The New York Giants (2-10) and Philadelphia Eagles (5-7) will square off on Monday Night Football in Week 14.
The Giants opened the week as 8.5-point road underdogs, and the spread has changed only slightly as of Sunday morning with Big Blue now at +9.5
With this matchup on tap, Giants Wire took the opportunity to hold a Q&A with Eagles Wire managing editor Glenn Erby.
Giants Wire: The Eagles are a bit of an enigma this season — up for a couple weeks, down for a couple weeks and repeat. What do you feel has led to the inconsistency and do you believe they will be able to turn things around over the final month of the season and give the fading Dallas Cowboys a run for their money?
Glenn Erby: The inconsistency started with DeSean Jackson’s injury and spiraled from there. The loss of Jackson’s ability to take the top off a defense reduced the Eagles offense to a dink and dump operation. Injuries in the secondary, along the offensive and defensive lines as well has presented the Eagles with the challenge of trying to live up to those Super Bowl aspirations while utilizing a makeshift lineup.
This is a confident team, a team that unfortunately relies on being the underdog and clicking the switch on. Now that they’ve been counted out, I think you’ll see that sense of urgency and consistency that’s been missing.
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Jordan Howard is a little banged up and a lot of this week’s focus will be on him, but what can you say about Miles Sanders? He seems to be an explosive option and may provide more of a matcup advantage against the Giants than Howard.
Sanders has been the Eagles’ best deep threat at times and a pure delight to watch as a rookie. He struggled during OTAs and training camp, but the light seemed to come on after he made his season debut against Washington. He had his best rushing game as a pro in the Dolphins loss and he makes history on a weekly basis.
I believe he’s now the 8th RB in NFL history with more than 850 yards from scrimmage on fewer than 150 touches after his first 12 career games. He’s definitely a player to watch going forward.
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The Giants historically struggle against opposing tight ends and 2019 has been no different. Do you anticipate the Eagles focusing more of their offensive play calling on isolating Zach Ertz against linebackers or safeties and relying on him to wreck the game?
They are going to definitely try to isolate both Ertz and Dallas Goedert one-on-one against linebackers and safeties. The 12 personnel is now the staple of the Eagles offense and at times, those two tight ends have made the offense go. Ertz is dealing with a hamstring injury, but his target rate and yards per catch are starting to improve as the season progresses.
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The Eagles have yet to see Daniel Jones and won’t again on Monday night, but did the Wednesday switch to Eli Manning upset the Eagles’ preparation or do you feel that actually provides them an advantage given their familiarity with Eli over the years?
The switch to Manning definitely got the attention of Eagles players and any thought of taking Eli lightly went out the window when Malcolm Jenkins let the media know that players expect Manning to be prepared. From an athletic standpoint, the matchup plays into the Eagles’ desire to pressure the edge and make Eli Manning uncomfortable. From an experience standpoint, I wonder if Jim Schwartz would have preferred to deal with the rookie quarterback instead of a two-time Super Bowl champion. The Eagles won’t be able to confuse Manning and he’s still capable of making that one throw that breaks the hearts of the fans.
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Jim Schwartz has been a clever defensive coordinator over the years, but patience with him seems to be running out in Philly. What is going wrong and how much of the blame should he actually be shouldering?
Schwartz is a pretty good coordinator, but I question his ability to adjust and change up his plan on the go. Over the past two seasons, his corners have struggled to hold up in coverage at times and rather than back off, play zone or loosen up, he simply chalks it up to the Eagles pass rush not getting to the quarterback fast enough. I believe if a change is to be made, it’ll likely be offensive coordinator Mike Groh, but Schwartz is definitely a candidate for change, especially if his defense continues to falter down the stretch.
Make sure you check out Glenn Erby for all of your Eagles needs over at Eagles Wire.
