.png){kind=logo}
EAGLES LOSS TO BIG BLUE MAKES IT SEVEN IN A ROW
The Eagles nightmare of a season continued Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field as the Birds lost to the New York Football Giants 19-11 in front of 69,879 hopefuls.
The glaring issue for the Eagles who have now lost seven in a row after starting the 2-0 is injuries on the offensive side of the ball and the sudden retirement of future Hall of Fame right tackle Lane Johnson.
The running back and wide receiver rooms have been wiped out with various injuries.
The offensive line is a shell of the 2024 version since Pro Bowlers Landon Dickson and Cam
Jurgens came down with various injuries and have never recovered.
Jurgens was traded to Baltimore a few weeks ago and his replacement Drew Kendall has also been hampered with the injury bug.
The Eagles Super Bowl MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts is out for the season because he developed blood clots in his leg and lungs.
Hurts backup Tanner McKee has been ineffective in relief three weeks straight.
So, the Birds tried the recently acquired quarterback Joe Milton at quarterback against the Giants.
Milton, who the Eagles signed off the Dallas Cowboys practice squad three weeks ago, looked better and had better statistics than McKee overall, but the Birds could only muster eleven points.
But with no running game- the two running backs accounted for a total of 28 yards rushing - no starter-level receiver to throw to, it was remarkable Milton put up the numbers he did.
The 2024 sixth round draft pick out of Tennessee (by New England) was 18 of 24 for 169 yards. Milton rushed for 64 yards on nine carries and scored on a two-point conversion.
Milton was sacked seven times for 41 yards. One of the sacks was an unblocked clobber by linebacker Arvell Reese who hit Milton so hard he jarred the ball loose and was recovered by Giants linebacker Micah McFadden.
Reese finished the game with All Pro numbers including a game high 12 tackles (eight solo) including three sacks.
EAGLES HEAD COACH AFTER THE GAME
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was asked about the unblocked hit on Milton.
“Yeah, I'm not going to get into who's at fault or anything like that, but anytime there's a guy that's free in that situation, we've got to look at ourselves as coaches first and say, 'Did we do everything we could do to help them?'” Sirianni said after the game. “And then it's going to be an execution thing. So, it's 'both and.' It's never just one thing.
“Obviously in that case, we'll make those corrections in person with everybody. Whether it's on us as coaches or whether it's an execution thing, it's still on us as coaches.
“It starts with me and it's always on me; every product that's on that field is my responsibility. 'Well, there was an execution error on this play or that play.' Well, did I put him in every position I could possibly put him into to go out and execute that?
“I'm always going to look internally first and look at myself first. That's why I do say that in those situations. How do you get all these different looks?
“Well, sometimes you might have to take some things out of the plan to make sure you're getting multiple looks at certain things. You always look at yourself internally first. I'll take that on that one.”
Sirianni was asked what the main issues are with getting the running game going at least at some level.
“Obviously, you can't say it's just one thing because it's many different things,” Sirianni said. “We had the run on the zone read to start the second half, we end up getting a guy, we end up getting a hold on that particular one, put you behind the sticks.
"I think when you're not converting third downs like we weren't today, I think we were in the 20 percent (level) or whatever like that, then that doesn't open up your opportunity to go on the ball or to get a new set of downs to get more runs.
“Some of that is just the inefficiency of the offense not creating more plays off of first downs to get more plays, to get more cracks at it. You don't score points unless you shoot the ball.
"It's the same thing there. On offense, if you're not getting the plays, the number count of it, then that's hard to execute as well."
EAGLES CENTER SAYS THEY ARE STILL FIGURING STUFF OUT
Kendall was asked what offense was being run against the Giants. Is it part last year's offense? Is it Sean Mannion's system?
“We're still trying to figure that out a little bit,” Kendall said at his locker after the game. “We're doing a little bit of both. This is our new scheme in general. So it's not nessassaryily anything to do with years previous. We're trying to find out what works for us right now.”
Kendall was asked for his thoughts on Milton's performance overall?
“Good,” Kendell said. “He battled out there. He was a calming presence out there. He was keeping us together the whole time. I really liked working with Joe today and want to keep building on that relationship.”
IT WASN'T JUST THE OFFENSE
Complimentary football is the key to winning. The Eagles defense and special teams were well aware their quarterback was starting his first-ever NFL game Sunday against an Eastern Division rival .
