The New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles met for the second time in five weeks on Sunday. The Giants won the first game, 13-7, in New Jersey and haven’t won since. The Eagles, conversely, haven’t lost since.
Before the season, the Giants were being considered by some experts as a breakout team while the Eagles were almost unilaterally picked to finish last in the NFC East.
A lot has changed since then. The Giants entered the game at 4-10 while the Eagles came in at 7-7 with a chance at the postseason. Neither looked like a playoff team early in this game, which like most COVID-ravaged contests this weekend, was far from entertaining. But Philadelphia set things straight and pulled away with a 34-10 whipping of New York.
Here are some winners and losers from the game.
Winners
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
Lorenzo Carter: Another strong game from Carter, who is likely closing out his Giants career. He will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. Not sure if these final few games will tilt the scales his way for a new contract from Big blue.
Graham Gano: Gano kicked a 54-yarder to open the scoring in this game extending his franchise record for 50-yarders in a season to seven. He continues to be a bright spot in an otherwise dismal year for the Giants.
The Giants’ draft position: The loss puts the Giants at 4-11 and will likely push them up the draft order. They started the day with the fifth and sixth overall picks (Chicago’s and their own) and with the 3-10 Jets and Texans both winning, their prospects of moving up in the order are improving. The Bears (4-10) play in the late window at Seattle.
Joe Judge and Daniel Jones: With a vote of confidence from management this week, they’ll get another year to prove the Giants were right about them. Watching the quarterback play in this game from Jake Fromm and Mike Glennon made fans long for Jones.
Others: Devontae Booker
Losers
AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson
Matt Peart: Peart finally got a chance to start with Nate Solder on the COVID-19 list and ended up leaving the game with a knee injury in the first quarter. Once thought of as a possible starting tackle of the future, the former third-round pick’s stock just took another dive.
Saquon Barkley: Once again, Barkley underwhelmed with 32 yards rushing and -4 yards receiving. It is becoming evident that he is nowhere near what he once was and the Giants are going have to make some decisions with him this offseason. He is on the books for $7.2 million next season and if he’s going to log in stat lines like this, they may have to cut bait.
Evan Engram: The Eagles are last in the NFL when it comes to covering tight ends. So what do the Giants do? They basically ignore Engram, who caught a four passes for 17 yards, two of them late and one for a TD. It won’t be enough for the Giants to re-sign him this coming offseason.
Riley Dixon: Dixon has been fairly steady for the Giants the past two seasons but lately his play has declined. He shanked a few in this game and it’s the first time that’s happened this season. They could be looking to bring in one competition next summer at training camp.
The fans: Like we stated, COVID has put a dent in almost every team’s roster and that showed up in the level of play around the league this weekend. For the not-so-deep teams like the Giants, it hit really hard. This season has gone from barely watchable to completely unwatchable. Enjoy those free medium fountain soft drinks.
Others: Darqueze Dennard, Jake Fromm, Mike Glennon
Mixed reviews
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
Eli Penny: The fullback was saddled with mop-up duty on Sunday and to his credit, he played hard and took some serious hits to close things out. The production wasn’t significant but the effort was.
Others: Kadarius Toney
1
1