MetLife Stadium —After the game I’m sure NY Giants head coach Brian Daboll wants to move on and burn the Philadelphia Eagels’ game film.
Jalen Hurts threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Eagles clinched their second straight playoff berth and fifth in six years with a 48-22 victory over the injured New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“We got way bigger goals than this one,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said without referring to the NFC East title, the top playoff seed or the Super Bowl. “On to the next one. It’s nice to get this win here because this is a good football team. It’s nice to come out here and play well on the road.”
The Giants control their own destiny but if they have any playoff aspirations, they have to fix their anemic offense quick fast and in a hurry.
The Gang Green, who have the league’s second-ranked defense and third-ranked offense, dominated from the start and played in the Giants backfield all game long. They sacked Daniel Jones twice on the opening series and Hurts then went to work driving his team 84 and 91 yards for touchdowns back-to-back.
“Everything we want is still in front of us,” said running back Saquon Barkley, who played 20 snaps despite a neck injury that questioned his availability. “We’ve got a big one next week. Everyone knows about that, and we’ve just got to come out ready to play.”
Hurts threw for 217 yards and hooking up DaVonta Smith on a 41-yard fourth-down TD dime and A.J. Brown on a 33-yarder as the Eagles (12-1) scored on their first three possessions. Hurts also ran for 77 yards, highlighted by a 10-yard TD scamper late in the third quarter.
Hurts also became the first QB in NFL history to rush for at least 10 touchdowns in consecutive seasons. His main concern is getting better and trusting the process.
“The most simple thing we’ve done is to try and grow and execute,” said Hurts, who was 21 of 31 passing. “It’s good that we prepared in a way that we’ve been able to execute at a high level. We just want to continue to do that. That’s the name of the game.”
Miles Sanders’ 144 yards rushing against the G-Men pushed him to 1,068 yards rushing this season, which made him the first Eagles’ running back to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season since LeSean McCoy ran for 1,319 in 2014.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals and the defense finished with seven sacks, including three by defensive end Brandon Graham.
“We’re not done yet,” Graham said. “I feel great, just us reaching our goals: making the playoffs, postseason. We’ve got so much more game and ball to go. We’ve got to make sure we finish like we want to. A great first step.”
A.J. Brown’s 70 yards receiving gave him 1,020 yards in 2022, making him the first Eagles’ receiver to have over 1,000 yards receiving since Jeremy Maclin had 1,318 yards receiving in 2014.
Jones and Tyrod Taylor both threw touchdown passes for the Giants (7-5-1). The Giants have one win in their last six contests (1-4-1) and they are trying to secure a playoff berth in the next four weeks.
Daboll said his team has to learn from this game and move on quickly.
“I think that’s something that we’ve stressed since day one: There’s no room for excuses. There are a bunch of explanations. We got beat. They outcoached us. They outplayed us,” Daboll said. “And we got to get ready to go soon; the season’s winding down here, and we got an important one on Sunday.”
Next UP:
Philadelphia will travel to Soldier field to play the Chicago Bears on Dec.18th.
NY Giants will travel down 95 and play the Washington Commanders on Dec. 18th.
