Eagles vs. Giants Notebook: Get-Right Game, Matt Patricia Tweaks & Dynamic Duo

The Philadelphia Eagles were back to their 10-1 narrative against the New York Giants: a win lacking style points.

PHILADELPHIA - The official NORAD Santa tracker had the jolly gift-giver hovering near Broad and Pattison in South Philadelphia on Christmas Day set to deliver quite the gift to the struggling Philadelphia Eagles, the rare get-right game in the NFL.

The New York Giants are so limited offensively with quarterback Tommy DeVito that Monday’s game was nothing more than a glorified scrimmage until halftime when Brian Daboll whacked Devito’s’ 15 minutes of fame in favor of veteran backup Tyrod Taylor.

Taylor’s more representative play and mistakes by the Eagles, most notably a friendly-fire forced fumble by Olamide Zaccheaus on a Boston Scott kickoff return and an Adoree Jackson 76-yard pick-six in which Dallas Goedert slipped during a Jalen Hurts’ throw outside provided some angst.

In the end, Philadelphia completely outplayed New York but still had to sweat at least a bit due to the self-inflicted mistakes and poor decision-making, holding on for a 33-25 win when Taylor’s desperation heave into the end zone was intercepted by rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo, his first professional interception.

The Eagles outgained the Giants 465 to 292 and had 28 first downs to the Giants' 14 en route to halting a three-game skid and beating New York for the 11th consecutive time at Lincoln Financial Field.

Most importantly the Eagles moved to 11-4 on the season and edged back ahead of Dallas in the NFC East with two games to play: Arizona at the Linc and a rematch with the NYG at MetLife Stadium.

TIMES ARE A CHANGIN’

The inability of the Giants to even threaten a porous Eagles’ defensive unit in the first half turned the contest into more of a scrimmage environment where Philadelphia rolled out several tweaks on both sides of the football to steady the ship and gain some momentum back in advance of the postseason.

Offensively, the Eagles have had trouble running outside screen all season and finally got the short-area of quickness of Britain Covey involved. It was only a seven-yard gain but that’s the kind of positivity Philadelphia needs on a play that has to be a staple on any RPO offense.

On defense, Matt Patricia used several different looks, some due to injuries to starting linebackers Nicholas Morrow and Zach Cunningham, as well as cornerback Darius Slay.

Patricia used Shaq Leonard and Ben VanSumeren as his base linebackers and athletic rookie edge rusher Nolan Smith was the Mike in dime looks. The defensive play-caller also used a small dime with four cornerbacks: Ringo and fellow rookie Eli Ricks outside with James Bradberry and Bradley Roby inside plus a three-safety look with Sydney Brown joining Reed Blankenship and Kevin Byard.

Blankenship, by the way, handled the green dot for the entire contest.

Shaq Leonard gave the Eagles defense some juice / USA Today

WINNING DOESN'T CURE EVERYTHING

Nick Sirianni was seen on the sidelines very upset in the waning moments of the game as the Giants were desperately trying to force overtime with a touchdown and a two-point conversion, something that came up short with Ringo's interception.

After the game, A.J. Brown, who is usually accountable begged off talking with reporters saying "I was taught if I had nothing good to say to not say anything. I’ll take the fine if I have to.”

Hurts was seen in deep discussion with DeVonta Smith and Jason Kelce afterwards. Time is running out to fix things and it seems like the Eagles are keenly aware of that fact.

Something Felt Off in Eagles' Locker Room Despite Win vs. Giants

11 AND COUNTING

The Eagles have won 11-plus games in consecutive seasons for only the third time in franchise history. The franchise accomplished it in 1979-80 with Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil and 2000 through 2004 with certain future Hall of Famer Andy Reid.

Sirianni owns a 25-7 record since the start of last season, marking the highest winning percentage (.781) over that span, and is also tied for the most wins over any two years in Eagles history (also 25-7 under Reid from 2003-04).

PUSH-TUSHING INTO HISTORY

Hurts' one-yard touchdown plunge in the first quarter was his 15th of the season, setting a new NFL quarterback record for rushing touchdowns, breaking the previous mark set by Cam Newton during his 2011 rookie campaign (14).

Hurts is now also tied with Steve Van Buren in 1945 (15) for the second-most rushing touchdowns in single-season franchise history, behind LeSean McCoy in 2011 (17).

With his 20th passing TD of the season, Hurts tied his Eagles single-season record for total TDs (also 35 in 2022), which he shares with Randall Cunningham (1990).

DYNAMIC DUO

With a team-high six receptions for 80 yards, A.J. Brown now has 101 receptions for 1,394 yards and seven TDs on the season. Brown is just the second player in Eagles history to post 100-plus catches in a season, joining Zach Ertz in 2018 (116) while his 101 receptions are the most ever by an Eagles WR in a single season, breaking the mark DeVonta Smith set last season with 95.

Smith, meanwhile, past 1,000 receiving yards (1,036) for the second consecutive season.

Brown and Smith are the only 1,000-plus-yard receiving duo in franchise history and have done it two seasons in a row.