Grayson's Grades: Eagles at Giants

The Philadelphia Eagles shined in Saquon Barkley’s return to MetLife Stadium and hammered the Giants 28-3.

Barkley led the way on offense rushing for 176 yards and scored a touchdown against his
former team. The defense also played well keeping the Giants out of the endzone while also racking up eight sacks.

The Eagles improve to 4-2 overall and will visit the Cincinnati Bengals next week. Here is the latest edition of Grayson’s Grades:

Saquon Barkley – Barkley said all week he didn’t want to make the game bigger than it is. But it was a big game and he showed up huge against his former team. Barkley had three carries go for at least 38 yards with his longest covering 55 yards. He had 17 carries for 176 yards and a touchdown. Barkley finished 13 yards shy of his career-high and when Head Coach Nick Sirianni asked him if he wanted to go for that mark, Barkley replied “let the other guys eat.”

AJ Brown – Brown made the most of his opportunities. He says he is always open and he
looked it in this game. Brown’s biggest play came on a fourth and three when he saw man
coverage and beat his man to catch a pass in stride and take it in for a 41-yard touchdown. Brown caught five passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Jalen Hurts – Hurts did not turn it over for the second game in a row. He was sacked four times but held onto the pigskin. Hurts also did not have to throw it very much due in large part to the success Barkley was having on the ground. Hurts completed ten of 14 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown. He also did a good job carrying it scoring twice. Hurts had 22 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Jalen Carter – Carter was a beast in the middle of that defensive line. He managed to blow up the protection allowing his teammates to get home for a sack. Carter also got back there to record two sacks himself. It was a solid performance for the big guy who needs to string several of these kinds of games together to help make this defense better. Carter had four tackles including two sacks, two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hits.

Vic Fangio – Anytime a defense holds the opponent to three points, they should win the game. Fangio’s defense did just that and held the Giants out of the endzone. The plan was clearly to harass Daniel Jones and it worked forcing him to worry more about the rush than going through his progressions. Fangio’s defense held the Giants to just 119 total yards and held them to converting just three of 14 third-down plays. The biggest stat though was the eight sacks that this group completed.

Nick Sirianni - Sirianni was under the microscope for his behavior last week. I do not necessarily believe he handled it the best way possible, but he did manage to rally his players together and take down a division opponent on the road. Between the lines, he handled the week well in preparation which included holding a fully padded practice in the middle of the week to work on tackling and ball control. This was the second game in a row that the Eagles did not turn it over. There is still plenty to improve. One of the biggest recurring problems is a slow start. The Eagles are still the only team in the NFL that has not scored a first quarter point. Sirianni managed the game well and got his starters out of there to remain healthy early in the fourth quarter.

Kellen Moore – Moore still has to figure out the lack of scoring in the first quarter. They have yet to score a single first quarter point all season. However, they did score 28 points in about two quarters so they showed the ability to score and score quickly. The blueprint for success now appears to be visible. Let Saquon Barkley establish the run, then go to the passing game. Moore’s offense racked up 339 total yards and went three-for-three on fourth down.

Nakobe Dean – Dean did a much better job today of tackling. He also was part of the group that made Daniel Jones have a rough day. Dean led the team with 11 tackles. He also added a pair of sacks with two tackles for a loss and four quarterback hits.

Offensive Line - The offensive line had its ups and downs. There were some struggles at times to keep a clean pocket for Jalen Hurts. They allowed three sacks in the game. But the line also created some good holes for Saquon Barkley and Kenneth Gainwell to get through. They paved the way for 269 rush yards against the Giants. The impressive part of it was they did it without starting left tackle Jordan Mailata who went on injured reserve and will miss at least the next three games. This unit got stronger as the game went on and should continue to get stronger as they work together with Fred Johnson filling in at left tackle week after week.

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