The New York Giants(7-4-1) have one of its biggest tests of the year when their NFC East rivals, the 11-1 Philadelphia Eagles, come to MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Philadelphia has the best record in the NFL and a lot of talent on both sides of the ball.
However, this is a division game, so on some level, you can throw the records out. Giants running back Saquon Barkley knows defeating the Eagles won’t be easy, but he’s looking forward to the challenge.
“They’re 11-1 for a reason,” Barkley said. “All phases of the ball – especially on defense – every single level, they’re talented with Pro Bowl-caliber players, to be honest. As a competitor, you look forward to that. You look forward to going against the best. We know we’re going to get their best, and it’s going to be a great game against Philly. Home, in December. The stadium is going to be rocking, so it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a challenge, and we’re looking forward to it.”
In the first nine games, Barkley had four 100-yard performances. However, in the past three games, where the Giants were winless, Barkley is averaging 41 yards per contest, and last week against the Titans, Philly’s defense held Derrick Henry to just 30 yards rushing on 11 carries.
The fifth-year running back is impressed with Philly’s defense; however, he believes New York must take advantage of any and all opportunities to make plays.
“Like I said, watched the film, one thing that really stood out is not just how the corners, how the DBs came up and how they tackle, how aggressive they are and how they establish the line of scrimmage,” Barkley said. “One of my favorite players to play against and not to play against is (Philadelphia defensive tackle) Fletcher Cox. You can see at this year, whatever he’s in – he’s still balling, still making plays at a high level. Every single one of them guys from (Philadelphia defensive end Josh) Sweat – all of them. All of those guys are pretty talented, not pretty talented – very talented.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge, but I think if we go back to what we do in executing and focusing on the little things and take it one play at a time – when the opportunities are there, and the play is to be made, that’s when myself and all the other guys have to make a play.”
New York will have to play one of their best games of the season if they want to beat the Eagles. Philadelphia pressures you in many different ways, and if the Giants are not at their best, which they haven’t been the past few weeks, they will have a hard time winning on Sunday.
Last Sunday, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was big-time against the Titans. He passed for a season-high 380 yards and totaled four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) in Philadelphia’s 35-10 win over Tennessee.
Because of his outstanding performance, Hurts was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week, the league announced Wednesday.
He becomes the first Eagle ever to win a Player of the Week award in consecutive weeks and is the second player this season to do so.
After 12 games, Hurts has thrown for 2940 yards(68% completion) and 20 touchdowns with only three interceptions. In addition, he has rushed for 609 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has been around some excellent quarterbacks, including Philip Rivers and Andrew Luck. According to Sirianni, he has not been around a quarterback as versatile as Hurts.
“He’s had two really good games in a row,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “Like you said, it’s been really different of how he’s done that, right?
“I know [former Chargers and Colts QB] Philip [Rivers] wasn’t running for all those yards like that. You talk about the good quarterbacks I’ve been around. Philip was more of a pocket passer. [Former Colts QB] Andrew [Luck] was a little bit more of a pocket passer but had the ability to move and get out of things. But those were two more pocket passers.
“Again, Andrew could do some of those things. But [QB] Jalen [Hurts] is so dynamic as far as both the things he’s doing, right? You guys would know the stats better than I would; how many guys have actually thrown for that many yards after a game where they ran for that many yards? Setting a team record in rushing yards, then coming out and doing that.
“It’s pretty special. Obviously, you love that, as a coach, to be able to work it both ways because you saw the effect it had on the defense. Without getting too much into it, there was a major effect.”
With the Eagles having the best record in football and Hurts playing at such a high level, it’s clear that after 12 games, the MVP of the NFL is Jalen Hurts.
In last week’s win over the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles(11-1) ran for 363 yards. Hurts had a team-record 157 yards rushing. The running game led the way for Philadelphia.
This week, against the Titans(7-5), Hurts and the Eagles found a different way to win. Hurts was 29/39 for 380 yards and four touchdowns, including one on the ground, as Philadelphia rolled over the Titans 35-10 at Lincoln Financial Field to move to 11-1.
“Nothing good ever gets done if every man doesn’t do their job and dominate their box, and that’s what we strive to do. I come up here, and I give these analogies about steakhouses or whatever, but that’s our reality,” Hurts said after the win. “We work really hard, and we prepare really hard, and sometimes it just looks different. Regardless of how we’re attacking a defense, we just want to execute in whatever it is we’re doing.”
