The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Week 3 New York Giants vs Philadelphia Eagles
The Good
Wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall, and Sterling Shepard
The Giants’ receiving corps played their best game of the season. They accounted for 24 receptions, 278 yards, and three touchdowns. Beckham had nine receptions for 79 yards and two touchdowns, including the 300th reception of his career. Shepard had seven receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown. Marshall finally looked like a part of the offense with eight receptions for 66 yards. Beckham, Marshall, and Shepard’s production was more than the entire Eagles’ receivers (21 receptions for 176 yards and one touchdown). Of course, there is bad with concerning Beckham and Shepard.
Safety Landon Collins
Collins was second on the team with nine tackles. He also made a play when the Giants needed it most. After a pass interference call against cornerback Eli Apple, Collins knocked the ball away from Eagles tight end Zach Ertz that was recovered by Apple. He is continuing on his quest to show that he should have been named NFL Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Quarterback Eli Manning
After getting publicly reprimanded by his head coach following last week’s loss to the Detroit Lions, No. 10 responded by going 35-of-47 for 366 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 100.1. This was the 46th game in which Manning passed for at least 300 yards. Nine of his 300-yard games have come against the Eagles, including three of his four games against Philly. Manning didn’t feel much pressure as he wasn’t sacked at all and was only hit four times. He was more decisive in his throws and seemed to trust his patchwork offensive line more than he has all season. It was an example of what Manning can do when he has time to throw the ball.
Linebacker Keenan Robinson
Robinson spent the entire preseason and first two games of the regular season in the concussion protocol and was activated last week. He made his presence felt leading the Giants with 10 tackles. With B.J. Goodson inactive, Robinson’s play was definitely needed to give the Giants that threat in the middle.
The Bad
Cornerback Eli Apple
Apple is becoming a cornerback that players will throw to because he will either get beaten badly or will draw a penalty at the most inopportune moments. Against the Eagles, Apple drew two pass interference penalties. In Apple’s defense, both calls could be considered ticky-tacky or phantom calls. The point is Apple has not played like a first-round pick so far this season. Because teams are reluctant to throw in the direction of Janoris Jenkins, Apple sees more than his fair share of passes thrown at him. He needs to step his game up in order for the Giants’ secondary to be truly fearsome.
The officiating crew
There were many questionable calls in this game. None hurt the Giants more than waving off Sterling Shepard’s 2-yard touchdown reception near the end of the first half. Shepard broke the plane and got both feet inside. The replays showed as much. Because it occurred inside of two minutes, the Giants couldn’t challenge the play. It was a pivotal play that could’ve swung momentum in the game.
Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Beckham receives a great deal of criticism, some of it unfairly. When he does things to bring attention to himself and hurt the team, the criticism seems justified. His second touchdown catch was the 300th reception of his career. After the reception, Beckham gets down and crawls on all fours in the end zone. He then lifts up his leg, simulating a dog urinating. Naturally, he drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Beckham said he didn’t care about the penalty and did it to fire up his team. This is what he doesn’t understand. His team was already fired up because the touchdown. Crawling on all fours is weird and lifting up his leg to simulate a dog urinating is just nasty. Simply put, it was a stupid penalty that took away from an awesome play.
The Ugly
Head coach Ben McAdoo
McAdoo called Manning out for “sloppy quarterback play” last week. He should be called out this week for sloppy play calling. His insistence on calling the plays is a huge detriment to the team. There were more head scratching examples of McAdoo’s play calling: like throwing on 3rd and 1 when the Giants have a fullback he refuses to use. This week, he can’t call out Manning and he appears to be too obsessed with proving he’s an offensive guru to admit it might to relinquish the play calling duty to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan.
The Giants’ miscues
The Giants did themselves in with crucial mistakes: Beckham’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Apple’s pass interference calls, Ereck Flowers’ holding penalty in the final drive, John Jerry’s delay of game penalty when he tried to stop a defensive player from leaving the field. These are signs of an undisciplined football team. Even though the Giants were in the game for most of it, these penalties were costly. Yet again, the Giants were defeated by themselves more than by their opponent.
The Giants running game
For the third week in a row, the Giants ground game was putrid: 49 yards on 17 carries. Paul Perkins continues to show why he shouldn’t be a starting running back with nine carries for 22 yards. Orleans Darkwa had the Giants’ longest run of the day (20 yards). He only managed two yards on his remaining six carries.
Punter Brad Wing
Wing is not Ray Guy but he’s been solid and dependable throughout his career. He picked a good time to muff a punt: tied at 24 late in the fourth quarter. He nailed a 51-yard punt earlier in the game but when the game is on the line, he muffs the punt and it only travels 28 yards. The Eagles then got a 19-yard reception from Alshon Jeffrey which set up Jake Elliott’s 61-yard field goal to win. Sixty-yard field goals are not a common occurrence. Elliott’s game winner was the longest in the history of Lincoln Financial Field. However, if Wing didn’t muff the punt, the Eagles would have had more ground to cover and the game could’ve potentially went into overtime.
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