Special Teams Have Not Been Special For Both Eagles And Giants

The Eagles and Giants will meet in North Jersey in Week 7, and special teams could play a factor.

Oct 13, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean (33) returns a punt against the Cleveland Browns at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA – Pay attention to the very much underrated part of the Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Giants. That would be special teams.

Somehow, the Eagles have survived three woeful plays by their specialty units. The Giants will be without their punter Jamie Gillan due to injury. Their kicker is Greg Joseph, who is a replacement for Graham Gano, and he struggled last week in a loss to the Bengals.

Joseph missed a field goal with 10:29 to play in the game that would have tied the score. He then missed a 45-yard with 55 seconds left to go that would’ve allowed the Giants to try an onside kick to possibly shoot to tie the game. His miss ended it, though.

Haack, now in his eighth season, stepped in last week for Gillan and punted four times for a 46 with a net of 40.8 yards.

Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean had a nice day last week in his second game as the team’s punt returner with Britain Covey sidelined with a shoulder injury and on injured reserve. DeJean had four returns for a 12.8 yards average and his 19-yard return on one helped give the Eagles good field position that they cashed in for a field goal that gave them a 13-10 lead late in the third quarter during last week’s 20-16 win over the Browns.

It may be one of just one or two things the Eagles special teams have done well all season.

The Browns' only touchdown came on a 57-yard field goal block from Myles Garrett that was scooped up and run in for a 50-yard touchdown by Rodney McLeod. The Eagles overcame it and won, anyway.

There were two other blunders by ST coordinator Michael Clay’s units.

One was critical in a loss at Tampa. It happened when Isaiah Rodgers thought he could block a gunner into his returner – in this case, DeJean. The mistake caused a fumble and allowed the Bucs to take over deep in plus-territory and go ahead 21-0 on their way to a 33-16 blowout win.

The other came in New Orleans when Braden Mann had a punt blocked. The Eagles defense stood tall and didn’t yield a first down, even after the Saints went for in fourth-and-short deep in Eagles territory. Philly went on to beat the then-unbeaten Saints.

“When you have three catastrophic plays, those are things that do kill a season, kill a team right there,” sai Clay. “We have to make sure we get rid of those going forward against the Giants. Again, it falls on me. I've got to do a better job in a situation of telling these guys, high alert for this.

“It could be high alert for a punt rush, or high alert for a jumper in a gap, things of that nature. Guys moving, trying to get us offsides if it is a longer field goal.”

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