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Eagles defense capitalizes on mistakes from fill-in QBs Jake Fromm and Mike Glennon to beat the Giants

The Eagles’ defensive success afforded the team’s offense plenty of time to right the ship.

Philadelphia Eagles outside linebacker Alex Singleton (49), intercepts a pass and scores another touchdown for the Eagles during the fourth quarter of the game against the New York Giants at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sunday, Dec., 26, 2021.
Philadelphia Eagles outside linebacker Alex Singleton (49), intercepts a pass and scores another touchdown for the Eagles during the fourth quarter of the game against the New York Giants at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sunday, Dec., 26, 2021.Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer
    by EJ Smith
    Published 

For a split second, Alex Singleton thought Rodney McLeod was going to get the glory.

Early in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 34-10 win over the New York Giants on Sunday, the Eagles linebacker and McLeod had a hunch that Giants receiver Kadarius Toney was about to run an option route. If Toney broke inside, Singleton would be there. If he broke outside, McLeod would charge after the throw.

“I thought they were going to throw it on the out and obviously Rodney would get the pick,” Singleton said after the game. “He cut back in and Rodney broke it up. Just right place, right time.”

Even though Toney broke inside, McLeod still managed to get his hands on the pass, deflecting it to Singleton, who was well-positioned. Singleton took the interception 29 yards for a touchdown, contributing to a 31-point, second-half explosion from the Eagles.

McLeod, who had his own interception to jump-start the team at the beginning of the third quarter, said he didn’t know he’d set Singleton up until his teammate was well on his way to the end zone.

“I actually was looking for the ball on the ground because I knew I broke it up,” he said. “I didn’t know that he picked it. I just saw him running, man. It was another huge play for us.”

As has been the case several times in the second half of this season, the Eagles defense was gifted a favorable matchup against a lackluster quarterback. Sunday’s offerings were Jake Fromm, who managed just six completions for 25 yards on 17 attempts and got benched in the second half, and Mike Glennon, who didn’t play much better after relieving Fromm.

The Giants offense looked listless. Fromm had a handful of errant throws, didn’t handle pressure well, and struggled to sustain drives. Glennon was slightly better, going 17-for-27, but still had the interception to Singleton.

Since Giants starter Daniel Jones was sidelined with a neck injury suffered the last time they played the Eagles, New York’s offense is averaging just 11.5 points per game.

When asked if he thought the Giants offense could move the ball against the Eagles defense at any point, Singleton didn’t mince words.

“No,” he said. “We knew what we had to do to win this game.

“We know as a defense we’ve been playing well for the last month, just not enough turnovers. That was kind of the emphasis.”

Poor quarterback play aside, the Eagles’ defensive success afforded the team’s offense plenty of time to right the ship. The Eagles stalled out on their first five offensive drives and went into the half tied, 3-3.

The defense held the Giants to just 76 yards in the first half and then set up the offense’s first touchdown drive with an interception from McLeod to start the third quarter. Eagles edge rusher Genard Avery bull-rushed Giants left guard Matt Skura into Fromm’s lap on the play, forcing Fromm to toss an errant floater that McLeod came up with.

“The defense kept the game a game when it wasn’t going well,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said after the game. “It was a huge, huge play by Rodney. Unbelievable rush by Genard Avery just to get pressure on the quarterback on the game we played up front. So, you get that pressure, he sails the ball high, and Rodney makes a big play.

“That was everything. You end up going up seven. The defense feels like they’re not going to get any more points. They’re like, ‘We’re up seven? We ain’t freakin’ losing this game because the way our defense is playing.’ ”

» READ MORE: Eagles-Giants instant analysis: Jalen Hurts overcomes sloppy start, DeVonta Smith stars, defense reigns

The defensive effort helped cover up the fact that the team was playing on limited rest. McLeod was one of the Eagles’ most outspoken players against the NFL’s decision to postpone their Week 15 game against the Washington Football Team to Tuesday, partly because of the disadvantage it would present for Sunday’s game against the Giants.

After the win against the Giants, McLeod said the defense responded well to the short week.

“I felt like we didn’t blink,” McLeod said. “We understood what the assignment was, what the mission was. We made that choice and decision that we weren’t leaving out of here with anything short of a win.”

The Eagles defense has held opponents to fewer than 20 points in four of the last five games. The group has looked shaky at times during that stretch and the quarterbacks haven’t been world-beaters, but the Eagles are 4-1 in that stretch with the only loss coming when the defense gave up 13 points to the Giants.

The defense was absolved by Jalen Hurts’ struggles and the lack of offensive production in that Week 12 loss, but Singleton said that game was front of mind going into the rematch.

“We know we lost a game we should have won,” Singleton said. “To come off that. As a defense, we didn’t create any turnovers that week, and we needed to. If we had two or three like we did today, it would’ve been a different game.”

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