🏈🏈🏈🏈
Philadelphia Eagles 22, New York Giants 21
For once, I actually got to watch most of a Giants game.
Was I rewarded?
Well, almost.
The G-Men played well for almost the entirety of the game, and even appeared like they might pull off the win. At least, that is, until it mattered the most. Maybe in the final five or six minutes, it seemed like the Giants could do nothing right, and like the Eagles could do nothing wrong. There also were a hell of a lot of penalties during those final minutes, and the vast majority were called against the Giants, which helped to decide the outcome, in my opinion. Some were legitimate, but others had you kind of scratching your head and wondering why the refs were not calling those earlier in the game. That the home team gets a ton of calls go in their favor is nothing new, of course. But at some point, it makes you feel like screaming out, "Just let them play the damn game!"
Ultimately, however, the Giants saw their seemingly comfortable 21-10 fourth quarter lead with just around five or six minutes left to play evaporate after Philadelphia orchestrated not just one, but two touchdown drives right at the end of the game, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Admittedly, the final 18-yard touchdown pass from Carson Wentz to Boston Scott inside of the final minute was a thing of beauty, a truly spectacular play that should make the highlight reels for some of the best plays of the season. The Eagles offense really found their footing and started to look explosive, although they were aided by those constant calls in their favor by the refs, as well.
By then, the Giants were sufficiently out of sync, and the next offensive series showed it, as well. The very first play from the 35-yard line was quite decent, and they looked on their way to possibly putting themselves in field goal position to win it with another play or two like it. But then - surprise, surprise - there was a questionable call against the Giants that frankly looked, in the replay, like no big deal. Yet, the call against them proved costly. Instead, that decent gain was negated, and Big Blue was pushed far back. They picked up some yards after that, but were clearly feeling a bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation, and the tremendous amount of yards they needed to pick up just to get a first down, and with the clock running, and no time outs. The game effectively ended when quarterback Daniel Jones fumbled, something that was a major problem last season, and which proved very costly last night. It was recovered by the Eagles, and that was the ball game.
In fairness, the Eagles enjoyed a decisive advantage in many aspects of the game, including a slight advantage in time of possession, and a more decisive one in terms of overall offensive yards gained, with 442 to just 325 for the G-Men. Philly's offense also produced 27 first downs, to just 17 for New York. But perhaps the biggest and most glaring reason for the Eagles win, which was their eighth straight win over the Giants, was that they committed just one turnover, while the Giants committed three of them.
Philadelphia's Carson Wentz completed 25 of 43 passes for 359 yards, with two touchdowns and one INT. Richard Rodgers was his main target, and he picked up six receptions for 85 yards last night. Running back Boston Scott added 46 yards on 12 carries.
In a losing effort for the NYG, quarterback Daniel Jones completed 20 of 30 passes for 187 yards, and like Wentz, he also threw two TD's and one INT. His favorite target was Sterling Shepard, who reeled in 6 catches for 59 yards and a touchdown.
With the win, the Eagles improve to 2-4-1, and for now, they are tied with the Cowboys atop the NFC East, although the standings will be altered when Dallas and Washington play in another important divisional game this weekend. As for the Giants, this loss lowers their record to just 1-6 on the season, and they have sole possession of last place again in the NFC East, at least for now.
My pick: Unfortunately Accurate
No comments:
Post a Comment