Giants take massive leap towards prominence with win over defending champion Eagles

Can one game change the trajectory of a franchise? Giants fans like myself are hoping that last night’s 34-17 walloping of the Philadelphia Eagles was a turning point that will bring us back into the realm of Super Bowl contenders after spending years wandering in the wilderness of pro football. It’s not as though the Giants haven’t made the playoffs since Eli Manning retired after the 2019 season. The 2022 campaign had magical moments that provided hope for the future with Daniel Jones looking like he could be a long-term fixture at quarterback and Saquon Barkley rushing for over 1,300 yards. We even won a playoff game! The issue with 2022 was that the Giants went 0-5 against Philadelphia and Dallas, including being embarrassed by the Eagles 38-7 in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs.

Flash forward to 2025 and there is another promising young quarterback and exciting young running back in place. The Giants are still a longshot for the Playoffs with a brutal schedule ahead, so why should we feel hopeful now when we know that everything fell apart after 2022? There are two reasons. The first is that we just beat the defending Super Bowl champs by 17 points. The second is that Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo are absolute animals.

This is going to sound like sour grapes, but I’ve been saying this since Barkley’s college days. He is an unbelievable athlete, but he doesn’t have the physicality I prefer to see in a lead back. He’s a boom-or-bust guy who tries to turn every play into a home run and he doesn’t embrace contact like the battering ram that is Skattebo. Barkley can change a game with one big play, but when that big play doesn’t come, he’s pretty ordinary. Last year, Barkley was hitting a home run once a game. This year, his longest run is 18 yards and that came in the first quarter of last night’s game.

Skattebo reminds me of guys that the Giants have won with. He’s Otis Anderson, Brandon Jacobs, and Ahmad Bradshaw. He just loves mauling dudes and you could tell on Thursday that the Eagles did not want to tackle him. His style might not lend itself to longevity, but he can be a major factor in a game that is played 10 yards at a time. Skattebo is also an intensity machine who will not let his team take a week off.

Now let’s get to Dart. He still holds the ball too long and puts himself in danger of taking damaging sacks that can put the offense behind schedule. However, we also saw some precision from him that was very encouraging. Even when the first read wasn’t there, Dart quickly went through his progressions and found the open man.

Just look at where he puts this ball to Theo Johnson with the pocket collapsing and nowhere to escape to. From the sideline angle, I thought he was throwing a reckless ball, but it couldn’t have been placed better. This accuracy and poise combined with Dart’s ability to improvise and scramble like he did on the Wan’Dale Robinson touchdown are why everyone is so excited about him. Plus, there are Dart’s intangibles, which we were already aware of from training camp. How Brian Daboll and Skattebo reacted to him going into the injury tent shows how important Dart is to the Giants already.

Speaking of the injury tent, something needs to be done about Russell Wilson. Until Dart learns how to slide, he is going to miss a few plays per game at least. We can’t have Wilson coming into a big situation and spiking the ball like he did last night. If Wilson is not going to be ready to play, the Giants have to move on from him early and make Jameis Winston the backup.

Big Blue’s defense left a lot to be desired. It’s hard to complain about zero points allowed in the second half, but I will try. It was great to see Brian Burns get to Jalen Hurts twice, but the pass rush was dominated by Philly’s offensive line on other occasions. We also could not figure out Dallas Goedert for the entire game. He caught nine of his 11 targets for 110 yards and a score. The good news is that the Giants handled Hurts’ other targets pretty well (although let’s not forget Hurts missing DeVonta Smith for what could have been a very long touchdown pass) and came up big on third down. They also found the biggest play of the game when it looked like the Eagles were mounting a fourth quarter comeback.

Cor’Dale Flott’s interception and 68-yard return were a major momentum swing, and the Giants might not have emerged victorious without it. Even better was that New York didn’t settle for a field goal that would have kept Philly within two scores. Instead, Dart through a perfect ball to Jalin Hyatt to draw a pass interference flag. Skattebo plowed into the end zone for his third touchdown of the night on the next play to put the Giants ahead by 17.

