It was a dark and rainy Wednesday night in Lincoln Financial Field when the Giants arrived for their Week 12 game against the Eagles. It was time to get back to what they do best, and that was missing in Week 11. As we entered Week 12, where there is only one regular season game left for each team, the vast majority of owners would have entered this week playing for an AFC East title, NFC East or even a Wild Card spot.
That is not the case for New York, as their season seemed to have taken a big step backwards after a solid seven-game run to start the season. While their offense looked like it was coming back around, their defense was unable to score as they couldn’t put up points against the Rams.
There are many ways to look at the Giants’ Week 12 defeat, but I think I would take one which highlights a concerning trend. There was a lot of feeling around the league that Eli Manning should be benched after their Week 11 loss, but it has not happened yet. While you will have to keep up with Manning and watch out for his cannon of an arm, it really isn’t something to keep an eye on much longer. Even worse, the Giants have the same number of sacks allowed per game as they did last season.
Now, let’s look at the Philadelphia Eagles. This is where the season got away from the Eagles, and where their fortunes will flip this week against the Giants. They had a double-digit lead at home against the Patriots, and the Packers were coming off of a bye week. The Eagles showed how bad they can be against the Rams when they only score four points in that game. There should be a lot more attention on that.
Eagles or Giants: I would go the Eagles this week because their offense has more upside and I can count on something from the defense, something that was missing against the Rams. As for the Giants, they are consistently putting the ball in the end zone (49 touchdowns in the last six games), and if their defense can play better than they did against the Rams, I have not seen enough to seriously consider switching it up.
There have been a lot of questionable plays from Eli Manning in his last four games, and that has not happened in any of the games before that. He has not shown the strong arm that led the Giants to a four-game winning streak. There was nothing but arm strength while the Rams shut him down against Los Angeles. The Giants defense needs to keep doing what they have been doing if they want to win this game. If they do, the Eagles defense might need to play even better if they want to stay undefeated.