Eagles vs. Giants: 19 winners, 2 losers, and 2 IDKs

In the lead up to Week 8, I felt like the Philadelphia Eagles needed to make a statement against the New York Giants.

The Birds needed to get back at the team that embarrassed them on a national stage in Week 6.

My stance on the Eagles needing to score style points softened once we learned they would be without A.J. Brown, Cam Jurgens, and multiple defensive starters.

At that point, I felt like they merely needed to avoid getting swept by the G-Men. Losing twice to them in three weeks would’ve been a really bad look.

Instead, the Eagles turned in their first real feel-good win of the season. They were up 38 to 13 before pulling their starters and allowing a garbage time touchdown with 2:44 left in the game. And they actually outgained an opponent for the first time this season! By 183 yards, prior to Tanner McKee’s kneel downs to run out the clock.

The Eagles are 6-2 and things feel like they’re trending in a positive direction as the team enters their Week 9 bye.

Time to hand out winners, losers, and I don’t knows from this encouraging performance.

For even more analysis, check out my appearance on The Ringer’s Philly Special postgame podcast with Sheil Kapadia (and Ace Producer Cliff Augustin).

If it wasn’t already apparent that Barkley wasn’t the main problem with the Eagles’ running game struggles, it should be by now. He clearly still has juice.

Entering Week 8, Barkley’s longest run of the season went for just 18 yards. He topped that mark with his first carry of the game in this one with a 65-yard house call that hearkened back to his stellar 2024 season.

All told, Barkley logged 14 carries for 150 rushing yards and one touchdown … plus four catches for 24 yards and one touchdown. According to math, that’s 18 total touches for 174 yards from scrimmage and two scores.

And he accomplished this much through just the first three quarters of the game. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter as a precaution due to the groin injury he suffered on the final play of the third quarter. Speaking in the locker room after the game, Barkley indicated he could’ve re-entered the game if necessary. He seems to intend on playing when the Eagles return from their bye.

It remains to be seen if the 2025 Eagles truly have their running game back on track or if this was just about taking advantage of a Giants defense that was allowing the third-most rushing yards per attempt.

Regardless, it was refreshing to see Barkley get going.

So very bizarre that the Eagles really talked up Bigsby’s kick returning ability after they traded for him. He stunk at that.

The Eagles took Bigsby off kick returns in Week 7 and finally gave him a limited role on offense. As RB2, he took a carry for 11 yards on four offensive snaps played.

Bigsby was once again RB2 in Week 8. Rotating in for Barkley, his first carry of the game came on the Eagles’ second drive and went for 18 yards. He had another result in no gain.

Bigsby then didn’t touch the ball again until after Barkley tweaked his groin on the final play of the third quarter. It was a 2nd-and-26 where Bigsby broke through tackles to gain 29 yards and a first down. Pretty unexpected!

The Eagles continued to lean on Bigsby to help close the game out and he ultimately had nine carries go for 104 rushing yards (a very efficient 11.6 yards per carry). This was Bigsby’s second-highest rushing performance of his career, only behind his 118 for the Jacksonville Jaguars against the New England Patriots last season.

Bigsby’s role is obviously going to be limited with Barkley ahead of him but the Eagles should find ways to get their second running back involved. He’s looking like the most dynamic RB2 option* they’ve had during the Nick Sirianni era. Perhaps mix in some 22 personnel?

*(Bigsby had a run of 29 yards in this game. The longest run of Kenny Gainwell’s Eagles career was 35 yards.)

THE EAGLES’ OFFENSIVE LINE

As a team, the Eagles logged 33 rushing attempts for 276 yards and one touchdown. No other team has rushed for more yards in a game this season.

And if you take out Tanner McKee’s three end of game kneel downs for negative two yards, it’s really 30 carries for 278 yards. That’s a whopping 9.3 average.

After struggling for most of the season, the Eagles’ offensive line finally got going in the run blocking department. They asserted their will like we’re used to seeing.

While we’re on the topic of the Eagles’ offensive line, I want to single out Brett Toth.

There was question about how well he’d play in the absence of injured Eagles starting center Cam Jurgens. Toth had some struggles filling in for him last weekend.

In fairness, Toth did not prep to play at center in Week 7. He did in Week 8 and that seemed to make a difference. He passed the eye test with some nice blocks out in space:

For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus graded Toth as the second-best offensive player from this game (only behind Bigsby).

Toth also drew praise from his teammates:

As recently as this summer, Toth mightily struggled shotgun snapping the ball to Jalen Hurts. It was so bad that he was replaced by rookie Drew Kendall in that role.

Kudos to Toth for rewarding Jeff Stoutland’s faith in him. It’s been a long road for Toth, who originally signed with the Eagles in August 2019, to make a key impact as a starter. His perseverance is commendable.

Hurts has been extremely efficient over the past two weeks.

He’s accounted for 20 touchdowns and just two turnovers this season.

There are currently nine NFL players with shorter MVP odds than Hurts (+2200). Not the worst bet to make if you feel like he’s going to keep this up.

