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Week 4 Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 3, New York Giants 16
What you need to know
| Philadelphia Eagles |
QB Donavon McNabb faced unbelievable pressure all night. He was uncomfortable against the frequent blitzing Giants' defense. The Eagles looked out of synch without Brian Westbrook who was a last minute scratch due to his abdominal injury. McNabb's accuracy was below average and his mobility was questionable at best. The Giants sacked McNabb 12 times.
RB Correll Buckhalter was the primary running back due to Westbrook sitting with an abdominal strain. Buckhalter had some nice runs on one drive, but the Eagles were forced to abandon the run due to penalties and McNabb getting sacked.
WR Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, and Jason Avant failed to exploit what had been one of the NFL's worst pass defenses. McNabb was pressured often, so the receivers often had single coverage they could not beat. Curtis dropped an early pass, and McNabb could never get into a rhythm. Reggie Brown had nine targets, and had a touchdown reception taken away towards the end of the fourth quarter when McNabb failed to get rid of the ball before he crossed the line of scrimmage.
| New York Giants |
QB Eli Manning showed poise at the line, gaining valuable information from the Eagles defense with hard counts, which drew several penalties on the defense. His accuracy was suspect at times, one of which ended up in an interception in the red zone. One other thing of note is that it was obvious what his audible keywords were, one example being "Omaha" for a quick hit for Burress. It seemed like Philadelphia picked up on this.
RB Derrick Ward had a solid night proving he is no fluke, showing good vision and cutback ability. Ward took most of the carries over Reuben Droughns, and Ward split out wide for the Giants a few times. Ward had missed practice during the week with an ankle injury but did not appear to be limited.
WR Plaxico Burress caught a touchdown for the fourth straight week, his sixth of the year. He was targeted nine times, but only caught four passes for 24 yards. Amani Toomer was very involved in the game, being targeted eight times and all four of his catches were for first downs. Jeremy Shockey was often protecting Manning because of Philadelphia's blitzing tendencies, and only was targeted three times.
What you ought to know
| QB Donovan McNabb, Pass: 15 - 31 - 138 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - 4 - 0 |
McNabb had a tough time getting into rhythm. He was constantly under pressure and could not get anything going offensively with Westbrook out. He was not elusive in the pocket and only got away from pressure three or four times. The offensive line of the Eagles was exploited, especially OT Winston Justice, who gave up six of the 12 sacks. McNabb may have had problems with field awareness. The wide receivers had single coverage, and McNabb rarely found them. He was late finding Reggie Brown absolutely wide open in the end zone on one play, causing that play to be called back and killing any hope the Eagles had.
| RB Correll Buckhalter, Rush: 17 - 103 - 0, Rec: 4 - 35 - 0 (9 targets) |
Buckhalter was very good on the ground throughout the game, but the Eagles only ran the ball 19 times. He averaged over six yards per carry, showing that he was able to hit holes hard and carry the offense for short stretches. The Eagles refused to stick with the running game though, often throwing the ball on first down and getting themselves in third and long situations.
| RB Tony Hunt, Rush: 2 - 7 - 0 |
Hunt shared time with Reno Mahe backing up Buckhalter.
| RB Reno Mahe, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 |
Mahe served as the second backup to Buckhalter since Westbrook sat the game out.
| RB Brian Westbrook |
Westbrook was a late scratch due to an abdominal strain.
| WR Reggie Brown, Rec: 3 - 17 - 0 (9 targets) |
Brown saw more targets from McNabb, as it seemed like the Giants focused more on Kevin Curtis. Brown had a touchdown reception called back due to an illegal forward pass as McNabb did not get the ball off before the line of scrimmage. Brown was targeted down field two other times, but only caught four passes underneath for a total of 17 yards.
| WR Kevin Curtis, Rec: 2 - 21 - 0 (5 targets) |
Curtis was not able to create separation this week like he did last week versus the Lions. It seemed like the safety was often shaded to his side of the field. Curtis had one bad drop in the game which stopped the first drive for the Eagles.