The offense scored 35 points and had 453 yards of total offense. Conversely, the defense was relentless as they recorded six sacks, held the Titans to 209 total yards, and limited Derrick Henry to just 30 yards on 11 carries.
However, Philadelphia did have 12 penalties, despite that, the Eagles played a complete game for the first time this season.
“Obviously, we played well at every phase of this game: offense, defense, and special teams. Offensively, we have things we have to clean up, some pre-snap penalties,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. “So, we’ll get better from that. There are some ways we can do that and clean that up. I have to do a better job coaching it, and we’ll clean that up.
“But that was a pretty complete game for us, and I think that is a really good football team. I have a lot of respect for the players and coaches over there, and I just think that is a good football team.”
A subplot of this game was A.J. Brown going against his former team. Brown got revenge after catching five passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns; the two touchdown receptions were 40 and 29 yards.
“This one meant a lot to me,” Brown said. “Early on, I had mixed emotions about the trade and everything, and I’d be lying to you to say I didn’t circle this game.”
Before his first touchdown, Brown appeared to have caught a touchdown, but he was ruled out of bounds. On the next play, after a collision with Titans corner Kristian Fulton, Brown broke wide open and Hurts connected with him to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead in the second quarter.
“Yeah, I think that was huge,” Brown said of the touchdown. “I just think that shows the faith [Eagles QB Jalen Hurts] has in me. Just to come right back to me. I had regular out, but Jalen told me when I was leaving the huddle, he said, ‘pump it.’ So, I was like, ‘let’s do it.’”
Regarding the defense, they held Titans running back Derrick Henry in check, which, according to Eagles DE Brandon Graham, was the defense’s attitude coming into the game.
I felt like everyone’s attitude was to stop [Titans RB] Derrick [Henry]. That is all we kept hearing. That is what they are going to do. They are going to run the ball, screen us, and play quick ball with play-action and deep shots. That is exactly what we got, and I feel like we started from the jump with meeting them at the line and making tackles.”
The Eagles hope to keep the winning going next Sunday at MetLife Stadium against the Giants.
Notes:
Philadelphia (363 rushing on 11/27/22 vs. Green Bay; 386 passing on 12/4/22 vs. Tennessee) is the first NFL team to throw for 350+ yards after rushing for 350+ yards the previous week since the 1987 Los Angeles Raiders (356 rushing on 11/30/87; 360 passing on 12/6/87).
Overall, the Eagles produced 453 total yards (386 passing; 67 rushing), marking the second time this season that they registered 450+ total yards in consecutive games (also 9/11/22-9/19/22). Philadelphia is one of only three NFL teams to have at least 4 games with 450+ total yards this year, joining Kansas City (5) and Miami (4).
The Eagles have scored 35+ points in back-to-back games for the first time since 11/5/17-11/19/17 (also 2).
For the first three seasons of his career, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown was a member of the Tennessee Titans. During his time with Tennessee, Brown established himself as one of the better wideouts in football, including making the Pro Bowl in 2020.
During this year’s draft, Brown was traded to the Eagles from the Titans and signed a four-year, $100 million contract with Philadelphia.
This Sunday, Brown can show the Titans what they are missing as Tennessee travels to Philadelphia to battle the Eagles.
On Wednesday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni discussed what he would say to Brown as he prepares to face his former team.
“What I said to [WR] Zach Pascal before we played Indianapolis is going to be similar things in my message to [WR] A.J. [Brown] this week,” Sirianni said. “He doesn’t have to do any more than just go out there and be himself. He doesn’t have to press. He just has to go out there and do his job to the best of his ability with the attention to detail, and to go out there — because if you allow yourself — every week, you can do that to yourself.
“I know there is no team for A.J. to go home to in Mississippi, but I’m going to New Orleans, and I am going to treat that bigger because I’m playing in front of them. Or now I’m going to play my former team here. Oh, now I’m going to play — I’m thinking of Ole Miss guys — now I’m going to play this team, and that was my college roommate, and so now I have to get up for this one.
“If you just treat everyone the same, right? That’s the way to go. And then you don’t allow yourself to ride these waves of the season, because there is always going to be different schedules, there is going to be Thanksgiving one week, and then there is going to be Christmas one week.
“You got to stay true to your process, and that’s the key. Because every game, the next game is always biggest game. We don’t want to let each other down, and so you got to prep for every game the same. But naturally, human nature will take over, and that’s my job as a coach to make sure that he knows he doesn’t have to do anything more than just be A.J. Brown. That’s why he’s here. That’s why we traded for him, that’s why we paid him, because he’s a phenomenal player. Just go be yourself. You don’t have to do anything special because you’re special enough to go out there and play.”
