The past was mostly dark, and the future is uncertain in East Rutherford. But in the present, the Giants delivered a gift of victory.
Disclaimer: This article was written prior to Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale resigning from his position on Monday as well as Falcons head coach Arthur Smith getting fired earlier in the day.
This last regular season Sunday of NFL football was weird. Sure, there was plenty of normalcy, like Tennessee’s no-quit attitude combined with their historically recent dominance of the Jaguars propelling them to victory, sinking their division foe’s playoff hopes in the process. Josh Allen was erratic and benevolent at the same time. In New Orleans, Jameis Winston went rogue to help Jamaal Williams get a touchdown, and Arthur Smith, who definitely doesn’t have a reputation for being easily irked by things that don’t get most people irked, wasn’t very happy.
But gosh, there were some seriously odd happenings on Sunday. Los Angeles Rams quarterback Carson Wentz defeated San Francisco 49ers quarterback Sam Darnold, a sentence that would’ve seemed unfathomable five years ago. Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey, who entered Sunday on a record streak of 35 made field goals to start a career, had his first field goal attempt blocked and his second doink off of the left upright. Bill Belicheck’s tenure as head coach of the New England Patriots might’ve ended with a loss to the New York Freakin’ Jets, a team he’d won 15 straight against and 38 of 47 overall since 2001.
But arguably the most unexpected outcome was the Giants beating the Eagles 27-10. The final score doesn’t do this game justice; Philly got their ass kicked. New York went up 24-0 late in the second quarter, and after a Jalen Hurts moonball down the left sideline was picked off by Xavier McKinney, Nick Sirianni essentially waved the white flag by taking out the starters.
This result was nearly unthinkable, especially considering the fact that the Eagles have had the Giants number for a while; heading into Sunday, they were 26-7 against the G-Men since 2008 and 17-3 since 2014. Of those seven New York wins, just one was by more than two touchdowns (42-7 in 2012).
Yes, the Eagles were spiraling, having lost four of their last five heading into Sunday. The Giants had also shown signs of life after their post-Devito hangover loss to the Saints with competitive defeats at the hands of Philly and the Rams. But it was still a Giants squad who ranked 30th in points per game and had struggled moving the ball for most of the season. Even in their five previous wins, they failed to reach the league-average yards/game mark (337) twice and scored more than 24 points (not including defensive touchdowns) just once (31 against Arizona in Week 2).
On Sunday, the Average Joe’s looked like the, uh, Way Above Average Joe’s. Tyrod Taylor & Co. had shockingly little trouble moving the ball early on. On New York’s second drive of the game, Taylor injured his thumb on his throwing hand, prompting Tommy DeVito to enter at QB for the next drive, where the Giants went three-and-out.
After Taylor subbed back in for drive number four, Big Blue scored on three consecutive possessions to balloon their lead to 24-0 by halftime. Not only that, they looked uncharacteristically explosive, as they registered six plays of 19+ yards in the half (yes, I used 19 because two of them were exactly 19 yards, and I really wanted to prove this point). The speedy Wan’Dale Robinson kept getting open, Saquon Barkley sprung free for a 46-yard rainbow down the left sideline, and it was a drubbing of epic proportions considering the history between these two teams. Outside of the 35-point smackdown on New Year’s Eve Eve 2012, the Giants hadn’t led the Eagles by this much in a game since 2000.
On the other side, the Eagles reacted to blitzes like I did to geometry problems in high school. Most of the time, when Wink Martindale sent extra pressure, the Eagles looked befuddled, and the Giants got home. So what did Martindale do? He kept sending extra pressure! And it kept working!
Hurts looked completely out of rhythm before getting benched, finishing with an unceremonious statline of 7/16 for 55 yards and a pick. While it didn’t help that AJ Brown exited the game late in the first quarter with a knee injury, Hurts looked completely flustered whenever he was thrown off-schedule, which he was for most of his outing. Funny enough, the first attempt from backup Marcus Mariota went exactly like Hurts’ outing did; an interception into double-coverage by McKinney.
The loss combined with a Cowboys win meant that Philly will be traveling to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers in the 4-5 NFC Wild Card matchup. Something to look out for is this; the Giants finished the regular season with the second-highest blitz rate in the league at 42.2%. Third on that list? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 37.9%. Will they blitz Hurts at a historic rate like the Giants did? I’m not sure. But in their Week 3 matchup, they went after Hurts a lot, and their results were extremely positive. Here’s the full Next Gen Stats breakdown from buccaneers.com’s Scott Smith:
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Bucs sent at least one extra pass-rusher at Hurts on 61.0% of his dropbacks, which is the second-highest blitz rate that he has faced in a game in his career. When he faced a blitz, Hurts threw 23 passes, completing 13 of them for 152 yards, no interceptions and two touchdowns. He compiled a -9.3% completion rate over expected (CPOE) and a Total Expected Points Added (EPA) of -8.8. Those are comfortably his worst numbers against the blitz this season, and those interceptions – by Devin White and Dee Delaney – were his first two in 2023.
Hurts’ passer rating on those 25 throws against a blitz was 40.5. In contrast, he finished the game with a passer rating of 122.6 when he wasn’t blitzed, completing 10 of 14 passes for 125 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. The Bucs’ blitzes weren’t even extraordinarily effective at generating pressure, as Hurts was pressured on 33.3% of those snaps. However, that was far better than the Bucs’ pressure rate on Monday night when they didn’t blitz, which was 14.3%.
