Menu Close

Your In-Depth Eagles at Giants Week 15 Preview

Adrian Fedkiw|

Carson Wentz is out, Nick Foles is in.

The Philadelphia Eagles will play their first game following Wentz’s ACL injury this Sunday when they travel to East Rutherford to clash with the New York Giants. How will they respond following the loss of the MVP candidate.

 

EAGLES PASSING GAME VS. GIANTS PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 101.5 PASSER RATING (4/32), 247 YPG (11/32)
NYG- 99.0 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (30/32), 266 YPG ALLOWED (31/32)

What can we expect from Foles the rest of the way?

He’s not going to lead the league in everything third down and toss touchdowns on seemingly every red-zone trip like Wentz did, but Foles is certainly a capable starter. If you want to get a sense of where the difference is going to be, think about it this way. Let’s say the Eagles have five scoring drives in a game. With Wentz and the way his red zone touchdown rate was, you’re looking at about four touchdowns and a field goal for 31 points. With Foles, you’re looking at potentially 2-to-3 touchdowns instead, if that. So you go from scoring 31-35 to about 23-27.

There’s your difference.

Pederson said during Monday’s press conference that he intends to maintain aggressiveness with Foles under center.

“My confidence is extremely high in Nick. You saw what he did in that game last night. The big 3rd and 8 to [WR] Nelson [Agholor]. These are things, people ask me, ‘Why did you throw the ball?’ Because I’ve got confidence in Nick. I’ve got confidence in the guys. That’s what I’m going to continue to do. I’m going to continue to stay aggressive.”

Pederson also discussed what needs to be done to cater the offense to Foles’ strengths.

“There’s not much we have to do. It’s more or less just what is he comfortable with? What is Nick familiar with? I’ve known him for a lot of years and we’re going to continue to have the same communication that Carson and I had during the weeks. Carson’s going to be a big part of helping Nick get ready too. So not much going forward is going to have to change.”

Foles was able to convert this critical 3rd-and-8 late in the game against Los Angeles on Sunday.

The key for Foles is going to be keeping defenses honest because the Eagles possess a great running game. Opposing defenses might start creeping eight men in the box to stop the offensive line and three-headed attack of Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount and Corey Clement. That’s when Foles will have to hit his deep shots.

Since Foles has been with the second unit, maybe we’ll finally see some more of Mack Hollins, who I’m sure has built some solid cohesion with Foles. Torrey Smith, however, is coming off his best game of the season after catching six balls for 100 yards.

Halapoulivaati Vaitai has surrendered sacks in consecutive weeks, getting beat inside by Frank Clark and Robert Quinn, respectively. Big V will square off against Olivier Vernon, but having Stefen Wisniewski next to him at left guard to help is key. Wiz exited Sunday’s game with an ankle injury and without him at guard, Chance Warmack failed at aiding Vaitai when he overextended and let Quinn beat him.

 

EAGLES RUNNING GAME VS. GIANTS RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 4.6 YPC (4/32), 143.0 YPG (2/32)
NYG- 4.3 YPC ALLOWED (24/32), 130.0 YPG ALLOWED (31/32)

With Foles now at the controls, I expect the Eagles to become more of a ball-control offense that uses their running backs, offensive line and great defense to win games. It’s what the Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings have done all season long.

The Jaguars lead the NFL in rushing attempts (437) and are one of two teams (Buffalo Bills) to run the ball more this season than they’ve thrown it. They possess the highest run-pass ratio in the NFL and the seventh-leading ground gainer in Leonard Fournette. Minnesota on the other hand is fourth in rushing attempts and eighth in run-pass ratio. The Vikings lost Dalvin Cook to an ACL injury early in the season, but Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon have picked up the slack and are a huge reason why Case Keenum has flourished on third down, where the Vikings are second in the NFL (46 percent). Due to a revamped offensive line, the team added left tackle Riley Reiff in free agency and drafted center Pat Efflein, coupled with the running of Murray and McKinnon, Keenum is consistently put in favorable third-down situations.

So what does this have to do with the Eagles?

Philadelphia doesn’t necessarily have to change its strategy too much because it is second in the NFL in carries and seventh in run-pass ratio. It seems like a long time ago when Pederson refused to run the ball the first two weeks. Now it might be vital towards the Eagles’ success the rest of the way. Jay Ajayi has looked like the best Eagles back the last few games, I’d like Pederson to lean on him more. He had 15 carries Sunday, the most he’s had in an Eagles uniform. I think he should be toting the rock 20 times a game with LeGarrette Blount and Corey Clement still getting carries as well. The offensive line has been a dominant run blocking line for most of the year, although the left side of it does need improvements.

The Giants have allowed the second most rushing yards per game this season and are 24th in yards per carry yielded at 4.3. Philadelphia should be able to run the ball effectively on Sunday.

 

GIANTS PASSING GAME VS. EAGLES PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 78.8 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (4/32), 223 YPG ALLOWED (13/32)
NYG- 81.5 PASSER RATING (21/32), 206 YPG (22/32)

After Ben McAdoo tried to shake things up and sat Eli Manning in favor for Geno Smith two weeks ago, the Giants finally had enough and gave McAdoo the boot. Manning returned as the starting quarterback Sunday and completed 31-of-46 passes for 228 yards with a touchdown an interception.

As horrible as the Giants’ offensive line is, they’ve only allowed 29 sacks on the year, which is tied for 20th. Right tackle Justin Pugh hadn’t played in his last five games due to a back injury and was finally placed on injured reserve Thursday. The ferocious Eagles front seven didn’t record a sack against Manning and the Giants in Week 3. Manning has been getting the ball out quick to negate the pass rush, but in return game plans have been very conservative and predictable.

Vinny Curry or Derek Barnett against Ereck Flowers. Timmy Jernigan against John Jerry. Fletcher Cox against Bobby Hart. Brandon Graham against Chad Wheeler. These are huge mismatches in the Eagles’ favor.

Injuries have decimated New York’s receiving corps. Sterling Shepard is solid, but Roger Lewis and Tavarres King certainly aren’t scaring opposing defenses.

 

GIANTS RUNNING GAME VS. EAGLES RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 3.5 YPC ALLOWED (5/32), 68.1 YPG ALLOWED (1/32)
NYG- 3.8 YPC (24/32), 90.1 YPG (14/32)

Orleans Darkwa leads a pedestrian Giants rushing attack with 580 yards on the season, but the Eagles’ run defense has taken a dip the last two weeks. They allowed Seattle’s Mike Davis to accumulate 64 yards on 16 carries in Week 13 and Todd Gurley put up 96 yards on 13 carries on Sunday.

Missed tackles have been a huge problem, especially from the secondary. Malcolm Jenkins was pitiful on Sunday. The defensive backs have been rather reliable all season bringing ball carriers down, but not recently. Since there’s such a mismatch in the trenches, I expect the Eagles to completely shut down the Giants’ rushing attack like they did against Chicago.

 

PREDICTION

The Giants are the perfect opponent for the Eagles following Wentz’s ACL tear. They struggle stopping the run, they struggle stopping the pass, hell, they struggle with everything. I expect Foles to have a solid outing in his first start of the season, to see some more Jay Ajayi and the defense to suffocate New York’s offense. Wentz or not, this game should still be a cakewalk for the Birds.

27-9 Eagles

 

You can follow Adrian Fedkiw on Twitter (@AdrianFedkiw) and e-mail him at [email protected]. Subscribe to The Bitter Birds on YouTube here. Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.