Coming off an abysmal performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 11 that saw the offense produce their lowest total yardage of the season and the defense get shellacked and outsmarted by the 45-year-old Tom Brady all night long, the New York Giants were a 3-7 football team primed for a complete downward spiral in the final eight games of the 2021 season.
Their surprising playoff hopes in an expanded NFC bracket fading as quickly as they came, the team needed a gut check to acknowledge what wasn’t working and establish a plan for salvaging what was left of a likely fifth straight losing campaign.
Appropriate change came early Tuesday and provided that wake-up call, as the Giants decided to part ways with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett after 26 games with a scheme ranking bottom of the barrel in just about every offensive category.
For the defense, which allowed 258 yards to the Bucs’ offense in just the first quarter last week, there was no need for in-practice adjustments or a coaching change to fix the problems that plagued them against a seven-time Super Bowl champion. They found all the extra motivation needed to defeat a hated divisional opponent from a former defensive great getting his name and jersey memorialized in Giants history.
Super Bowl 42 champion defensive end Michael Strahan returned to MetLife Stadium Sunday to have his #92 jersey taken off the racks with a special halftime ceremony in front of teammates and coaches from the title-winning team during the Giants’ Week 12 contest with the Philadelphia Eagles.
With living examples of franchise greatness gathering in their midst, the Giants defense set out to make their predecessors and Strahan proud, particularly against a team that the latter tormented for 15 seasons with 21.5 sacks, the highest total of Strahan’s career against a single opponent.
“We want to make the players that played before us and built the foundation for us proud,” said Giants safety Xavier McKinney after the game. “That was something we saw, and we wanted to go out there and dominate.”
Channeling the infectious energy of the legendary Strahan, McKinney and the Giants defense continued his legacy of making life a living hell for the Eagles, smothering them for four turnovers overall and holding them to one score en route to a 13-7 win on Sunday, their first divisional victory of the season.
Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts felt the brunt of the Giants’ defensive pressure the entire afternoon, completing just 14 of 31 passing attempts for 124 yards while throwing three interceptions. It was Hurts’ worst offensive performance since Week against Detroit and his first game with multiple turnovers since Week 3, when he threw two of his five previous interceptions leading into Sunday’s game.
Hurt’s first miscue happened late in the first quarter with the Eagles entering the red zone, as his pass intended for receiver Quez Watkins was picked off by Giants defensive back Darnay Holmes at the 5 for a return of 15 yards. Unfortunately, the Giants couldn’t capitalize on the Alabama product’s mistake, missing a Graham Gano 51-yarder on the ensuing possession.
Two Eagles drives later, Hurts repeated his mistake-filled performance down at the goal line with Philadelphia looking to go ahead with a touchdown before the half. After an incomplete pass to Greg Ward Jr. and a goal line stop by Lorenzo Carter on second down, Hurts threw to the right flat for Boston Scott but was intercepted by Giants linebacker Tae Crowder who later fumbled the ball out of bounds as the first half clock expired.
When it rains, it certainly pours for Hurts. The Eagles 2020 second-round pick returned from the break and threw his third interception deep in his own territory to McKinney who cut off a deep ball to Jalen Raegor beautifully at midfield.
Hurt’s three giveaways held the Eagles scoreless through three quarters and allowed the Giants to maintain a slim 3-0 advantage in what was not the greatest performance for their offense either.
After the game, they also led to some harsh but realistic words for Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who said he wouldn’t give the quarterback’s decision making performance any sort of real grade.
“It’s never going to be an A, B, C, or D if you turn it over three times,” said the Western New York native coach. “When you turn it over like that, it’s not a winning performance.”
Safety Jordan Love, filling in for the missing veteran Logan Ryan for the second straight week and who recovered a Eagles’ fumble on their penultimate possession, thought his unit did a great job at confusing Hurts and forcing errors with his arm.
“He’s very talented, but we wanted him to beat us throwing,” Love said. “Obviously he had some great runs, which we want to be better on. But in terms of defending the pass, I thought we did a good job.”
While the defense carried the Giants to their fourth win of the season, it was another mediocre game for Daniel Jones and the Giants offense in their first Sunday since the firing of Garrett last Tuesday. With Garrett out the door and senior offensive assistant Freddie Kitchens taking over the play calls, the offense continued to stumble in the red zone, lack any sort of running attack, and have no meaningful production from their biggest playmakers despite remaining turnover free.
The Giants reached the red zone three times against the Eagles, but only managed to punch in six points once as they continue to own the worst spot in the NFL for red zone scoring percentage (43.3%). Three times they had to settle for field goal attempts from Graham Gano, two successful from 35 yards in the first quarter to give the Giants a 3-0 lead and another 39-yarder in the fourth but one missed from 51 yards to snap Gano’s streak of 12 consecutive kicks made.
Daniel Jones threw 19 completions on 30 attempts for 202 yards and a touchdown, adding in 30 yards of rushing along the way to trail only Saquon Barkley by ten yards in the Giants rushing leaders.
Having most of his offensive playmakers active besides Sterling Shepard and Kadarius Toney who were out with injuries, Jones tried to push the envelope and get the ball to his key weapons to open the Giants lead up, but it all chopped up to just 49 more yards of offense than the previous game (264) and one touchdown from an unfamiliar face.
