Biggest differences between Eagles and Giants from Week 14

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Biggest differences between Eagles and Giants from Week 14

 

The Eagles beat the Giants twice in the regular season but that Week 18 game was a weird one. The Giants rested their starters and the Eagles did the bare minimum to win and earn the No. 1 seed.

So the first meeting between these two teams ahead of their rematch in the divisional round is more telling. And it’s probably a big reason why the Eagles are favored by 7.5 points on Saturday night.

In that Week 14 meeting, the Eagles smashed the Giants 48-22, earning their most lopsided victory of the year.

But the Eagles and the Giants are different teams than when they met on Dec. 11 and they’re different in several ways.

With that in mind, here are the biggest personnel differences from that Week 14 game to now:

Biggest Eagles differences

• Dallas Goedert will play in this one. In Week 14, the Eagles were in the middle of their five-game stint without their star tight end, who still managed to go over 700 receiving yards in 12 games in 2022. In that first meeting, the Eagles actually started Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra and went out there in 12 personnel, but Stoll played 47 snaps (69%) and caught 2 passes for 20 yards. Calcaterra caught 2 for 24.

It’s a big deal to get Goedert back for this game because the Giants have struggled to defend tight ends all season and we really saw that in the playoff matchup against the Vikings. T.J. Hockenson caught 10 passes for 129 yards while the Giants were preoccupied with slowing down Justin Jefferson. If the Giants want to play A.J. Brown the same way, there will be big mismatches for Goedert against the Giants’ linebackers.

• The Eagles will have a different secondary in this game. C.J. Gardner-Johnson in, Avonte Maddox out.

Maddox (toe) isn’t expected to play this game and that’s a big loss because he’s played well all season but he has been injured quite a bit. But at least the Eagles will have Gardner-Johnson, who missed Week 14 with a lacerated kidney. In Week 18 against the Giants’ backups we got a glimpse of how the Eagles plan to go forward. CJGJ played safety in the base package and slid into the slot corner role in nickel. Expect that to continue. When Gardner-Johnson is at the nickel, he’ll be replaced at safety by undrafted rookie Reed Blankenship.

• While Jalen Hurts and Lane Johnson are expected to play against the Giants in the divisional round, it’s fair to wonder how close to 100% they’ll be.

Hurts is off the injury report and that’s a good sign but he probably won’t be completely healthy either thanks to that SC joint sprain in his right shoulder. In the first meeting against the Giants, Hurts rushed for 77 yards and in Week 18 the whole game plan was designed to keep him healthy. The Eagles need Hurts to be closer to the version from the December contest.

And Johnson actually missed several snaps in that first Giants game and was replaced by Jack Driscoll, who played 12 snaps. Johnson is going to attempt to play through a torn adductor in his groin this weekend. He’s been limited in practice.

• The Eagles’ normal punter Arryn Siposs actually got injured in that Week 14 game against the Giants. He tried to advance the ball after a blocked punt and ended up getting hurt. It might not sound like a big deal to have a backup punter but there has been a drop-off from Siposs to his replacement Brett Kern.

Siposs: 45.6 yards per punt; 39.5 net yards per punt

Kern: 40.8 yards per punt; 36.6 net yards per punt

Biggest Giants differences

• The Giants are much healthier in their secondary this time around. The Eagles feasted on that banged-up group of defensive backs in Week 14 that was playing a ton of man coverage behind a blitz-happy scheme. A.J. Brown in that game caught 4 passes for 70 yards against Nick McCloud and Cordale Float, who are no longer in the starting lineup.

Against the Vikings, the Giants got Adoree’ Jackson back and Jackson (with some help) did a really nice job against Jefferson. Jackson hadn’t played since November because of a knee injury but looked good in the wild card round. He’ll probably see a lot of his former Titans teammate in this one.

And the Giants will also have Xavier McKinney in this game. McKinney returned in Week 17 from a hand injury suffered in an ATV accident on the bye week. He started against the Vikings in the wild card round and played well next to fellow safety Jordan Love. McKinney is a former second-round pick out of Alabama and is a pretty good player on the back end.

• Defensive tackle Leonard Williams missed Week 14 with a neck injury but should be out there on Saturday. Williams has been outshined by his teammate Dexter Lawrence, who has been incredible, but he’s still a good player and they form a really dangerous duo.

• The Giants have made some changes to their linebacker group since Week 14. While former Cowboy Jaylon Smith has been a starter for most of the year, the Giants made a switch at that other spot. Earlier in the season fifth-round pick Micah McFadden was starting but the Giants signed veteran Jarrad Davis off the Lions’ practice squad and started him in Week 18 and last week’s playoff game.

Davis, 28, has 68 career games under his belt and has been a starter in the NFL before. But it is pretty unusual to see a guy come from another practice squad and be a starter in the playoffs a couple weeks later.

• The Giants have been using a rotation at their left guard spot. Rotations at any OL position are pretty rare. In that Week 14 game, Nick Gates started at left guard and played all 64 offensive snaps for the Giants. But starting the next week Ben Bredeson began to get some snaps at the position. In the wild card round, Bredeson got 50 snaps at left guard, while Gates got 22. If you’re wondering, Gates ranks 43rd out of 78 guards in the NFL, per PFF, and Bredeson ranks 59th.

No matter who’s in there, it should be a chance for Javon Hargrave, Fletcher Cox and Co. to succeed.

• Receiver Isaiah Hodgins (6-4, 210) started that Week 14 game against the Eagles and had 4 catches for 38 yards and a touchdown, but he’s been even better in recent weeks. In the wild card game against the Vikings, he had 8 catches for 105 and a touchdown. The Giants’ receivers aren’t Pro Bowlers but it’s a solid trio with Hodgins, Darius Slayton and Richie James.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/biggest-differences-between-eagles-and-giants-week-14