DeVonta as WR1 with A.J. Brown not playing: 9 targets, 6 receptions, 84 yards.

Facing a bad and injured Giants secondary certainly didn’t hurt his outlook. But the Giants couldn’t stop him even though they knew Hurts was going to target him over and over.

DeVonta made some nice grabs to turn some off-target Hurts throws into completions.

DeVonta has a 123.3 passer rating when targeted this season. That’s the highest single-season mark of his career.

Three targets for three receptions and 28 yards isn’t the flashiest stat line.

But two of those grabs were touchdowns, putting Goedert up to seven scores in eight games this season. His previous high in a season was the five he had in 15 games played during 2019.

Wouldn’t have been so funny if the Eagles didn’t bring him back!

There was a point in the fourth quarter where I realized Dotson only had one target for zero receptions. Simply need better production than that from a WR2 that cost a third-round pick in a trade. In fairness, Hurts has to throw him the ball.

And he finally did late in the game. And it wasn’t even a great throw! Dotson was able to Moss his defender to make the grab and land in the end zone for a touchdown that gave the Eagles a 25-point lead with 5:59 to play.

That grab should served as a reminder that Dotson should be involved more than never. He had only been targeted five times in the previous four games combined.

Though it hasn’t been the smoothest road to this point, the Eagles are ultimately 6-2 entering their Week 9 bye. That’s the record I had predicted for them in my win-loss exercise following the schedule release.

Sirianni didn’t allow the team to spiral after two straight losses. They’ve responded to that stumble with two straight wins.

In the bigger picture, Sirianni is serving as head coach for one of the very best eras of Eagles football.

Only fair to credit the Eagles offensive coordinator for when the offense plays well if he’s going to get criticized for when it struggles.

This was a really impressive performance:

The Giants were allowing 376 yards per game and 25.8 offensive points per game. The Eagles put up 427 yards and 38 points.

It wasn’t just the bottom line results that were encouraging. It’s also how the Eagles got there.

The Eagles weren’t as predictable. They continued to incorporate under-center play action (what a novel concept!). They also continued to utilize six offensive linemen packages:

And they had success with them (shocker, adding an extra offensive lineman instead of relying on backup tight ends who can’t block is a helpful approach):

Maybe Patullo is starting to figure some things out eight games into his first season as an NFL play-caller?

Q: Can you address the job that offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo has done so far and how well, or maybe not well, he’s ignored the noise because every time we talk to those guys in there, they’re saying, ‘It’s us, not him.’ And now it seems to be–

NICK SIRIANNI: I think that in football, it’s always us, all of us. I know they love Kevin, but it’s always all of us. I think Kevin’s really mentally tough. I think you have to be in this game regardless of anything. You have to be mentally tough in this game. It’s a long season. There’s ups and downs, there’s weekly stories, all those different things. I think what Kevin’s done a really good job of is being able to block out anything that can be a distraction to him and working like crazy to put himself in the best position to call the best game that he can each week regardless of what’s going on. I’ve got a lot of respect for Kevin in that aspect.

THE EAGLES’ DEFENSIVE LINE

The Eagles logged five sacks on Dart. That’s the most sacks by the Eagles in a game since they had six in Super Bowl LIX.

The Eagles rushed Dart in a controlled way where they did not allow the rookie quarterback to gain yards with his legs. Dart finished the game with just six runs for 17 yards and one touchdown … and two of those attempts for three yards and the TD came against the Eagles’ backups in garbage time. So, he was really kept to 14 yards on four runs. He previously had 13 carries for 58 yards and a touchdown in Week 6.

The Eagles’ defensive line by the numbers:

More on Hunt in his own section below.

Ojomo is up to a team-high four sacks in eight games this season after entering this year with one career sack in 29 games played.

Davis set a new career-high in regular season sacks with three total.

Carter logged his first sack of the 2025 season.

Also worth mentioning that Joshua Uche nearly got to Dart for a strip-sack.

In addition to rushing the passer, the Eagles’ defensive line played their part in limiting the Giants’ rushing attack to 68 yards on 21 carries (3.2 average). That’s after allowing the Giants to rush for 172 yards on 39 carries in Week 6.

Jalyx Hunt recorded one sack and generated nine pressures on 22 pass rushes (40.9% pressure rate), exceeding his previous career high of five pressures in a game. Hunt created pressures against four different Giants offensive linemen, including six pressures against right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor on 17 matchups. Hunt also added three run tackles on 14 run snaps, with the Giants averaging just 3.8 yards per carry when running in his direction.

Between this performance and his pick-six last week, Hunt seems to be building positive momentum after a quiet start to the season. Good to see the second-year edge defender rounding into form.

Some have said that Mitchell was fortunate to receive the offensive pass interference call that wiped out a huge Darius Slayton touchdown. Watching the play from the press box, it looked like OPI to me in real time even before I saw the flag was thrown.