You would think they'd want to get off to a god start to help the former Tennessee standout.
The Eagles struggled early in this game, and it had nothing to do with Milton.
Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy drove the ball well on Big Blue's first drives that netted two field goals.
The Giants second field goal was set up by a 15-yard penalty (unsportsmanlike conduct) on punt coverage after the Eagles first drive stalled at their 20-yard line.
Instead of first and ten at their own 31-yard line, the Giants started their drive near midfield.
Near the end of the first quarter, trailing 6-0, Milton led the Eagles on a 58-yard, eight-play drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Saquon Barkley.
After a Giants penalty on the extra point, Sirianni elected to go for two and got it to take an 8-6 lead into the second quarter.
But the Birds continued their season-long penchant for self-inflicted mistakes.
The Eagles defense held the Giants to a three-and-out on their next drive.
Jordan Stout got off a 62-yard punt to the the Eagles nine-yard line. Cooper DeJean – in for injured punt returner Britain Covey – returns the ball seven yard to their 16-yard line.
Not too bad, right?
Any idea of another long drive was squashed when veteran cornerback Riq Woolen was called for a block in the back. The penalty resulted in the Eagles drive starting at their drive from their six-yard line.
The Birds went three-and-out.
The Eagles offense could only muster three more points on a Jake Elliott 45-yard field goal with 1:56 left in the game.
Saquon Barkley was asked what the most frustrating part of this losing streak.
“The most frustrating thing has always been when you're losing I don't get into what it's suppose to look like or we're not producing. At the end of the day, the most important thing is winning football games.
“If we had won this game 8-6, I would have been happy with that.”
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert, who caught five passes for 50 yards, was asked what gives him the confidence that they can figure out how to get the offense?
“We just have to go out there and execute,” said Goedert, who admitted he faces the reality of being traded by the November 10th trading deadline. “I'm going to do whatever my job tells me to do. I'm going to make plays when the opportunity presents itself.”
DEFENSE WAS SOLID BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH
There was a time in this game that it wasn't crazy to think the Eagles could win the game 8-6. After those first two field goals, the Eagles defense was dominating the Giants offensive line.
The Eagles held Big Blue to just 16 yards rushing at the half. The Eagles pass rushed sacked J.J. McCarthy five times
But two things happened in the third quarter that likely decided the game:
Early in the third quarter (with 12:02 left) Baun delivered a heavy, flush hit to Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy on a 3-yard quarterback run.
The hit sidelined McCarthy with a hip injury. Baun also hurt his back on the play and never returned.
Jameis Winston came in for McCarthy and, on his second drive led the Giants on a 14-play, 76-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Isaiah Likely to take a 13-8 lead Big Blue would not relinquish.
The Eagles defense was clearly not the same without Baun.
McCarthy finished 12 of 19 for 127 yards. He was sacked five times but did not turn the ball over.
Winston was 6 of 8 for 71 yards and a touchdown pass. He was sacked once and did not turn the ball over.
FROM THE GIANTS SIDE OF THE BALL
Center Bryan Hudson was asked about the early mistakes Big Blue was making early when they sacked McCarthy so many times and were unable to move the ball.
“The pre snap penalties and operational stuff (problems) started getting to us in the first half,” Hudson said at his locker after the game. “I think we cleaned it up more in the second half and got things going a little bit.
“But we were shooting ourselves in the foot, getting behind the chains, we put ourselves in a bad spot. We just had to clean up the operational stuff.”
What happened when Winston came in? The offense seemed to really pick up.
“He came in and he executed,” Hudson said. “He was getting the ball out and the protection was solid. There was nothing different in the game plan, when he came in we were stating to put things together a little more.
“That was when we were cleaning up out operational stuff. He did an amazing job and from then on, I thought our operation was better.”
The Giants are 5-2-1. Can they keep it up? What has been a common for the Giants to forge this record?
“We're been playing really good situational football,” Hudson said. “We've had a lot of guys step up throughout the season so far. At the end of the day, I think that this whole team resilient, very competitive and showing a lot of heart in all these games.
“Just like today for us on offensive side of the ball, it's not been pretty at times. But our competitiveness and heart - as a team - has shown how we've kept this thing going and playing team football. We've just go to keep building on it.” *
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com
Comments