After 11 games, Brown, to no one surprise, has established himself as the team’s number-one wide receiver, as he leads the team in receiving yards(831) and touchdown receptions(7). He’s been as advertised.
Expect Brown to be pretty hype for the Titans.
Anytime you rush over 300 yards in an NFL game, there’s a great chance you’re going to win, and on Sunday against the Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles rushed for 363 yards, the most they had in 74 years as they defeated Green Bay 40-33 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Jalen Hurts and Miles Sanders had career days. Hurts had a career-high 157 rushing yards, and Miles Sanders accumulated a career-high 143 rushing yards to go along with two touchdowns on the ground. They became the first duo in Eagles’ history to each have 140-plus rushing yards in the same game.
In addition, Hurts, who became only the third quarterback in NFL history to run and throw for over 150 yards(153 yards, 2 TDs), had 103 rushing yards in the first quarter.
On Sunday, the offense created points in many ways and Hurts compared the offense to a 5-star restaurant.
“I mentioned often the importance of being able to attack teams in different ways,” Hurts said after the win. “I feel like for us as a football team, as an offense, it’s like your favorite steakhouse, your favorite restaurant – 5-star, boujee restaurant you like to go to. You have your steak of the day, your selection of the day. For us, we can kind of do it all, as you know. We do everything at a pretty consistent basis, that’s what we strive for, and I think we’ve done that in moments this year, and I think that’s our standard.
“I feel like there will be games where I have a day like this or an impact in the game on the ground. There’s a day where [WR] AJ [Brown] has three touchdowns in the first half. There’s a game where [WR Davonta Smith] Smitty has 150 [yards] in the first half. It’s a ton of different scenarios in ways this thing can go as an offense. I think that has helped us a lot, being able to be diverse. At the end of the day, I’ve made myself clear that the most important thing is winning. That’s what we came out here and did today regardless of how it looked. We just want to win. I just want to win and get it done.”
Sanders gave credit to the offensive line.
“I give all the credit to the O-line today,” he said. “We almost broke the franchise record [for rushing yards in a game]. We were shy about 20 yards. It shows that we can do this day in and day out. The guys up front are something special.”
Over the years, the Eagles have had some great running quarterbacks, including Randall Cunningham, Donovan McNabb, and Michael Vick. According to Hurts, who broke Vick’s mark for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a game in team history, those guys have impacted the way he plays the game.
“I have a great deal of respect for those guys,” Hurts said. “The guys that have come before me. [Former Eagles QB] Randall [Cunningham], [Former Eagles QB] Mike [Vick], [Former Eagles QB Donovan] McNabb. Just the way they played the game. I always talk about how I admire the way they played the game. And to be thrusted into that category and different things is a blessing. It’s a blessing. And it’s a lot of hard work going into it. I have a ton of respect for them and their support. And they don’t even know how they’ve affected me and impacted me in my time here.”
The Eagles, more importantly, are 10-1 and still the number one seed in the NFC, and since they beat the Vikings (9-2) in Week 2, they essentially have a two-game lead over Minnesota, so they are in good shape. However, they must keep winning, and the Tennessee Titans, who come to Philly next Sunday, won’t be easy.
On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Eagles placed tight end Dallas Goedert(shoulder) on injured reserve after he injured his shoulder in the team’s 32-21 loss to the Commanders on Monday night.
The fifth-year tight end will miss at least four games, and according to Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, the team will see where he stands at that point.
“It’s not going to be easy to replace [TE] Dallas [Goedert], and not just one person does it,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “So, we’ll see how long he’s out. Obviously, you know he has to be out for at least four games, and we’ll play that by ear as that goes.”
Goedert was having a Pro Bowl-caliber season and was on track to have a career year as he had 43 receptions for 544 yards and three touchdowns, and Sirianni felt Goedert was playing like one of the best tight ends in football.
“He was having a great year, right?” he said. “To me, he’s having a Top 3, Top 5, Top 2, whatever you want — Top 1 tight end year. So that stinks for us as a team, stinks for Dallas.”
Without Goedert, tight ends Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra will get an opportunity. In addition, guys like A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Quez Watkins may get more targets, which Sirianni discussed.
