Eagles Go From Bullies To Bullied In Uncharacteristic Loss To Giants

Eagles go from bullies to bullied in uncharacteristic loss to Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Eagles’ identity in 2024 was pretty simple: They beat you by beating you up.

That didn’t happen on Thursday night. In their 34-17 loss to the Giants at MetLife Stadium, the Eagles went from bullies to bullied.

The Giants were clearly the more physical team.

“Yeah, we talk about it all the time,” Cooper DeJean said. “We talk about it but we got to go out there and be about it and do it on the field. They out-physical’d us in moments tonight. That’s just not us. That’s not our brand of football and we got to fix that.”

The Giants seemed to have all the juice on Thursday night and were led by their maniac fourth-round running back Cam Skattebo, who rammed and yelled his way to 98 yards on 19 carries with 3 touchdowns.

The Eagles missed tackles. They couldn’t get off blocks. They got pushed around.

DeJean admitted that was the most disappointing part of the loss.

“Yeah, I would say so,” DeJean said. “Them being able to run the ball the way they did. If you can run the ball, it opens up a lot of things. We just gotta look ourselves in the mirror and be a better defense.”

Led by Skattebo and rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, the Giants rushed for 172 yards on Thursday night. That’s the most the Eagles have given up since Vic Fangio became their defensive coordinator last season.

“I think they were the most physical team tonight, yeah,” linebacker Zack Baun said. “Does it worry me? No, because we’ll be back. We’ve got more opportunities.”

But why did that happen on Thursday night?

“I think we just came out flat,” Baun answered. “They came out ready to play, had energy at home and we didn’t.”

That’s a bit troubling because the Eagles seemed excited to get back on the field just a few days after suffering their first defeat of the season in Week 5. And then they had a performance like this.

Not only did the Eagles get pushed around on defense, but they got pushed around on offense too. After ripping off back-to-back explosive runs to start the game, the rushing offense never got going again.

As much as some people think the Eagles’ elite rushing attack was their identity in 2024, it was more about their physicality. It wasn’t fun to play the 2024 Eagles. You’d feel it for the next week.

Roles were reversed on Thursday night.

“I don’t think we played our brand the football or coached our brand of football today,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “Give them credit. You know, they did a good job. And so, again, have to look at the tape with how things kind of played out there today. But we definitely — that’s not to our standard in all phases and in coaching. So, you know, we’ll look at it and we’ll get better from it.”

It’s worth mentioning that the Eagles didn’t have Jalen Carter (heel) in this game and then lost Quinyon Mitchell (hamstring) in the first half, so they were without two of their most indispensable defensive players. But the Giants weren’t at full strength either and the Eagles should have still had more than enough talent to win.

While the Eagles’ offense has been a bigger problem for much of the season, it’s worth noting that the Eagles’ defense hasn’t exactly been nails the last couple of weeks. There are some concerns.

“We gotta be better in all phases,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “That’s what we’re going to keep striving for. That’s what we’re destined to do. I think that’s the biggest things. There’s really not ifs ands or buts, there’s no excuses, no nothing. 

“The biggest thing to take away from this game is ‘so what, now what?’ What can we do to get better? How can we figure it out? How can we figure out a way to be physically dominant? How can we be physically tough? How can we be mentally strong? All those things. That’s just what it comes down to.”