The Giants’ wide receivers obviously aren’t good but Mitchell deserves credit for locking down his competition. Per NFL Next Gen Stats:

Mitchell had never allowed fewer than two targets in a game and no receptions in his career prior to this matchup, and is now one of 10 cornerbacks to allow one or fewer targets for no receptions in a game this season.

Quietly very good with a team-high six tackles, team-high two TFLs, team-high two passes defensed, and one sack. He’s graduated to the point where it’s easy to take for granted just how good he is.

The Eagles’ defensive coordinator clearly learned from mistakes that were made back in the Eagles’ loss to the Giants in Week 6. One such change in approach was highlighted by NFL Next Gen Stats.

The Eagles defense shifted their coverage in their rematch against the Giants, deploying zone coverage on 67.1% of dropbacks compared to just 38.2% in Week 6. When doing so, the Eagles limited Jaxson Dart to only 9 scramble yards on two attempts, a significant reduction for a quarterback who had accumulated 125 scramble rushing yards and had a 10.3% scramble run rate (5th-highest among quarterbacks) entering the game.

Getting Dart to hold onto the ball allowed the Eagles’ defensive line to get home.

Dart averaged a 3.68-second time to throw, the third-longest by any quarterback in a game this season (min. 20 pass attempts) and the longest of his career by three-quarters of a second, despite facing pressure on over half of his dropbacks (54.8%).

The Eagles originally hoped Shipley would be RB2 behind Barkley. They wanted him to be Kenny Gainwell’s replacement.

Then they traded for Bigsby, who has clearly overtaken Shipley as RB2. But his demotion doesn’t mean he’s not a useful player on the roster.

Shipley averaged 33 yards on three kick returns, including a 41-yarder that set up the Eagles’ second touchdown drive three yards short of midfield. Shipley also logged two tackles on special teams coverage units.

And though his three carries produced just two yards, he had three yards on a 2nd-and-2 run to give the Eagles a first down on the touchdown drive that resulted in Philly taking an 18-point lead.

An unsung hero of this win.

Prior to Week 8, Mann was averaging 4.7 punts per game. Only three teams averaged more punts.

Against the Giants, Mann only had to punt once! It’s the first time the Eagles punted just once in a game since their Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. Mann’s sole punt went 57 yards.

There’s reason to believe the Eagles will be better after their Week 9 bye.

Nolan Smith and Jakorian Bennett could return from injured reserve. Smith could be the Eagles’ top pass rusher when healthy. Bennett could factor in at CB2, if necessary.

A.J. Brown, Cam Jurgens, Adoree’ Jackson, and Azeez Ojulari might be back after missing Week 8.

Brandon Graham should be ready to play in Week 10.

Howie Roseman could make an addition or two ahead of the trade deadline.

The Eagles remain undefeated while wearing their best jersey color since the team brought them back as alternates in 2023.

As a reminder, the Eagles have two remaining Kelly Green games this season:

Week 12 at Dallas Cowboys
Week 18 vs. Washington Commanders

They’ll likely be favored in those games. 7-0 is on the table.

The last time the Giants won at Lincoln Financial Field was October 27, 2013.

Exactly 12 years ago from this publish date.

The officiating in this game was bad.

And some of the mistakes undoubtedly helped the Eagles, such as the refs blowing the whistle early on Jalen Hurts’ forward progress on the tush push to negate a Giants fumble recovery.

The Eagles were hurt by some missed calls as well. It looked like Nakobe Dean was blatantly held on Dart’s touchdown throw to Cam Skattebo, for example.

It just wasn’t a banner day for this crew. This moment really summed up the incompetence:

58-yard field goal attempts traditionally aren’t automatic but long kicks have seemingly been more make-able than ever this season with the new K-ball rules, so, I’m holding Elliott to a higher standard here.

This was the second week in a row he’s missed a field goal after sending a 42-yarder wide last week.

Not really losing confidence in the Eagles’ kicker but the misses do need to stop.

Are the misses at all attributable to new long snapper Cal Adomitis? I don’t know. Could be good to get Charley Hughlett back whenever he’s ready to return from IR. Elliott didn’t miss any kicks with him snapping.

The Eagles had their best offensive game of the season without A.J. Brown playing. So, he’s clearly the problem! Trade him!

Not really. The Eagles had their biggest passing performance of the season last week with Brown heavily involved.

And it makes no sense that Brown being out was the difference in the Eagles’ run game really taking off against the Giants.

Trading Brown would be very dumb. You don’t trade players who are arguably the best player at their position in the NFL. Especially when you’re actively competing for a Super Bowl.

That being said, it’s been weird how there are constant reports about how the Eagles are not going to trade him.

If your best friend keeps telling you that they’re not going to stop being friends with you, aren’t you going to be suspicious that they actually do want to stop being friends with you? Doth protest too much at some point.

Not to mention that Jeffrey Lurie was asked about Brown on the record and he didn’t exactly shut down the idea that the Eagles would trade him.

Again, I think the Eagles would be dumb to trade Brown. I think he’s going to be on the roster past the November 4 trade deadline.

But I don’t know if that means the weird energy surrounding this situation is going to stop.