What a win for the New York Football Giants. We owed Philadelphia a beatdown, and the debt is still not repaid. There is still a lot of work to do if this team is to get into the playoff hunt. Let’s see if they can pull of their first road win of the season a week from Sunday in Denver.

Thursday night was also exciting for baseball fans with the Phillies and Dodgers dueling from daylight to nightfall in Los Angeles. Christopher Sanchez and Tyler Glasnow were both excellent, and no one scored until the seventh inning when Nick Castellanos doubled down the left field line off of Emmet Sheehan to score Max Kepler from second base. Sheehan has now allowed at least one run in all three of his Postseason appearances after being as reliable as they come during the regular season.

Castellanos’ clutch moment gave Philly fans hope of sending the series back to Citizens Bank Park, but the Dodgers struck back in the bottom of the seventh starting with a walk to Alex Call that followed a controversial ball three call on a 2-2 count. Instead of striking out, Call reached first base and the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs. Then they found the equalizer when Mookie Betts was walked by Jhoan Duran. Duran struck out Teoscar Hernandez to leave the game tied, and not another batter reached base for either side until the top of the 11th when Bryce Harper was walked by Alex Vesia and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Vesia escaped by striking out Harrison Bader to set the stage for the Dodgers to win the game in the bottom of the inning.

After Max Muncy hit a two-out single to move Tommy Edman to third base, the Phillies brought in Orion Kerkering to replace Jesus Luzardo and deal with Kike Hernandez. Kerkering walked Hernandez to bring Andy Pages to the plate, and he could only muster a comebacker that was knocked down by Kerkering, but then chaos ensued.

Even though he didn’t field the ball cleanly, Kerkering seemed to have plenty of time to throw to first for the final out of the inning. There was no play to be had at home, even with an accurate throw. I can only guess that he forgot how many outs there were and thought he needed to cut down the winning run at the plate. After the game, Rob Thomson said that Kerkering “got caught up in the moment.”

The Dodgers still don’t know who they’ll face in the NLCS because the Cubs crushed the Brewers 6-0 to force a Game 5 on Saturday night. Just like with Game 4, the winning recipe for Chicago was a crooked number in the first inning and the magnificent bullpen. Ian Happ electrified Wrigley Field with a three-run blast in the first and Matthew Boyd allowed just two hits and three walks in four and two thirds innings.

Milwaukee had its big chance to put a dent in Chicago’s lead in the fifth when Sal Frelick led off with a double and Blake Perkins walked, but after Joey Ortiz bunted, Boyd struck out Christian Yelich on an inside fastball. Danny Palencia then came in to end the threat on a Jackson Chourio pop-up. You have to wonder what Pat Murphy was thinking with the Ortiz bunt when Milwaukee trailed by three runs. The Brewers wouldn’t put another runner in scoring position for the rest of the game.

As if the Giants beating the Eagles and watching the Phillies eliminate themselves in heartbreaking fashion wasn’t great enough, the New York Rangers also won a game last night. They shut out the Sabres 4-0 with goals from Alexis Lafreniere, Carson Soucy, J.T. Miller, and Adam Fox (empty net). The season is only a few days old, but it felt like a much-needed result after New York failed to score against Pittsburgh in the opener. Now, revenge on the Penguins could be right around the corner with the Rangers visiting the Steel City on Saturday night.

Just in case I was getting tired of winning, Penn State lost a hockey game to Clarkson despite a program-record four goals from JJ Wiebusch. The Nittany Lions went up 4-2 midway through the second period, but let up four goals in a row to fall 6-4. Gavin McKenna had a pair of assists for PSU and Adrian Misaljevic scored twice for Clarkson, including the go-ahead goal midway through the third period. Penn State will hopefully respond with a victory when the teams face off again tonight.

0
0

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *