After putting up nearly 350 yards of total offense in the first half, the New York Giants experienced another second-half collapse against the Philadelphia Eagles in a 25-22 loss on Sunday afternoon.
Jake Elliott’s 43-yard field with 22 seconds remaining snapped the Giants’ two-game losing streak and officially ended their season, crushing any far-fetched hope that New York could run the table and sneak into the playoffs.
The Eagles can thank Giants head coach Pat Shurmur’s play-calling and clock management for keeping their slim chances of a Super Bowl title defense alive.
Philadelphia was able to run the clock down at the end of the game after the Giants spent one of their three timeouts with 5:16 left in the third quarter on a 3rd-&-18 to avoid a delay-of-game penalty.
Behind a brilliant start from rookie running back Saquon Barkley, the Giants jumped out to a 19-3 lead against a hobbled Eagles defense whose secondary has been ransacked by injury before the tide turned in the second half.
For some reason, Shurmur opted to basically eliminate Barkley from the offense in the second half, taking away the team’s greatest offensive threat.
After 15 total touches in the first half, Barkley recorded just five touches in the final two quarters. By no coincidence, the Giants put up just 56 yards of total offense during that stretch.
While the aerial game was a point of emphasis, Manning attempted 25 passes and racked up 236 yards alone in the opening 30 minutes, it was all about Barkley.
The rookie recorded the Giants’ second-straight opening-drive touchdown after doing most of the work on a 13-yard screen pass.
After a pair of Aldrick Rosas field goals, he broke open a 51-yard rumble straight through the heart of the Eagles defense to put the Giants up 16.
With two minutes left in the first half, Barkley had 127 total yards compared to the 128 yards gained by the entire Eagles’ offense.
Philadelphia would record its first touchdown of the game with 1:04 left in the half when Wentz hit Zach Ertz for a 15-yard score. The ensuing successful two-point conversion made it just a one-possession game despite the Giants’ dominance.
The offense disappeared in the second half as the Giants had no answers for an Eagles defense that began throwing different looks and pre-snap movements. They had just three yards of total offense in the third quarter.
In the meantime, the Eagles took a 22-19 lead to cap off a 19-0 run. After a field goal and a Josh Adams one-yard touchdown rush with 10:11 left in the game.
The Giants would tie the game with 5:52 left thanks to a Rosas field goal before Elliott’s game-winner.
