Eagles fail to thaw offense in 19-11 loss to Giants; QB Joe Milton can’t provide spark in seventh-straight defeat
The Birds lost to an NFC East foe for the the third straight week, as the NFL trade deadline looms on Tuesday.
Different quarterback, same results — again.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Jalen Hurts, Tanner McKee, or Joe Milton in the huddle — the Eagles offense can’t sustain drives. That much was true once again in their 19-11 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon, extending the Eagles’ losing streak to seven games.
The Eagles had an opportunity to tie the game with a potential touchdown and a successful two-point conversion with just over a minute and a half left in regulation. They were pinned at their own 5-yard line and managed to drive to their own 43. However, with six seconds remaining on fourth-and-2, Milton was sacked a seventh time to end the game.
Here’s our instant analysis following the Eagles’ latest loss, as they limp into the bye week at 2-7:
Milton makes his debut
In his first NFL start, Milton often looked like a quarterback who has been with the Eagles for just three weeks because, well, he’s a quarterback who has been with the Eagles for just three weeks.
Milton, the 26-year-old who was signed off the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad on Oct. 16, went 18-for-34 (52.9% completion) for 169 yards (66.9 quarterback rating). The Eagles may have replaced their starting quarterback, but they didn’t fix their issues against pressure. Milton was sacked seven times.
He started off the day on the wrong foot. Milton was flagged for a false start on the first play of the Eagles’ opening drive, an infraction that the offense could not overcome. Later, on third-and-7, an apparent miscommunication between Milton and Darius Cooper resulted in the quarterback throwing the ball behind the receiver for an incompletion.
The Eagles offense took advantage of a mistake-prone Giants team which incurred a total of nine penalties on Sunday. On the Eagles’ second possession of the game, Cooper drew a defensive pass interference penalty against Giants cornerback Deonte Banks on a deep ball down the left sideline.
The penalty brought the Eagles to the Giants’ 3-yard line. The Eagles capitalized on Banks’ penalty, with Saquon Barkley punching the ball in on a 3-yard rushing touchdown in a jumbo set with Willie Lampkin at fullback. Barkley’s touchdown and Milton’s ensuing keeper on the successful two-point conversion put the Eagles up, 8-6, with over three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Eagles offense had another opportunity in prime field position in the second quarter. Giants punt returner Charlie Jones muffed the fair catch and Eagles long snapper Rocco Underwood recovered the loose ball at at the Giants’ 47.
However, the Eagles’ season-long struggle against the blitz reared its head again on third-and-5 from the 42. Giants inside linebacker Arvell Reese blitzed off the left edge, with Milton looking in the opposite direction. An unblocked Reese strip-sacked Milton, and Giants inside linebacker Micah McFadden recovered the ball at midfield. Underwood’s fumble recovery went for naught, a major missed opportunity for an Eagles offense that ranked 30th in the league in scoring going into Sunday’s game.
Reese wasn’t finished wreaking havoc. He had another sack of Milton in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles down 16-8 after a Giants field goal, Reese beat Landon Dickerson and sacked Milton a third time.
Milton displayed his mobility on occasion, scrambling 24 yards for a first down on third-and-8 late in the fourth quarter. His legs helped set the Eagles up for a 45-yard field goal, as they trailed by eight with under two minutes remaining in the game, 19-11.
Imperfect, but improved, defense
The old cliché of “sacks come in bunches” has never been more applicable to the Eagles defense.
Going into Sunday afternoon, the Eagles had mustered just 10 sacks through eight contests. They combined for six sacks on Giants quarterbacks — five sacks on J.J. McCarthy, and one on Jameis Winston.
Zack Baun (two), Jordan Davis, Jonathan Greenard, Nolan Smith Jr., and Jalen Carter each tallied sacks. On the Giants’ first two possessions of the game, sacks from Baun and Greenard stalled drives in Eagles territory, forcing the Giants to settle for field goals of 53 and 49 yards. Giants kicker Dominic Zvada’s successful attempts pulled them ahead, 6-0, early in the game.
The Eagles’ pass rush and run defense was strong overall. They held the Giants to 80 yards on the ground, their best performance against the run this season. Granted, the Giants were missing their top running back, Cam Skattebo, due to injury.
However, the Eagles’ inefficient offense needed the Eagles defense to be perfect, and they weren’t. After Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy briefly exited the game with a hip injury in the third quarter/, backup Jameis Winston orchestrated a 14-play, 76-yard scoring drive, capped by a 5-yard receiving touchdown for a wide-open Giants tight end Isaiah Likely. An apparent miscommunication out of a three-receiver bunch allowed Likely to slip behind a few Eagles defenders and haul in Winston’s pass, putting the Giants up, 13-8.
The Eagles defense bent but didn’t break, limiting the Giants to two more field goals — a 38-yarder and a 49-yarder. The Giants went up, 19-8, with roughly four and a half minutes remaining in the game.
Mann’s moments
The Eagles were up, 8-6, with 26 seconds remaining in the first half. Milton and the offense went three-and-out, stalling at their own 8-yard line.
Giants punt returner Charlie Jones lined up near midfield, awaiting Braden Mann’s punt. But the 28-year-old punter drilled the ball over Jones’ head for 86 yards, making it the longest punt in the league since 2001 (Giants Rodney Williams’ 90-yarder). It was the second-longest in franchise history behind Randall Cunningham’s 91-yarder in 1989, also against the Giants.
Pinned deep in their own zone, the Giants were forced to take a knee going into halftime.
Mann hit a low later in the game, though. Late in the fourth quarter, he fumbled and recovered his own punt attempt for a loss of two yards. The Giants began their drive at the Eagles’ 37, which resulted in a field goal to put them up, 19-8.
Injury report
Baun went down in the third quarter with a back injury after making a hard hit on McCarthy. The Giants quarterback sustained a hip injury on the play.
McCarthy would return to action late in the third quarter.
With the Eagles’ season gradually going up in flames, there’s been plenty of external fingerpointing. The offense, specifically the line, has drawn considerable ire, especially in light of the Eagles parting ways with longtime, beloved assistant coach Jeff Stoutland. Stoutland’s track record on the offensive line is Hall of Fame-worthy. This year, with Chris Kuper as Stoutland’s replacement, the line has regressed.
Should Kuper shoulder most of the blame? What really happened between Stoutland and the Eagles that caused their relationship to fall apart? The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane dives deeper into one of the biggest “what ifs” from a frustrating season, framing Stoutland’s exit around four key questions. Listen here.
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