USA Today
The Wait is Over, the Eagles will Open Playoffs vs. the Giants
Now the Eagles know who they will play and when, too.
There’s no need to wait for the outcome of Monday night’s Dallas at Tampa game after the sixth-seeded New York Giants took out the No. 3 seed, Minnesota Vikings, 31-24, on Sunday.
The Eagles will host the Giants on Saturday at 8:15 on FOX.
So, Round 3 it will be, but this time it will be a fair fight, though @BetOnLine_ag installed the Eagles has 7.5 favorites.
It will be just two weeks ago that the Eagles beat the Giants, 22-16, to clinch home field and earn a bye on Super Wildcard Weekend.
New York didn’t play its starters, though, and their quarterback was Davis Webb, who had never thrown a pass in his six years in the league.
The Eagles played their starters, got out to a 19-0 lead, then held on as Webb sort of found his footing.
In fairness to Philadelphia, they brought a vanilla gameplan designed to not put quarterback Jalen Hurts in harm’s way and, by taking away what he does with his legs, the Eagles scored only one touchdown on five red zone trips that day.
That was Round Two.
Round 1 was easy: Eagles 48-22 on Dec. 11.
It was 21-0 before the Giants knew what hit them, with the Eagles going into New York’s backyard at MetLife Stadium and scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions. They kicked a field goal on their fourth and final possession of the half to open a 24-7 lead at halftime.
The lead swelled to 48-14 before New York managed a touchdown late in the game to make the black eye not look so bad.
The defense beat up on quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor, sacking them a combined seven times. Brandon Graham had three sacks.
New York’s defense made life challenging for Hurts, too, sacking him four times.
The Eagles know New York defensive coordinator Wink Martindale likes to blitz and will need to plan accordingly.
Of course, the Giants know what the Eagles like to do also.
And New York looked awfully good in eliminating the Vikings and should come in with a supreme amount of confidence.
It should make for a tantalizing Round 3.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
