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By Michael Stewart  @golferbad

Introduction: The Giants (1-4) play the Super Bowl Champions Philadelphia Eagles (2-3) after a heart breaking defeat to the Carolina Panthers (33-31) on a 63 yard field goal on the last play of the game. The Eagles also suffered a tough lost to the hands of the Minnesota Vikings (23-21) as both teams will not have much time to rest before they face off on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium. The Giants and the Eagle have struggled offensively with the Eagles averaging 20.6 ppg and the Giants 20.8 ppg. The Eagles currently ranked 19th in passing (253.0 ypg) and 16th in rushing (110.8 ypg); while surrendering 276.8 ypg in the air (22nd) and only 66.4ypg on the ground (2nd). The Giants offensively are ranked 17th in passing (262.2 ypg) and 28th in rushing (75.6 ypg) and defensively are ranked 8th against the pass (229.4 ypg) and 27th defending the run (124.4 ypg). The Eagles are favored by 3.5 points and that could certainly change by game time.

Top 3 Matchups:

  1. QB Eli Manning-vs-Carlson Wentz: Based on statistics, the Giants have an edge here and Manning needs to have a repeat performance like he did against the Panthers. Making big plays is essential if the Giants want to pull out a victory. They are not going to grind out long drives against the Eagles defense.
  2. Odell Beckham Jr. & Saquon Barkley-vs-Eagles defense:  The Giants must get big plays from their best offensive players if they want to win this game. Barkley will have a tougher time manufacturing yardage consistently, so he must at least break off a couple of long runs like he did against the Panthers and get into the end zone. Beckham should see double coverage, but that’s expected. The Eagles will not be able to double team him throughout the entire game and when they don’t; the Giants need to capitalize on it.
  3. Turnovers: Games between the Eagles and the Giants usually has a few turnovers sprinkled in and this one should be no different. The Giants have not done well in this department, so they must find a way to win this battle and make the Eagle pay for their mistakes.

Summary: The Giants finally scored 30 points after a 33 game span, but still it wasn’t good enough as they still managed to lose to the Panthers. Hard to tell how the Giants will react after a devastating to the hands of the Panthers. The effort has been there during the first 5 games thus far, so I’m expecting Head Coach Pat Shurmur to have the team ready to play. Look for a very physical game with both teams causing some havoc defensively. In the end, it will boil down to which team can execute the best and capitalize on the other teams mistakes. Based on that, I believe the Giants will feed off last week’s lost and play solid game on both sides of the ball and win their 2nd game of the season.

Final Score: The Giants are winless at home this season and the Eagles are winless on the road, so something has to give here. The Eagles also haven’t scored more than 23 points in the a game this season and I expect that trend to continue against the Giants on the road. Despite the Giants sudden offensive outburst last week, I don’t expect another 30 point performance, but they will find the end zone and enough points to capture their 2nd win of the season and make the NFC east very interesting. Giants-20/Eagles-17