Week 15 Preview
Get reacquainted with the Giants
If there is one team that can
sympathize with the kind of maddeningly frustrating season the Eagles are
having, it is definitely the New York Giants. After their dramatic win against
the Eagles on Week 2 in overtime, the Giants lost a shootout to the defending
NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks. At 1-2, this was not the Giants team many
expected it to be. However, the Giants would then go on a tear following their bye
week, winning 5 games in a row against the likes of
Things appear to be getting
better for the Giants despite the issues they’ve had since the Eagles last saw
them in Week 2. Supposedly Tom Coughlin has worked out the differences with his
players and the Giants also snapped their 4 game losing streak
last week against the deteriorating Carolina Panthers. The Giants will be
trying to make it two in a row on Sunday afternoon when the Eagles come to
Giants Stadium.
On offense, the Giants have
managed to do a pretty good job of staying away from the injury bug. Even
though they are injured, O’Hara and McKenzie will likely play on Sunday. This
is a huge boost for QB Eli Manning, who has been known to be flustered when
under pressure. Even with Toomer on IR, Manning still
has many great weapons in the air including the aforementioned TE Jeremy Shockey and his wide receivers Plaxico
Burress and Tim Carter. The Giants also have an
outstanding 1-2 punch at running back with Tiki
Barber and Brandon Jacobs. Jacobs is the ying to
Barber’s yang. While Barber is a shifty RB with a lot of moves (and soon to be
retiring), Jacobs is a big back at 6’4’’, 264 pounds and can be counted on to
grind down the defense when asked to. If Eli Manning finds a good rhythm, this
Giants offense can be downright scary and explosive.
On defense is where the
Giants have had problems given their injuries. A huge loss for the Giants is DE
Michael Strahan, who is out with a foot injury. Their
problems at defensive end don’t stop there as their other DE Osi Umenyiora has had a leg
injury in recent weeks but will most likely play in limited action. As a
result, most of the day we can expect to see the likes
of William Joseph and the aforementioned Mathias Kiwanuka at DE. Even with the loss of Arrington for the
year, the Giants still have some great LBs in Carlos
Emmons and Antonio Pierce. They also have a playmaker in FS Will Demps who will have a busy day ahead of him.
What to watch for on Sunday
Eagles QB Jeff Garcia stated
that this was a playoff game and he is absolutely right. The Eagles and Giants
are both 7-6 right now and battling for a playoff spot in what has turned out
to be an excellent playoff race in the NFC. Both teams are looking to rack up a
win in the division as well for the obvious reasons. Both teams need this wind
and are looking to get hot as both teams have difficult games next week with
the Eagles at Dallas and the Giants against
When the Eagles have the ball
The 75% chance of Michael Strahan being out for Sunday’s game is enormous for the
Eagles’ chances on offense. T Jon Runyan will
undoubtedly have an easier time trying to keep William Joseph from rushing
Garcia as opposed to Michael Strahan. Right now
Garcia has a hot hand, going 2-1 in 3 starts throwing for 805 yards, 8 TDs, 0INT, and having a 97.4 passer rating. Garcia and the
Eagles will try to spread the ball around to keep the Giants defense off guard.
The Eagles’ receivers pretty much have to play a perfect game in this one. No
turnovers, no dropped passes, all while making plays. Garcia has the mobility
and the intelligence to get the right guys the ball, it’s simply a matter of
whether the receivers can do their part.
A critical matchup when the Birds have the ball is Brian Westbrook
against the Giants defense. Brian Westbrook is the key to this Eagles offense
and has been for several years. When he does well, the Eagles do well. The
Eagles will need a balanced run/pass attack as they have in weeks past and will
need to use Westbrook in a logical way. The Giants have done great against the
run and not so good against the pass. There is a good chance the Eagles will run
lots of screen plays to Westbrook, slants to the likes of Reggie Brown or Donte Stallworth, or runs up the
middle with Correll Buckhalter.
With the Eagles' playoff hopes pretty much riding on this game, they may not take
as many risks on offense they normally would.
When the Giants have the ball
As we said last week in the
post game, the Eagles’ run defense is horrible. This could mean bad news for
the Eagles because Jacobs and Barber are two very good running backs. The guy
the Eagles should be very concerned about, strangely enough is Jacobs. Jacobs
had 35 yards rushing in week 2, but averaged 7 yards a carry! Even stranger
about Jacobs, he has almost 900 yards less rushing than Barber, but has 8 touchdowns
on the year as opposed to Tiki’s 1. The Eagles
ability to win this game depends almost entirely on whether they can stop the
run. The Giants know it is the Eagles weakness and will be trying to exploit it
early and often. One thing is certain, the Giants are
a much better team than the Washington Redskins. If the Eagles give up 210
yards rushing to the Giants this week, they will lose the game. The only
anecdote is the Eagles need to stop the run and force Manning to pass the ball.
The Eagles did a great job with Manning in Week 2 getting pressure. If the
Eagles can get pressure on Manning, things should work out for the Eagles.
A big matchup
on defense is CB Sheldon Brown against WR Plaxico Burress. Even though many Eagles fans would love to forget
about it (ourselves included), it was Burress that
burned the much smaller Brown in OT for the winning touchdown. Brown had said
that he was embarrassed about that play and that he would learn from it. We
will see for sure how Brown does against Burress this
week. Brown should not be afraid to get physical with Burress.
Burress is an emotional player with a bit of a mean
streak. If he can get Burress frustrated, the chances
of him doing something stupid, Burress will almost
certainly commit a dumb penalty. Burress is Manning’s go-to guy and Sheldon has to be on him
like white on rice.
The other matchup
on defense will be rookie LB Omar Gaither against Tiki
Barber. Gaither’s career has gotten off to a good start the past two weeks as
he recorded his first NFL interception last week against the Redskins. Gaither
will have a good test of his skill against the crafty Barber. With Dhani Jones keeping busy with Jeremy Shockey
(yikes), it is up to Gaither as well as MLB Jeremiah Trotter to put a lid on
that running game. It will be a very difficult task for them, but it is
certainly not impossible by any means.
Special Teams
Neither team has anything particularly
notable to mention on special teams. Even though he has battled injury, K Jay
Feely has done a fine job for the Giants going 18/22 on FGs
on the year and P Jeff Feagles remains one of the better
punters in the league. For the Eagles, K David Akers has been reliable. More
importantly, P Dirk Johnson’s punts last week helped the Eagles get great field
position throughout the game and led to FGs instead
of TDs because of the longer field. If Johnson can
repeat the success this week, it will be to the Eagles benefit.
Returning kicks for the
Giants will be Chad Morton and for the Eagles will be Reno Mahe.
Prediction: Eagles 28 Giants 24