Giants vs. Eagles: 5 things to know about Divisional Playoffs
The New York Giants (10-7-1) head down to the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday night to face the top seed in the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles (14-3), in the NFL Divisional Playoff round.
Here are five things to know before this game.
The series
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The Eagles have gotten the best of the Giants since 2013, winning 16 of 20 games — all in the regular season. They beat the Giants in Week 18, 22-16, in a game where the Eagles played their starters and the Giants sat most of theirs. They did wallop the Giants in Week 14, 48-22, in a game many are pointing to as the truer estimation of these two clubs.
This will be the fifth time the Giants and Eagles will meet in the postseason. Each team has won twice but only once has one team won all three games in a season. That was the Giants in 2000. The Eagles will try to change that this weekend.
The Eagles...again?
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This will be the third time the Eagles and Giants will meet since December 11. That’s a lot of familiarities. In fact, the Giants have played only four different teams over the last seven weeks.
They also faced Washington and Minnesota twice each over that span and Indianapolis once. The Giants are 3-2 since that December 11 game. They have come to play in all five.
Since beating the Giants, 48-22, in Week 14, the Eagles have been very ordinary. They lost to Dallas and New Orleans and beat the hapless Bears, 25-20, and then got a scare in Week 18 from the Giants’ backups, holding onto win, 22-16.
These Eagles are the real deal
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The Eagles had an all-time great season, perhaps their best since entering the NFL in 1933.
Philadelphia earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs and captured its 10th NFC East division title under owner Jeffrey Lurie — the most by any NFC East team since 2001. They also set a single-season franchise record with 14 regular-season wins.
They finished the season with a franchise-record 477 points, eclipsing their previous high of 474 set in 2014. They also set club records for total touchdowns (59), scrimmage touchdowns (57), and rushing touchdowns (32).
The Eagles’ 32 rushing touchdowns this season are tied for the fourth-most in NFL history, behind only the 1962 Packers (36), 1948 49ers (35), and 1976 Steelers (33).
In the process, the Eagles became the only team in NFL history to rush for 25-plus touchdowns in consecutive seasons.
The defense was equally as impressive. They set a single-season franchise record with 70 sacks. Only the 1984 Chicago Bears (72) and 1989 Minnesota Vikings (71) had more sacks in a season in NFL history. Four different players had 10 or more sacks.
The Eagles also set single-season team records in the following categories:
45.9% third-down conversion rate (previously 45.7% in 2021)
67.8% red zone TD efficiency (previously 66.7% in 2019)
Tough game to bet
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The Eagles opened the week as 7-point favorites with an over/under of 47 total points.
The Giants (10-7-1) are 14-4 against the spread this season and 7-1 on the road. Philadelphia (14-3) is 8-9 ATS and 6-3 at home.
The Eagles defeated the Giants, 48-22, at MetLife Stadium in Week 14 as 7-point favorites. In Week 18, the Giants — playing mostly backups — gave the Eagles a scare down in Philly losing, 22-16, as 16.5-point underdogs.
Philadelphia is 0-4 ATS over their last four games while the Giants have covered in seven of their last eight.
They’ve played two completely different games this year. One went over, the other went under. The Eagles covered the spread in the first game but fell short in the second.
This is truly a difficult game to figure.
Have the Giants arrived?
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The Giants started the season at 7-2 and then injuries attempted to derail their season. But head coach Brian Daboll would not relent. He dragged his team to a postseason berth even though they won just two of their final eight games.
But it has been the last four games that have given the Giants hope. They have gotten healthier as several key players — most notably safety Xavier McKinney — returned. Their offense has ramped up as they have turned quarterback Daniel Jones loose and the league is waking up to the groundswell surrounding the Giants.
This will be a huge test for the Giants – the furthest they’ve gone in the postseason since 2011. The season is already a success. A win on Saturday night would be massive.
Co-owner John Mara said ‘we’re back‘ on Sunday. Is he right? We’ll see.