“So, how do we replace him? You can’t, right?” Sirianni said. “You have to do it by committee. You have tight ends that are there that; we have a lot of faith in this building; it’ll start with them. Then it goes to where some of his targets go. Probably a couple will go to [WR] A.J. [Brown], probably a couple go to [WR] DeVonta [Smith], and then you have backs that get intertwined in that. Slot receivers that get intertwined with that with [WR] Quez [Watkins]. You just have to balance it out and try to make — you’re not the going to be able to duplicate everything he does because he has a unique skill set. You try to figure out who can do what he does and can they do it, and then you put that stuff in your offense. Then some of it, you might lose some of your stuff in your offense because it’s always about players, as we talk about. I know we have guys in this building that I have a lot of faith in, though.”
Eagles sign DT Linval Joseph
Also, on Wednesday, the team placed DT Marlon Tuipulotu(knee) on IR and signed veteran DT Linval Joseph. According to reports, it’s a one-year deal. The 34-year-old last played with the Chargers in 2021.
“So, we had an opportunity to add a good player that we played against last year and who made things very difficult for us last year in that Chargers game,” Sirianni said. “There are a lot of guys here that have had opportunities to be around him.
“Coach Gannon [Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon], Coach Rallis [Linebackers Coach Nick Rallis], [Vice President of Sports Medicine/Head Athletic Trainer] Tom Hunkele. I mean, there have been a lot of guys who have had experience with him, and we think he’s the right type of guy for the locker room. We think he’s still a heck of a football player, and he’s going to be able to help us.”
Every team wants to win every game; however in life, there are no losses but only lessons. Hopefully, the Eagles(8-1) learned some valuable lessons after suffering their first loss of the season as they fell to the Washington Commanders(5-5) 32-21 at Lincoln Financial Field.
The first lesson Philadelphia hopefully learned is protecting the football. Coming into this game against Washington, Philly had only three turnovers in eight games, but on Monday night, they had four turnovers, which led to 17 Washington points.
The next lesson the Eagles hopefully learned is that they must stop the run. Philly allowed 152 yards on 49 carries. While the Commanders averaged only 3.1 yards per carry, it did allow Washington to hold the ball for 40:24, and in addition, they let the Commanders keep drives alive as they were 12/21 on third downs.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who completed 17-of-26 attempts for 175 yards, two touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, and an interception, expects the team to respond favorably after the loss.
“My message to [the team] this morning and before the game ironically was hungry dogs run faster,” Hurts said after the loss. “When you win, they say it’s hard to keep the hunger, and I think this team is in a position to dictate on how we want to respond to this adversity, this obstacle in our way. What is done is done, so there is a what now mentality. And I know my mentality moving forward. I know my attention to detail in terms of my preparation and how that will look moving forward. I know my eagerness to play to the standard moving forward. I know what that is. I know how this team will respond, and I have confidence in this football team.”
Many people started talking about the possibility of Philadelphia going 17-0, but according to Hurts, it wasn’t something that was not on his mind.
“I wasn’t entertaining it at all,” Hurts said. “You obviously want to win all of the games we play in. Tonight wasn’t our night. The message for me is control the things that you can. When you do that, you have a pretty good opportunity to be victorious in the end. How do you do it? You prepare, attention to detail, the energy you have, the approach, the mentality towards it, and ultimately playing together.”
This was a good loss for the Eagles, hopefully getting them to refocus and get back to their winning ways against the Colts next Sunday.
At the end of the 2021 season, one thing was clear; the Eagles needed to be a better passing team if they wanted to advance in the playoffs.
Last season, Philadelphia had the best rushing attack in the NFL. After eight games, one thing is clear, Jalen Hurts has grown as a passer. In 2021, the third-year quarterback completed 61% of his passes. This season, Hurts has a 68% completion percentage. He has been much more accurate in 2022, and last week against the Texans, he completed 22 of 27 passes(78%).
Against the Steelers, Hurts had a career-high four passing touchdowns. He showed off his deep ball as all four touchdowns were 25-plus yards.
Right now, the Eagles have one of the top offenses in football as they are second in the NFL in points per game(28.1), so not only is the running game big time, but now the passing game is just as good.
On Thursday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni discussed the improved passing game in Philadelphia.
“Yeah, he’s been able to attack all parts of the field through different ways, through the different types of players we have, and that’s outside, inside, short game, deep game, intermediate game,” Sirianni said. “The more they have to prepare for, the harder we are going to be to defend. So that’s not only our run game, which is in the top tier of the league but also in our passing game. Then you just open up with the way the ball is coming out, and where the ball is coming out, there’s just more and more to defend. That’s tough on any defense; the more they’ve got to defend, the harder it is for them.”
