Well, that was frustrating! For 54 minutes, the Giants played an almost perfect short week road game and appeared to be on the verge of a second straight win when they took a 21-10 lead over the Eagles with less than seven minutes to play. And just for an instant, one started to think that just maybe the Giants had in fact turned a corner. But bad things always seem to happen to the Giants in Philadelphia and last night was no exception as the Eagles scored twice including the game winner with 40 seconds to play. For those keeping track of these things, that makes four straight Giants’ games – and 5th in 7 games to date this fall in which the Giants are 1-4 – that was decided in the last minute.
All Giant losses are hard to take, but the earlier ones all seemed to at least be a modicum of moral victory quality that took some of the sting away. Not so much last night. It was demoralizing, crushing, deflating; you name it. What made this loss particularly frustrating was that there were 4-5 plays in those final 6 and a half minutes that were they to be made and had just one been made the Giants win. But as has been the case all year, none were.
The most talked about of these plays of course was Evan Engram’s drop on a third and six with just over two minutes to play that would have given the Giants a first down and pretty much allow them to run out the clock. It was a bit of an odd play in that it wasn’t a true drop as the ball just glanced off Engram’s finger tips. And he seemed to be tracking the ball okay as he ran downfield, but misjudged somehow misjudged it neither extended nor accelerated at the end. Whatever, it’s the kind of play an NFL receiver has to make in that situation.
And in many ways that play – which could very well be his last as a Giant – was something of a microcosm of Engram’s career with the team. To wit: teasing potential and athleticism, but not the production to match. And given that the Giants are likely not going to pick up his 5th year option, there’s a pretty good likelihood that he gets moved before the trade deadline which comes up the day after the Giants next game on Monday November 2nd.
As frustrating as that play was, a case could be made that the 60-yard completion to John Hightower on the subsequent Eagles’ drive was even more egregious. At that point in the game, the one thing you can not do is give the other team a big play. Let them burn up the clock completing some underneath stuff, but you just can’t give up a big play that produces a quick score that leaves them with plenty of time to get a stop and then drive the field.
On first-blush it appears that CB Ryan Lewis was the main culprit. However, in that scenario, you absolutely have to be in some kind of two-deep – if not a 3-deep – coverage to take away the big play. And there is no just no way that a ball should be in the air as long as that pass was and not have a safety in position to break it up. But Julian Love, the only safety in the picture, never got within ten yards of the catch. Hard to know whether Love blew his assignment or the Giants were simply in a bad coverage as some guys seemed to be in zone and some were tracking man-to-man.
Studs and Duds: Since the Giants lost and we’ve already talked about Engram, let’s start with the Duds this week. Engram has to be one as he not only didn’t make the catch at the end, but he had an earlier pass bounce off his hand for an interception. Again it was an awkward play, but one kind of does expect a pure receiving TE to make those plays.
OT Andrew Thomas: Thomas’ struggles continued against the Eagles. He was late coming of a double-team block to pick up a blitzing LB who ended up sacking QB Daniel Jones. He also had a devil of a time sticking with spin moves by the Eagles’ DEs which resulted in several other pressures. And we are tempted to add Joe Judge and/or Jason Garrett or whoever ultimately decided that Thomas should play ahead of Matt Peart after last week’s game. We presume they watched the same tape of the Washington game we watched (twice) and there is just no case to be that there was any real comparison between the two in that game. Whatever, with ten days to ponder where to go from here, Judge and company have a huge decision to make at tackle.
CB Corey Ballantyne: Nobody ever expected all that much from a small-school 6th round pick, but that was borderline ridiculous. Ballantyne was torched in the few plays he was in on the regular defense and then gave the Eagles a free 15-yards to kick-start that fateful final drive. And we may never know what he was thinking when he never turned around after being left uncovered on a punt from midfield early in the game.
STUDS:
DT Dalvin Tomlinson: This is more of a unit award, but after the Eagles took the opening kick-off for an almost uncontested score, the Giants defense stiffened as the DL took over the line of scrimmage, at least for the next three quarters. And even in the final 6 minute stretch they had a sack that would have left the Eagles in a 3rd long on their first scoring drive, but it was wiped out by (pretty ticky-tack) illegal contact penalty on Lewis.
RB Wayne Gallman: Gallman has been something of a forgotten man this season, but with Devonta Freeman down with a foot injury, he came off the bench and got the Giants a couple of first downs with some tough runs that almost – there’s that word again – iced the game.
SS Jabrill Peppers: Tough break that he was victimized on the game-winning TD catch by Eagles’ RB Boston Scott, but he actually had pretty good coverage that forced the receiver to make a highlight catch. Otherwise, Peppers played arguably his best game as a Giant as he made plays all over the field including a sack.
LB Devonta Downs: Downs looked lost earlier in the season when he took over the ILB spot beside Blake Martinez. However, against the Eagles he looked really physical and instinctive coming up with a number of key stops.
Giants trade Golden to Cards: For those that have been a covid-induced coma the past 24 hours, the Giants have traded DE Marcus Golden to Arizona for a 6th round pick at the upcoming draft. The question is whether this was an isolated transaction or the first of several before next month’s trade deadline. At 1-6, they aren’t going anywhere this year and could look to deal several veterans who for one reason or another don’t really fit their plans going forward and aren’t likely to be with the team next year. Better to get something for them now than have them just walk away at the end of the season.
As noted above, Engram could be on that list, along with Peppers, OG Kevin Zeitler and WR Golden Tate. The Giants aren’t likely to get a whole lot for any of those guys, although a contender like Kansas City that has some real issues on its interior OL could have some genuine interest in a veteran like Zeitler, while both Engram and Peppers are both younger players with some real potential.
A couple of side notes to the Golden deal. With the 6th pick the Giants now have two selections in that round, along with their own picks in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th rounds for a total of 6 (and why you’d really like to add some more.) They may also have been encouraged to move Golden after watching Cam Brown, this year’s 6th round pick, who got some snaps against the Eagles and did not look out of place. He’s got some size and is a long-strider with a really quick first step.
