EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — On the first day of December, the Philadelphia Eagles lost their third game in a row, a 6-point defeat at Miami. The Eagles were 5-7, and even in the woeful N.F.C. East, a playoff berth seemed unlikely.
But the Eagles won each of their next three games, the third one a decisive 8-point victory over the Dallas Cowboys, their only remaining competitor for the N.F.C. East title. That meant an Eagles victory in their regular-season finale on Sunday, at the home of the Giants, one of Philadelphia’s oldest and fiercest rivals, would bring a berth in the postseason.
Tens of thousands of Philly fans made the trek up the New Jersey Turnpike for the contest, perhaps buying their tickets from disgruntled Giants fans, fed up over a third successive losing season.
The result was a setting inside MetLife Stadium that sounded like a Philadelphia home game, and the Eagles rewarded their fans with a 34-17 victory that sent them to the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
The cheering Philadelphia fans may have had another, unintended consequence: The overwhelming and obvious absence of Giants fans almost certainly got the attention of the team’s co-owners, John Mara and Steve Tisch, who are contemplating a coaching change. Giants Coach Pat Shurmur has a 9-23 record in his two years leading the team. It may also have been the final appearance in an N.F.L. uniform for Eli Manning, who lost the starting quarterback job with the Giants in September and is expected to retire.
He sat on the sideline on Sunday and witnessed a desultory first half that ended with Philadelphia leading, 10-3. But both offenses came alive — at least by N.F.C. East standards — when they combined to score three touchdowns in the third quarter.
On the Giants’ first drive of the second half, a 20-yard touchdown pass from the rookie quarterback Daniel Jones to Golden Tate tied the game at 10-10. The Eagles responded with a nine-play drive that ended with Boston Scott’s 7-yard touchdown run up the middle of the Giants’ porous defense.
But on the Giants’ next play from scrimmage, running back Saquon Barkley raced outside and ran away from every Philadelphia defender for a 68-yard score that tied the game again.
The good vibes for the Giants, however, were mostly contained to the third quarter. Trailing by 20-17 after a 50-yard Jake Elliott field goal, Jones had a low shotgun snap bounce off his hands deep in his own territory. Jones, who had been harassed in the passing pocket throughout the second half, failed to recover the fumble, and the Eagles fell on it at the Giants’ 2-yard line. Scott bulled into the end zone on the next play — then added another 2-yard touchdown run later in the final quarter for a 34-17 Eagles lead that put the game out of reach.
A mostly tedious first quarter began with the Eagles mixing the run and the pass against a largely backpedaling Giants defense. Philadelphia quarterback Carson Wentz completed two passes for 25 yards and scrambled through the middle of the Giants’ formation for another 10 yards, and soon Philadelphia was in Giants’ territory. But the drive stalled with the Giants’ tackles stuffing two rushes. Wentz overthrew a receiver and then failed to convert a fourth-down play at the Giants’ 38-yard line.
A defensive holding call against Eagles cornerback Rasul Douglas handed the Giants’ offense one first down, but an offensive holding penalty on the next play put the Giants in a hole that led to the first of five first-half punts by Riley Dixon.
On the subsequent possession, Philadelphia tight end Dallas Goedert was wide open on a deep crossing route — a pass pattern the Giants have seemingly been unwilling to cover all season — and Wentz rifled a pass for a 28-yard gain that set up a 31-yard field goal by Elliott.
For the next six drives, neither team threatened to score. Finally, a 25-yard pass from Jones to tight end Kaden Smith, with a roughing-the-passer penalty tacked on at the end, moved the Giants to the Eagles’ 40-yard line. Tate’s 20-yard reception on the next play put the Giants in field-goal range, and three plays later, after they had gained only a yard, Giants kicker Aldrick Rosas booted a 37-yard field goal to tie the game, 3-3.
Philadelphia answered with an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a spectacularly athletic play by Wentz. Scrambling swiftly to his right, he flung the football across the field to tight end Joshua Perkins, who was standing in the left corner of the end zone. The pass traveled at least 50 yards in the air and was launched on the run off one foot.
The Giants tied the score, 10-10, on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Tate, a score set up by a 17-yard dash around the right end by Jones on a fourth-and-1 play at the Eagles’ 37-yard line.
Source: Football - nytimes.com