Like Strahan, who hailed from Germany before coming to the United States to pursue his collegiate and NFL dreams, the Giants had to rely on another professional longshot to make the defining red zone play of the game.
Chris Myarick, a former walk-on at Temple University before signing undrafted with the Miami Dolphins in 2019. spent his first two seasons without a single target. The Pennsylvania native was released before signing with the Giants practice squad before the 2021 season.
Making the active roster for the second consecutive game due to injuries at the tight end spot, Myarick entered the highlight reel after scoring his first touchdown of his NFL career on a huge goal line score for the Giants.
On the Eagles’ 1 yard line midway through the third quarter, Jones rolled left and connected with Myarick on a pass that the tight end had to hold onto with his legs until his fingers could secure it. Ultimately, Myarick held onto the football and ensured a 10-0 advantage for the Giants.
The play not only gave the Giants a double digit lead, it was a moment that Myarick’s teammates made sure the hometown Philly kid didn’t let just pass him by.
“That was a play we repped a lot in practice,” said Jones of Myarick’s score. “Myarick did a great job of stepping in and making a play there, and I think in certain situations, the ball on the one yard line, it’s those types of plays that you prepare for and count on.”
Saquon Barkley even made the third-year tight end give a little celebration before recovering his football.
“”I said to him, ‘spike that you know what'”, Barkley told reporters.
Barkley finished with 40 yards on 13 carries for a Giants running attack that only managed 70 yards on the ground, including one of 32 yards in the second quarter to show he still has that shifty footwork and speed after the injuries. He also caught 4 passes for 13 yards out in the flat.
The Giants would add to their lead in the fourth quarter with a 12 play, 70-yard drive highlighted by back to back 18-yard receptions from Kenny Golladay (3 catches, 50 yards) and Gano’s 39-yarder to go up 13-7 with 2:54 remaining in the game.
However, the Eagles weren’t going down without some classic two-minute drama, putting the Giants defense on their heels and forcing them to make two more important stops to seal the deal.
On the ensuing possession, the Eagles drove 25 yards in four plays down to the Giants’ 49 while preserving their timeouts. With 1:39 left to go, running back Boston Scott, who scored Philadelphia’s lone touchdown and aggravated the Giants defense for 64 yards, the second most among Eagles backs, found an open lane behind his right guard to churn four more yards to the 45 for 2nd down and medium yardage.
Scott was met by a trove of Giants defenders and defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence poked the ball out of Scott’s hands, which then soared into the gloves of Julian Love for the Eagles’ fourth turnover of the afternoon.
The game clock reading 1:34, the Giants offense was left with one job—convert one or two first downs to burn the Eagles timeouts and milk the remaining time off the board. Like the rest of the game they failed to do so, losing eight yards on three plays and using only 23 seconds of game time, giving Hurts and the Eagles offense one more chance with 1:11 on the clock.
Still remembering their infamous loss against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field last season by the hands of tight end Evan Engram and his third down pass drop to prevent a win, the Giants needed a reversal of fate this time around to hold off a reeling Eagles offense looking to go deep with little time remaining.
They got it, handing the Eagles a taste of their own medicine in the opposite building.
The Eagles offense drove 32 yards on their last licks with the help of three catches by running back Kenny Gainwell to get into adequate range for Hurts to launch a couple throws towards the end zone. However, ttwo bad drops by receiver Jalen Raegor, including the latter on 4th down and 10 at the Giants’ 1-yard line that probably would have led to the game winning touchdown, stunted Philadelphia’s efforts and sent them back home with a loss costly to their recent playoff chase in the NFC hunt.
Meanwhile, the Giants improved to 4-7 with their playoff hopes still mathematically alive and an unexpected yet interesting situation developing in the NFC East division with the Dallas Cowboys recent losses cutting away at the hold they worked so hard to grasp through the first nine weeks.
Thirteen points and one touchdown was not a model for sustained success, nor was it in Strahan’s day, but Joe Judge and the Giants offense placed their trust in Patrick Graham and his defense for the second time in three games and it paid off this time.
The Giants know they will need to improve their offensive production if they want to make a serious run in the final six games of the regular season. For now, what they promised themselves was to not let their play dull the energy of another historic day for a franchise great and shine more dim light on an organization whose leadership has already taken the heat in previous home games.
“When you get a guy being honored like that you don’t want to go out there and lay an egg,” Judge said.
By stomping out the Eagles for the second meeting in a row dating back to last season, the Giants thrust themselves up to one game behind the final NFC wild card spot held by the Minnesota Vikings (5-6) and guaranteed at least one more week of relevancy, even if that relevancy is considered fake.
Next week, they will fly to Miami to take on the 5-7 Dolphins for the first of two games on the road. The NFL added the trip to Hard Rock Stadium as a result of increasing the duration of the 2021 regular season to 17 games after holding the traditional 16-hame model for years. Miami are winners of their last four games dating back to November 7th–albeit against mostly mediocre opponents–and average 19.5 points per game and 328.8 yards of total offense behind the rapid growth of Tua Tagovailoa and a seventh-ranked passing attack accounting for 248 of their seasons average.
With only two games left against playoff contenders, a healing offensive unit, and a defense piling up the turnovers, anything is possible regardless of the direction most believe the organization is headed in the offseason. It’s up to the Giants to earn their ticket, and to do that will require more than defensive outings like Sunday’s saving the day thrice.
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