The return of Frank Reich?
Earlier this week, the Colts fired their head coach Frank Reich. Sirianni, who worked under Reich in Indianapolis, said he will always use the former Eagles offensive coordinator as a consultant.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Sirianni said about hiring Reich. “I don’t know yet. That’s not something that’s been — that happened, when, Monday? My focus has been completely on Washington. Again, you know how I feel about [former Indianapolis Colts Head Coach] Frank [Reich]; I’m always going to use him as a consultant, whether he’s in the building or whether he’s not in the building. But I haven’t really thought about that, to be quite honest with you. We’re just really focused on today to get ready for Washington.”
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is going home, and he’s bringing his 7-0 Eagles with him. Hurts, who is coming off a career-high four touchdown passes against the Steelers on Sunday, will lead the Eagles into his hometown of Houston to battle the Texans Thursday night.
Anytime you go home, there is a possibility for distractions, but according to his head coach Nick Sirianni, Hurts will be just fine.
“He’s played in a ton of big games,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “He’s played in NFL playoff games. He’s played in national championship games. He’s played in final four games. He’s played in big high school games.
“He knows that all he can focus on is being there and being the quarterback of our team. It doesn’t matter if we’re in Houston, if we’re in Atlanta, doesn’t matter where we are. He knows about his process. He’d probably be the guy that will handle it better than anybody would because he’s just so focused and dialed in on what he has to do. We talk about this all the time, too, not letting the outside noise get to you, whether that’s you’re 7-0, you’re 0-7, you’re going to Houston, you’re going to Alaska, whatever it is.
“He’ll handle that great, and that really hasn’t been much of a discussion about it because I just know what we talk about all the time, and I know [QB] Jalen [Hurts] is the least person I worry about because he knows how to handle his business better than anybody.”
Hurts has been in many big games in his life, so to Sirianni’s point, he should be fine. However, what’s more concerning is playing on the road on Thursday night; it’s a quick turnaround, which favors the home team. On paper, the Eagles should win, but anything can happen. In the end, expect Hurts to play well and expect the Eagles to get the job done in Houston.
The Jalen Hurts to A.J. Brown connection was on full display Sunday for the Philadelphia Eagles. Hurts hit Brown on three of his career-high four touchdown passes as the Eagles routed the Steelers 35-13 at Lincoln Financial Field to move to 7-0 for the first time since 2004.
Brown had six receptions and career-highs of 156 yards and those three touchdown receptions, and he became the first Eagle to produce three receiving touchdowns of 25-plus yards in a game since 1969. Brown had touchdown catches of 39, 27, and 29 yards.
Hurts had a great day on Sunday as he was 19/28 for 285 yards and those four touchdowns, but despite the success, the third-year quarterback felt he could have done more.
“I guess I was in the zone,” he said. “I feel like I could have done more. You look at the third quarter; I think there was an opportunity to make some plays. [We] had some negative plays there before halftime, took some sacks I feel like I could’ve avoided and probably [could have] gotten the ball out. And then we started hitting some; it’s a testament to the receivers we have [and] the protection we had all day. We were unwavering. I think we kept focused on playing to the standard and chasing that. Hell of a game by [WR] A.J. [Brown] making big-time plays. I know he wants some back for sure but a hell of game by him.”
After seven games, Brown has 39 catches for 659 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Hurts, who has a close relationship with Brown off the field, says he trusts his number one wide receiver.
“I have a lot of trust in A.J.,” Hurts said. “I think that’s a lot of the reason why he’s here. We’ve always had a great relationship. It’s been beautiful to see how it’s unfolded throughout the year, personally for him and I, and us on the field. I always had a lot of admiration for his mentality. He’s been doing great things for us; I’m proud of him as a friend and as a quarterback.”
Brown added: “I think we just want to be great. This(Jalen Hurts) is somebody that I call a friend. He knows what I want to accomplish, and I know what he wants to accomplish. When you’re playing for somebody that you love, who you call family, it’s a different meaning behind it. And I know I can’t let him down. We’re just having fun and playing for one another. I’m pretty sure he knows that I’ve got his back, and I know he’s got mine, too. I think that’s exactly what this is.”
The Hurts to Brown combination has been perfect together. At the end of the 2021 season, the Eagles knew they needed a big-play wideout and another game-changer. Brown has been that and more after seven games.
