I admit, I began writing this piece halfway through the fourth quarter; the game was basically over by then. It's been a long time since an Eagles playoff game was so out of hand so quickly (probably the infamous Guarantee Game against Detroit in 1995). I texted my brother that the game was over after Boston Scott's touchdown in the second quarter; it was apparent that New York didn't have it tonight. The bottom line was the Philly played one of the finest halves in franchise history and effectively ended the game by halftime (1H stats: yardage 258-64, first downs 18-3, time of possession 20-10, total plays 43-19, yards per play 6.0-3.4). Let's hand out a few grades:
PASS OFFENSE: B. Hurts was just fine but not spectacular tonight; no shame in that as it's his first real game action in five weeks. Devonta Smith and Dallas Goedert had big nights.
RUSH OFFENSE: A+. You have eyes, you don't need me to break this down for you (268 yards, 6.1 YPC, three scores). No matter who ran the ball, they got it done. Giant Killer Boston Scott kept his scoring streak against New York going, which was fun.
PASS DEFENSE: A. A couple guys got loose in the secondary here and there, but so rarely and with such little damage you almost didn't notice (notable exception was that obvious score that Richie James dropped late in the game). Daniel Jones turned into a pumpkin; he was a nonfactor. The pass rush racked up five sacks but were even more effective than that. They bothered Jones all night long.
RUSH DEFENSE: A-. Other than a relatively meaningless 39 yard Barkley scamper in the third quarter, the Giants really got nothing going, even on QB scrambles. Excluding that one play they averaged well under four yards per attempt until garbage time.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A. Kick coverage was good, Brett Kern had his best game as an Eagle, Jake Elliott made all five of his kicks.
COACHING: B. I'll give a lot of credit to the staff for getting this team mentally ready for this game (not as easy as it sounds), and for taking the obvious mismatch between the rush offense and their rush defense. The grade gets a little ding for that ugly play sequence in the third quarter (obvious and unnecessary pass on first down that led to a fumble, forcing two more passes that ultimately led to a weird fake punt that accomplished nothing), and for playing Hurts and Lane Johnson as long as they did.
All in all, a 38-7 crushing of a division rival at home in the playoffs is always going to feel good. Let's temper the enthusiasm just a tad; remember that New York was comfortably the worst team in the divisional round. That does not mean that this game was somehow underwhelming or disappointing in any way, but let's acknowledge that the real work begins next week.
FLY EAGLES FLY!
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