The Eagles are clearly better than the Giants.
That is not a negative criticism of the Giants—just credit for how prolific the Eagles have been this season. Neither the Giants nor their fans should feel dejected or embarrassed by the 38-7 butt-kicking the Eagles administered in one of two NFC divisional round games on Sunday. In the other, the San Francisco 49ers eliminated the Dallas Cowboys by 19-12.
This past Sunday’s Giants-Eagles matchup transpired virtually how their first meeting of the season, a 48-22 Eagles waxing in Week 14 on December 11, proceeded: the Eagles scoring early and often with little resistance. In the divisional game, they put up 14 points in the first quarter and equaled that total in the second. By halftime, it was 28-0 Eagles and the Giants season, for all intents and purposes, was over.
After throwing for 301 yards and running for 78 in a career best game versus the Minnesota Vikings’ deficient defense in the Giants’ 31-24 wild card game victory on the road the prior weekend, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was suppressed by a star-laden Eagles unit that led the NFL in sacks this regular season with 70. The Kansas City Chiefs were a distant second with 55. Jones was just 15-27 for 135 yards and one interception. He was sacked five times and had only six carries for 24 yards.
“Well, crash landing here. Give Philly credit,” said Giants head coach Brian Daboll at his postgame presser in succinctly summarizing the loss. “They did everything better than we did today. Tough game. We really got beat in all facets, so it wasn’t one thing in particular.
“It was a team game and we just didn’t get it done. Congratulations to Philly. They get to move on and unfortunately we don’t.”
In his first season as the team’s head coach, Daboll, along with first-year general manager Joe Schoen, transformed the Giants from a 4-13 franchise that fired former head coach Joe Judge to a 9-7-1 squad this season that made its first playoff appearance in six years. Now they will take the next five months or so to reassess, evaluate and plot their course to close the gap between themselves and the Eagles, who were 14-3 this season and structured to remain a perennial playoff contender for the foreseeable future, led by their All-Pro quarterback Jalen Hurts.
The two most important decisions will be the free-agency status of Jones, 25, and running back Saquon Barkley, who is also 25-years-old. The Giants are certain to sign Jones to a multi-year contract that should be the median of the top 15 QBs in the league. Barkley’s injury history – he played in just 15 of the Giants’ 33 games in the 2020 and 2021 seasons – and the market value of running backs will be the most important factors in negotiations between the parties.
This season, Barkley had a resurgence, finishing fourth in the NFL in rushing with 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns playing in 18 of the team’s 19 games including the postseason. He was sat out by Daboll for the last regular season game along with many of the Giants starters on both sides of the ball.
“He’s a great teammate,” said Schoen of Barkley meeting with the media on Tuesday. “He’s a guy we would like to have back. It’s just, again, we haven’t had our end-of-season meetings yet… Everybody is going to step back, take the emotion out of it, evaluate the roster and then, again, we’ve got to operate under the salary cap…We would like to have Saquon back if it works out.”
On Jones, Schoen was more definitive. “We’re happy Daniel’s going to be here,” he emphasized. “We’re happy he’s going to be here. Hopefully we can get something done with his representatives. That would be the goal – to build a team around him where he can lead us to win a Super Bowl.”
