. Carson Wentz was just 21 of 37 for 208 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Wentz didn't turn the football over, but the Eagles didn't help him out by only running the football 23 times, despite averaging 6.8 yards per carry. Miles Sanders finished with 15 carries for 85 yards and Boston Scott had three carries for 63 yards -- including a 56-yard touchdown -- as Philadelphia finished with 156 yards on the ground.
The Eagles and Giants have the same amount of wins, but Philadelphia remains a half-game up in the division. The Giants head into their bye week with two straight wins, while the Eagles will look to extend their NFC East lead against the Browns.
Why the Giants won
The Giants didn't turn the football over in this one, which played a major factor in them beating the Eagles for the first time in four years. Let's give some serious credit to the running game, gashing the Eagles defense for 151 yards and three touchdowns. The zone-read torched the Eagles all afternoon, which led to a Daniel Jones 34-yard touchdown in the first quarter and another touchdown was taken away by an Andrew Thomas holding penalty that occurred after Jones was past the Eagles defensive line. Gallman added some much-needed stability to the run game, finishing with 18 carries for 53 yards and two scores -- including a touchdown on fourth-and-1 from the Eagles 2-yard line in the first half. The Giants have a short-yardage back in Gallman and a potent rushing game with the zone-read -- at least against the Eagles.
Why the Eagles lost
Philadelphia went 0-for-9 on third down in an embarrassing performance. The Eagles didn't turn the football over, but situational football was a failure across the board. Philadelphia had lackluster play calling from Doug Pederson, who had a few questionable coaching decisions of his own (we'll get to that in a minute), who threw the ball 61.7% of the time despite the team averaging 6.8 yards per carry on the ground. Running the football 23 times is unacceptable in a game that was a one-score affair the majority of the second half, especially with the quarterback sailing throws. The defense gave up 382 yards -- the second-highest output allowed this season -- and 5.7 yards per play to an offense that ranked second-to-last in points and yards per game. As a result, the Eagles allowed the Giants to remain in the NFC East race.
Turning point
The Eagles had momentum when Corey Clement scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to cut the Giants lead to 21-17 with 5:20 left in the third quarter. Instead of kicking an extra point to cut the lead to 21-18 -- making it a deficit of three points (field goal) -- Pederson went for two in an attempt to cut the deficit to 21-19, which resulted in a sack on the conversion attempt. If the Eagles kicked to make it 21-18 and scored on the next possession, at worst they tie the game 21-21 or a touchdown and an extra point makes it 25-21 Philadelphia. A curious decision by Pederson in a poor coaching performance.
Play of the game
Daniel Jones fired a 40-yard bomb to Darius Slayton on second-and-10 from his own 36-yard line with just over four minutes to play. Darius Slay had good coverage on the play, but Jones fired the ball to Slayton just where the the team's top playmaker could catch it in a 24-17 game -- with the eight-game losing streak hanging in the balance.
The throw and catch took the Giants to the Eagles' 24 and led to a Graham Gano field goal to put the Giants up 27-17 -- with the victory virtually wrapped up. A strong performance from Jones was highlighted by this throw.
The quote
We'll just leave this here, since the Eagles still lead the division.
Up next
The Eagles travel to Cleveland to face the Browns, the first time the teams will meet since the 2016 season. The Giants are on their bye week. They'll face the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, November 29.
