The New York Giants looked like just what the Philadelphia Eagles needed to cure their funk. After winning 10 of their first 11 games this season, the Eagles entered Monday’s game on a three-game losing streak.
At halftime, Philadelphia had a 17-point lead, and the Giants were playing like a 5-9 team on their third quarterback. But the Eagles needed an interception in the end zone on the final play to come away with a 33-25 victory.
“We needed to get out of the funk that we were in,” Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni said, “and sometimes that’s just by getting a win.”
And a big play by the quarterback.
The trouble started for Philadelphia on the second-half kickoff. Blocker Olamide Zaccheaus got thrown into returner Boston Scott, and the Giants recovered his fumble at the Eagles 14-yard line to set up a New York touchdown.
Later in the third quarter, Philadelphia tight end Dallas Goedert slipped coming out of a cut, and Giants cornerback Adoree Jackson intercepted quarterback Jalen Hurts’ pass and ran 76 yards down the sideline for a touchdown to ruin the Eagles’ 14-play drive and bring the Giants within two points of the lead at 20-18.
On Philadelphia’s next possession, the Eagles faced third-and-20 when Hurts avoided the rush and connected with AJ Brown for a 32-yard gain, dropping the pass over leaping safety Isaiah Simmons into the wide receiver’s hands.
“There’re not a lot of plays you can draw up on third-and-20,” Sirianni said, “so it was just an unbelievable individual effort by Jalen, by AJ, the offensive line giving Jalen enough time to escape and move up in the pocket and fire the ball to AJ. That to me is the key.
“When you’re in a little bit of a rut – they had scored 15 points off two turnovers – we talk about that a lot in training camp: ‘Hey, we’re in a rut. Someone’s got to pull us out. We got to do a good job as coaches putting you in position to make plays, and then someone’s got to make a play and pull us out.’ And Jalen and AJ did just that in that particular case.”
Four straight runs covered the 42 yards remaining to the end zone as Philadelphia took a 27-18 lead with 11:07 to play.
Hurts said it was a good example of “not letting the situation get the best of us, finding a way to overcome that circumstance we kind of put ourselves in.”
A field goal on the Eagles’ next possession appeared to put the game out of reach for the Giants – until Tyrod Taylor hooked up with former Auburn standout Darius Slayton on a 69-yard touchdown pass that cut the deficit to five points with 5:22 remaining.
Philadelphia used 4:12 to get another field goal, leaving New York with only 1:10 to complete its comeback. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor completed third- and fourth-down passes to get he Giants to the Philadelphia 26-yard line, but rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo’s end-zone interception ended the game.
Hurts completed 24-of-38 passes for 301 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 34 yards and one touchdown on eight carries as the Eagles rolled up 465 yards on Monday.
On Philadelphia’s second offensive snap, Hurts scored the game’s first points on a 1-yard Brotherly Shove. The Eagles started their first possession at the New York 13-yard line after Britain Covey’s 54-yard punt return.