Eagles Dismiss Giants: The Divisional Round Stock Market
PHILADELPHIA – Talk about the alignment of the stars.
On the fifth anniversary of a resounding 38-7 NFC Championship Game victory over Minnesota, the Eagles replicated the same kind of dominance by defeating the New York Giants by the same score in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Philadelphia will now host the NFC Championship Game against the winner of San Francisco and Dallas on Sunday.
The Eagles scored on the game’s first offensive possession and never looked back as Jalen Hurts completed all five of his passes, including a 16-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert.
Like the Vikings five years ago, the Giants played on the road from there, losing to the Eagles for the third time this season.
THE BULLS
jalen hurts – It’s win or go home in the playoffs and that meant whether Hurts was 100 percent or not, the Eagles’ full plate was installed on offense and QB1 delivered despite being limited for the final month of the season with a sprained SC joint in his throwing shoulder.
On the first drive of the game, Hurts completed all five of his passes to three different receivers, including the 16-yard touchdown throw, and also rushed twice, making things that much more difficult for New York defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.
The Giants should have waved the white flag right there.
Training – Most of the publicity that came was due to the work Brian Daboll and his coaching staff had done to get the talent-starved Giants to this point. Philadelphia’s staff, however, staged a clinic with Shane Steichen having New York’s defense hot on his heels for the entire first half and Jonathan Gannon making life miserable for Daniel Jones.
30 minutes to zero – That was the story of the Giants, who would have had a hard time trying to play a worse half of football. The score was 28-0 at halftime with the Eagles outscoring the Giants 258-64, including a 140-20 rushing lead. The first-down difference was 18-3 in favor of the Eagles with New York converting just one-third.
Penn State Bragging Rights – Miles Sanders caddied for Saquon Barkley with the Nittany Lions and continues to do so from a pedigree and reputation standpoint, but it was Sanders who was the top rusher Saturday night, rushing for 90 yards on 17 carries. Barkley, the lynchpin of the Giants’ offense, was 7 yards on four carries when it mattered. All the damage from him was dealt in a long trash time.
lane johnson – Playing through a torn adductor muscle in his groin, the All-Pro looked like his own All-Pro, helping Philadelphia rush for 268 rushing yards and keeping Hurts clean while in the pocket.
boston scott trolling – Wink Martindale claimed that Boston Scott is not a Giants killer and that’s all New York’s defensive coordinator got right. Scott didn’t get much traffic, carrying it six times for 32 yards, but one was a 3-yard touchdown run. Scott has now scored touchdowns in the nine games he’s played against the Giants and 11 of his 18 career scores have come against New York. The Eagles like to touch up NY with Scott.
Clete Blakeman – The Eagles are now 14-1 when Blakeman umpires their games.
THE BEARS
tropes – “It is difficult to beat a team three times in a season.”
The exact opposite is true because the team that sweeps a home-and-home series is usually better and plays Round 3 at home. That was the case here and if it was a boxing match it would have been called off sooner. Teams seeking the three-game home sweep are now 14-6 in such situations during the Super Bowl era.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com’s Eagles Today and is an NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can hear John, along with legendary sports talk host Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365’, streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show “Football 24/7” and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen