20.01.2023

Giants @ Eagles Game Preview and Pick

One of this weekend's NFC Divisional playoff games will be an NFC East showdown, with the Giants heading to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles. New York could not beat the Eagles this season in their two match-ups; however, their second game featured a heavy dosage of back-ups. That will not be the case this weekend as the Giants will look to build off their impressive win last weekend over the Vikings. We’ll break down this weekend’s game before reviewing my best bet for the action.

Game Preview

The Philadelphia Eagles will come into this week off a much-needed and much-deserved first-round bye. Eagles fans hope the time off was enough for Jalen Hurts to fully recover from his injuries and carry the offense to a repeat performance of the first time these teams met when the Eagles scored 48 points.

When both sides met in week 18, Hurts did play, but he did not look to be 100% as he only ran for 13 yards. On the season, the young quarterback averaged 50.6 rushing yards per game, and for Philadelphia to be successful, they’ll need him to use his legs. Especially since the Giants were 27th in the NFL in rush yards allowed per game this season and 30th in rush yards per play.

Defensively the Eagles finished the regular season ranked 8th in points allowed per game and 1st in yards allowed per game. Their ability to create turnovers is a big reason they ended up with the one seed, as they finished 6th in the league in takeaways per game.

The last time these teams met at full strength, the Eagles were able to limit Saquon Barkley to 28 rushing yards in the game. The positive for New York is their offense has a ton of momentum heading into this weekend after scoring 31 points in the first round, with Daniel Jones throwing for 301 yards and two touchdowns.

New York’s passing game looked highly impressive last weekend, but the key this weekend is finding more success on the ground. Philadelphia finished 16th in rush yards allowed and 24th in rush yards per play, so if Jones can continue to find success using his legs as he did last weekend, they can put more pressure on the Eagles than the first time around.

Pick for the Game

The point total for this game is currently set at 48 points, and I’ll be taking over as my best bet for the game. Philadelphia scored 25 or more points in ten games this season and finished the regular season with the number three scoring offense in the NFL. Despite how impressive the Giants have been this season, they still allowed an average of 356.7 yards per game this season.

New York just played a Vikings team with no running game at their disposal, but Philadelphia has multiple players who can play a significant factor in the run game. One of those players being Miles Sanders, who rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns the first time these teams met.

Despite being the one seed, the Eagles defense was prone to having lapses this season. Over their last ten games of the season, they allowed 20 or more points to be scored in six of them, and as previously mentioned, this Giants' offense is clicking on the ground and through the air.

In the first meeting between these two teams, 70 points were scored in the game, and although this weekend might not reach that total, I think this will be a back-and-forth scoring game.