The Philadelphia Eagles(12-1) not only beat the New York Giants(7-5-1) on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, but they also beat them down.
Philadelphia jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half and led 24-7 at halftime. After a Jalen Hurts 10-yard touchdown run, the Eagles led 34-14 at the end of three quarters. Ultimately, the Eagles would rout the Giants 48-22. With the win, the Eagles became the first team in the NFL to clinch a playoff berth this season.
Hurts shined again for the Eagles as he was 21/31 for 217 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Running back Miles Sanders had a career-high 144 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. Sanders also went over 1,000 yards rushing on Sunday for the first time in his career.
In total, Philly rushed for 253 yards. In short, the Eagles did anything they wanted on offense. On defense, they had six sacks, which gives them, 13.0 sacks in the last two weeks, and in those two games, the Eagles have outscored their opponents 83-32.
“I think that we’ve got really good players on this team, we’ve got really good coaches on this team, and we’ve shown these last three weeks that we keep getting better,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said after the win. “That’s just got to be the goal here, and that’s how we go about our goals during the week.”
Like Sirianni, Hurts wants the team to focus on getting better.
“It’s good that we prepared in a way that we have been able to execute at a high level,” Hurt said. “We just want to continue to do that. That’s the name of the game. Never get too high; never get too low. Just stay true to what’s important and keep the main thing, the main thing. The main thing for me is the daily deposits. Chasing the growth, Putting the work in, and being consistent. I think that’s our main thing as a team as well.”
Eagles DE Brandon Graham, who had a career-high tying three sacks on Sunday, and was a part of the 2017 Super Bowl team, says things are great now, but it’s all about winning a title.
“At the end of the day, the ultimate thing is to get a ring,” he said. “I’ll just say it’s a great season so far. Let’s just stay focused on the task at hand, and that’s getting that ring.”
To Graham’s point, the season has been great after 13 games, but none of this matters if the Eagles don’t win a Super Bowl.
The journey continues next week in Chicago against the Bears.
Notes:
-A.J. Brown, who finished with four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown went over 1,000 receiving yards on Sunday.
Brown(10 TDs) and Sanders(11 TDs) are the second Eagles duo to reach 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards with 10 touchdowns each, joining Ricky Watters (1,411 yards, 13 TDs) and Irving Fryar (1,195, 11 TDs) in 1996.
-Josh Sweat and Haason Reddick each reached milestones during New York’s first series.
Sweat tied his single-season career high in sacks (7.5, also 2021) when he brought down Giants QB Daniel Jones on first-and-10 for a 7-yard loss on the opening drive.
Reddick sacked Jones on third-and-17 to force a New York punt, marking his 10th QB takedown of the season. Reddick, who has double-digit sacks in three consecutive years, became the first Eagle to reach 10+ sacks since Fletcher Cox in 2018 (10.5).
Reddick is the first NFL player with 10+ sacks in three straight years with three different teams (12.5 with Arizona in 2020; 11.0 with Carolina in 2021).
-Punter Arryn Siposs(ankle), Reed Blankenship(knee) went out in the first half and did not return, and Lane Johnson(abdominal injury) left late in the game.