| WR Jason Avant, Rec: 1 - 12 - 0 (3 targets) |
Avant seemed to share time with the tight ends Matt Schobel and Brent Celek, who were needed to help with the pass protection. He only caught one ball for 12 yards, and dropped one of the other targets he received.
| TE Brent Celek, Rec: 3 - 31 - 0 (3 targets) |
Celek was the primary receiving tight end since L.J. Smith did not play. Celek caught all three balls thrown his way.
| TE Matt Schobel, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (1 targets) |
Schobel was only targeted once and he caught the ball for a first down.
| TE L.J. Smith |
Smith was listed as out and did not play due to recent surgery to clean up scar tissue in his groin.
| PK David Akers 1 - 2 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 3 points |
Akers missed from 42 yards in the second quarter, but made his 53 yard attempt in the fourth quarter. He had a bad history at Giants' stadium.
| PHI Rush Defense |
The Philadelphia rush defense was solid as usual. They did not allow Ward to get a few key first downs that could have blown the game open, but Ward did average over four yards per carry.
| PHI Pass Defense |
The Philadelphia pass defense was very good, only allowing Eli Manning to throw for 135 yards on 14/26 passing. They held one of the better pass offenses to a poor showing, but they did not put much pressure on Eli Manning, only sacking him once.
| QB Eli Manning, Pass: 14 - 26 - 135 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - -5 - 0 |
Manning had a tough time finding open receivers against the Eagles' defense. Although he did show great pocket awareness and took advantage of their aggressive style pre-snap, drawing penalties several times. For the most part, he made good decisions and managed the game very well.
| RB Derrick Ward, Rush: 19 - 80 - 0, Rec: 3 - 26 - 0 (6 targets) |
Ward was the feature back of the Giants offense, despite being questionable due to his left ankle. He was very good at making cuts and seeing where the hole was forming, however the Eagles kept him from dominating the game by stacking the line. He didn't show any ill effects of his ankle injury.
| RB Reuben Droughns, Rush: 5 - 8 - 0 |
Droughns was the backup running back to Ward, having only five carries on the night.
| RB Madison Hedgecock, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets) |
Hedgecock was the fullback and caught one pass out of the backfield.
| WR Plaxico Burress, Rec: 4 - 24 - 1 (9 targets) |
Burress caught a jump ball for a touchdown in the second quarter, his sixth of the year. Most of his targets were deep incompletions or short quick hits. Manning did not seem to use the height advantage Burress had other than the touchdown pass he made to Burress.
| WR Amani Toomer, Rec: 4 - 54 - 0 (8 targets) |
Toomer was a first down machine this game, moving the chains on all four of his receptions, the type of thing we come to expect out of Veterans such as Toomer.
| WR Sinorice Moss (1 targets) |
Moss did not play much during the game, and he had a false start penalty on one of the few plays he was in for.
| TE Jeremy Shockey, Rec: 1 - 17 - 0 (3 targets) |
Shockey was unable to get involved in the passing game, only being targeted three times. He was used as an effective blocker throughout the game against the Eagles aggressive pass rush, but he only caught one pass.
| TE Michael Matthews, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Matthews served as the second tight end and caught the only ball thrown his way.
| PK Lawrence Tynes 1 - 2 FG, 1 - 2 XP, 4 points |
Tynes had a tough night kicking; he missed from 34 yards and an extra point.
| NYG Rush Defense |
The Giants' run defense was porous, but the Eagles had a tough time going to it because of their penalty problems and poor pass protection. The Eagles got sacked 12 times, so they were often in situations where running did not make much sense.
| NYG Pass Defense |
The Giants' pass defense was vastly improved this week. They constantly pressured McNabb and tallied an incredible 12 sacks. The coverage was good against the wide receivers of the Eagles. McNabb looked awful all night because the defense kept him off balance, forcing him to a terrible night passing.