I was at a sports pub in downtown Washington D.C. that was littered with Eagles fans. They likely expected a win with the hopes of a miraculous Commanders upset of the Cowboys. Instead, as Dallas rolled over Washington, they watched their team roll over to a team they’d rolled over for a decade and a half.
In a way, it felt stunning. Not only was this butt-kicking rare, but the Eagles still had a lot to play for; a win and a Cowboys loss would’ve won them the NFC East as well as the two-seed. Similarly applied last week when they fell to the feisty Cardinals. How could you have such a letdown to such an inferior team with so much on the line?
In another way, Sunday’s result wasn’t actually that surprising. To put it nicely, Philly’s defense is a shell of its previously-dominant self. By success rate, the Eagles were fresh off of their worst defensive performance since 2006. Earlier in the season, they allowed 30+ points in three straight games for the first time since 2015. Despite heavily investing in the unit, most metrics rate them as below average. The defense that created so much havoc a season ago has been doing the same in this season – just onto themselves and their fans instead of opposing offenses. Perhaps that’s karma for putting Matt Patricia, a coach who’d underwhelmed as DC in New England and failed horribly in Detroit, in charge of calling the plays on defense.
However, this is not meant to be an Eagles hate piece. Rather, this is a Giants love piece. While many seasons past have seen darker clouds roam above than 2023, there were still plenty of embarrassments, injuries, questions, untaken leaps and unmet expectations. But just like they did in late November and early December, albeit for a brief period of time, they gave Giants fans something to cheer about.
The offense, while far from daunting, showed glimmers of promise. Tyrod Taylor had another great game, and considering how much the value of a solid backup QB has skyrocketed over the past couple of seasons, he might’ve made himself some good money in the process. Robinson, who finished the evening with five catches for 85 yards, looks the part of a star WR2 or 3, and Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins and Jalin Hyatt seem to be solid ancillary options. Even better, Sterling Shepard, who’s stuck around despite enduring several season-ending injuries and a lot of losing, went out with a win in what was likely his final game as a Giant. Although a legitimate WR1 is still missing, the upcoming draft offers a handful of potential ones in Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers, and depending on what you think about Washington’s Rome Odunze, LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr. and Florida State’s Keon Coleman, them as well.
Then, there was the defense, who had one of their most productive outings of the season on Sunday with five sacks, five TFLs, eight passes defended, five QB hits and four forced turnovers to finish the season tied with the Ravens for the most takeaways in the league. After not forcing a single takeaway in the first four weeks of the season, the Giants registered 31 in the final 13 games. While most metrics rated Wink Martindale’s crew as an average to below average unit, the amount of havoc they created helped them immensely in a handful of games.
Personnel-wise, there were a handful of surprises this season on defense. Dane Belton, who followed up his two-INT masterclass against the Rams with another productive performance against the Eagles, looks like a keeper. Bobby Okereke, who had a sack and a PD on Sunday (and played every single defensive snap this season alongside McKinney), is looking like one of the best free agent signings in recent team history, as he was exactly what the Giants wanted and a lot more. Micah McFadden, who led the Giants in tackles with nine on Sunday, has gone from a fifth-round rookie who underwent growing pains to a smart, stalwart sophomore who looks the part of a long-term option at inside linebacker.
“I think it’s just a great example of a homegrown kid within an organization, putting in the work, reaping what you’ve sown and really just seeing growth after a first-year campaign,” Okereke told The New York Post back in November. “I think it’s just going to be a great example for the rookies that come in next year because this year to look at Micah and be like, ‘Wow, here’s a guy who’s really put the work in and done everything right and is now reaping in success.”
Heck, even the special teams produced a couple of keepers. Jamie Gillan concluded a Pro Bowl-caliber season with four of his five punts landing inside of the 20-yard line. And after cycling through punt returners at the beginning of the season, the Giants might’ve found a long-term option in Gunner Olszewski.
Finally, the culture has appeared to have remained positive. Despite enduring several disheartening defeats at the beginning of the season, the Giants never stopped competing. After their 1-4 start that included nationally-televised embarrassments against the Cowboys and Seahawks, they only had three games the rest of the way where they were out of it for most of the 60 minutes (Raiders, Cowboys, Saints). Their losses to the Bills, Eagles and Rams (each of whom will play in the postseason) could’ve easily been wins if not for a few plays that didn’t go their way.
“I’m proud as hell of you guys. We competed all the way until the end,” Daboll said to the locker room after Sunday’s game. “It was never perfect. But the way we competed these last few games is a testament to the type of character that you guys have, and I really appreciate that.”
Sunday was a classic example of the effects of a happy ending. Had the Giants lost, the potential reality of immense turnover this offseason may have been felt harder. But they didn’t. They fought all the way to the end, and they were rewarded with a victory over their division foe.
However, it’s difficult to ignore what may lie ahead. Barkley, McKinney, Martindale and several other cornerstones may not be back next season. Despite NFL Network’s Mike Garofolo reporting that Daniel Jones will be the Week 1 starter next season, that doesn’t necessarily mean New York won’t take a QB in the upcoming draft. Plus, with their win and a Chargers defeat, the Giants slid to the sixth overall pick, with LA (who has a similar need for a playmaking pass-catcher) jumping in front of them. But maybe, just maybe, the football gods and goddesses will reward the G-Men for failing to quit in the midst of constant defeat.