The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Divisional Round New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles Saturday night game.
| NY Giants | Rank | @ | Philadelphia | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5 | Spread | -7.5 | ||
| 20 | Implied Total | 27.75 | ||
| 22 | 14 | Points/Gm | 28.1 | 3 |
| 21.9 | 18 | Points All./Gm | 20.2 | 8 |
| 64.3 | 14 | Plays/Gm | 66.1 | 5 |
| 63 | 12 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 63.1 | 13 |
| 5.3 | 20 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.9 | 6 |
| 5.7 | 24 | Def. Yards/Play | 4.8 | 1 |
| 47.54% | 10 | Rush% | 48.40% | 6 |
| 52.46% | 23 | Pass% | 51.60% | 27 |
| 42.77% | 15 | Opp. Rush % | 41.60% | 11 |
| 57.23% | 18 | Opp. Pass % | 58.40% | 22 |
Against the Spread
Eagles: 8-9
Giants: 14-4
Eagles ATS at Home: 6-3
Giants ATS Away: 7-1
Eagles ATS as Favorite: 8-8
Giants ATS as Underdog: 11-2
Game Overview
This will be the third time that this NFC East matchup is played. The Eagles won the first two matchups during the regular season, winning the first in New York in Week 14, 48-22. The Eagles cruised through that game, leading 24-7 at halftime and 34-14 heading into the fourth quarter. These teams then met again in the Week 18 season finale, with the Eagles winning 22-16 in a game in which the Giants rested the majority of their core pieces while locked into their playoff seeding.
The Eagles were a bit flat in that game but got out to an early 10-0 lead and led 19-3 heading into the final quarter versus the backups for New York. They needed an onside kick recovery with 1:38 remaining in that game to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but never trailed.
A big component of the matchups between these two teams in the regular season was that the Giants did not have Adoree Jackson, Leonard Williams, or Xavier McKinney available for a single snap against Philadelphia this season. All three played on Sunday, but the Giants did still allow 5.9 yards per play, which was the fourth most of all teams that played on Wild Card weekend and the most of any team that won last week. Although the Giants still gave up plenty of yards, with all three of those players on the field this season, opponents have completed 61.8% of their passes with a 30.4% third down conversion rate as opposed to a 64.9% completion rate and 36.0% third down conversion rate with all of them on the field. The Giants are surely glad to have them on the field.
They will need them here as the Eagles fielded one of the best offenses in the league this season. Philadelphia averaged 5.9 yards per play (sixth), 2.49 points per drive (second), with a touchdown on 30.6% of their drives, second behind only the Chiefs.
The Giants were able to start hot against Minnesota last week, something against their nature this season and a necessary component if hoping to pull out the upset on Saturday night. The Giants scored on their opening four full possessions of the game against the Vikings and all three of their first half drives that weren’t capped by the game clock.
In the regular season, the Giants were notoriously slow starters, averaging 1.57 points per drive (26th) and scoring on 29.9% of their first half drives (28th). The Eagles were the opposite, leading the NFL in points per drive (3.07) and scoring rate per drive (52.2%) in the first half of games. In both games versus these teams, the Eagles outscored the Giants by a combined score of 40-7 in the first half.
Scoring against the Eagles will be a tougher task for this offense than it was against Minnesota, who entered the postseason with the worst defense among all playoff teams. The Eagles are on the other end. Philadelphia has allowed a league-low 4.8 yards per play while opponents have scored on 32.6% of their possessions (sixth). With Daniel Jones under center, the Giants averaged 4.5 yards per play against the Eagles, converted just 27.3% of their third downs, and scored 14 points.