‘I’ll Die On That Hill!’ Eagles Behind Enemy Lines on Giants

‘I’ll Die On That Hill!’ Philadelphia Eagles Behind Enemy Lines on New York Giants

PHILADELPHIA – Christmas Day is on Monday, and the Philadelphia Eagles are playing at Lincoln Financial Field.

This will be the fourth time they have played on a Monday this season, but it will be only the first against their NFC rival New York Giants. The two teams will turn around in two weeks and play again in the regular-season final at MetLife Stadium in two weeks. 

Let’s unwrap a few nuggets on the Giants with longtime beat writer Patricia Traina, who is the publisher and writer for GiantsCountry.com, part of the SI.com Fan Nation network, and also the host of the LockedOn Giants podcast.

Here are five questions posed to Traina about the Giants.

Q: The Giants were a playoff team last year and won a game. What happened to them this year?

Traina: People will point to the injuries, but I’m willing to die on the hill that believes the team just wasn’t ready to start the season. All summer long it seemed like head coach Brian Daboll ran training camp to ensure the team entered Week 1 healthy, and as such, they rarely got the starters on the field during the preseason. (And when they did, it was against a weak Carolina team and only for a series or two.) I don’t care how many practice reps the starters got. You cannot simulate game reps and game speed in practice.

Along that vein, they were still trying to figure out the starting offensive line going into Week 1, and when injuries happened, all of a sudden, they’re moving Josh Ezeudu, who had never played LT at the NFL level, to that spot, they inserted Marcus McKethan, who missed his entire rookie campaign and most of training cap at right guard, and they kept Shane Lemieux over Tyre Phillips?

Add all that up and then the punch in the mouth the Cowboys gave them in Week 1, and they never recovered from that. Things just snowballed and got uglier. So here we are.

Kenny Gainwell looks for running room in a game against the New York Giants last year / USA Today

Q: Tommy DeVito has played well considering his offensive line has allowed him to be sacked 35 times in seven games. Could he be in the mix to be the starter next year if the Giants find a way to move on from Daniel Jones and do you think they will try to move on from Jones?

Traina: I think DeVito is in the mix to be the No. 2 QB. If Jones isn’t ready to start the season, then technically yes, he would be in the mix to be the starter. But will he leapfrog Jones, all things being equal? I don’t believe so.

DeVito’s status will also largely depend on how the Giants address the quarterback spot this off-season. If they draft a quarterback in the first round, DeVito will eventually fade to No. 3. If they sign a veteran, then maybe he has a chance of holding on to the No. 2 spot. But Brian Daboll has already said Jones will be the starter once he’s healthy.

As for whether they’ll move on from Jones next year, they can’t due to his salary cap number. But after that? Yes, I can see that being the case unless he has the kind of year they were expecting from him this year.

Q: There’s a report out there from Jay Glazer who believes there could be a split coming between Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale and the Eagles could be in the market for a DC this offseason. Why talk of a potential split and do you think it will happen?

Traina: Brian Daboll can be a bit of a hot-head at times, which is putting it mildly. I’ve heard that when things aren’t going well, he can be extra hard on his staff. He’s a competitive man. Wink, on the other hand, is competitive, but he doesn’t pop off at people like Daboll does, at least not from what I’m told or from what I’ve seen.

Wink is also more forthcoming when it comes to discussing things that Daboll probably would rather not be discussed in public, such as Xavier McKinney’s criticism of the coaching staff from a few weeks ago. So you have two very different personalities and that can and has resulted in some friction when things weren’t going well.

That said, I don’t think Daboll is foolish to where he’d let his ego get in the way of progress. He built up relationships with the players and if he were to dump Martindale, who is loved by the defensive players, that might not go over well in the locker room.

I think if Martindale leaves, it will be for a head coaching job or retirement. I don’t think he wants to leave, to be honest. But you never know what really goes on behind closed doors, and if Daboll is the type to berate people, well, not everyone will put up with that.

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Q: The Giants' pass defense has been good most of the year. Why has that been the case?

Traina: Despite what PFF grades say, rookie cornerback Deonte Banks has been playing really, really well. I dare say he’s overtaken Adoree’ Jackson as the team’s No. 1 cornerback. Jackson hasn’t been too bad either since returning from injury.

Another key factor has been that safeties Xavier McKinney and Jason Pinnock have been playing much better ball down the stretch. Toss in the pass rush, when it’s been there, and you have the Giants doing what any team looking to field a competent pass rush needs to do, which is get equal contribution from the front and back ends.

Q: Who wins and why and what is your final score prediction?

Traina: Eagles win. Sorry, but I don’t see a path for the Giants to win this game at all unless the Eagles don’t show up. The Eagles have the better roster, and they have a lot more on the line than the Giants at this point. So, let’s say 33-14 as the final.