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ReFo: Giants @ Eagles, Week 6

2014-REFO-WK06-NYG@PHIAfter the Cowboys’ statement victory in Seattle yesterday afternoon the Giants and the Eagles met on Sunday Night Football in need of a response and to keep pace with the Cowboys. The momentum of a three game winning streak did nothing for the Giants as they ground to a halt in Philadelphia. They not only lost their winning momentum but also endured the loss of Victor Cruz for the season due to injury.

The Eagles were far from their hyper-speed best on offense but their defense came up with its best performance of the season to shutout the New York offense in what relatively quickly developed into a comfortable if not quite dominant victory.

New York Giants – Performances of Note

Cullen Jenkins, DT, +3.2

Breakdown: With positives being thin on the ground for the Giants after last night, a tip of the hat goes to Jenkins who provided the majority of what little pass rush New York could muster. His five pressures (2 Ht, 3 Hu) were double what he had generated through the first five games, with both of his hits coming against Eagles right guard Todd Herremans.

Signature Play: Tallied his second hit of the game with 12:23 left in the second quarter, driving quickly outside of Herremans to force a quick throw from Foles and help the Giants off of the field on third down.

Justin Pugh, RT, -4.3

Breakdown: Last night represented Pugh’s worst game in pass protection since the light went on for him after the first month last season. After grading -1.0 or worse in pass protection in three of his first four games last season he only did so twice in the remaining 12 games. Pugh surrendered four sacks surrendered last night and also donated some poor run blocking which led to his worst overall grade since Week 3 last season in Carolina (-5.9).

Signature Play: Gave up his first sack of the game with 2:27 left in the opening quarter, almost completely missing Trent Cole as he stepped inside to reach Eli Manning at the top of his drop.

Mathias Kiwanuka, DE, -0.3

Breakdown: Symptomatic of a disappointing showing from their pass rush Kiwanuka was blanked for the first time this season. After a disastrous opening game against the Lions the veteran defensive end had a solid three game spell. Since going up against the Falcons and Eagles in the past week Kiwanuka has just one hurry on 65 pass rushes, earning him a -4.4 pass rush grade in the last eight days.

Signature Stat: Last night broke a streak of 21 straight games with a pressure for Kiwanuka since he moved back to defensive end full time at the start of last season.

Philadelphia Eagles – Performances of Note

LeSean McCoy, RB, +2.4

Breakdown: A large part of producing as a running back is the platform that you are given by your blockers. Given that space to work with for just about the first time this season McCoy shredded the Giants’ defense. In the end he broke off five runs of 15 yards or more last night on 22 attempt while breaking five tackles en route to his first 100 yard game since the regular season finale in Dallas last season.

Signature Stat: McCoy’s five carries of 15 yards or more last night were more than he had through five games (four) and immediately thrusts him into second place in the league behind only DeMarco Murray (13).

Nick Foles, QB, -2.1

Breakdown: Last season Foles avoided turnovers through a mixture of good judgment and good fortune but this season he is being made to pay for his mistakes. Last night saw him throw his sixth and seventh interceptions of the season with two dreadful decisions on short throws, either of which might have been returned for scores.

Signature Stat: Five of Foles’ seven interceptions this season have come outside the right numbers, Foles is 33-of-65 with two touchdowns and five interceptions having been 70-of-102 with 12 touchdowns on such throws last season.

Connor Barwin, OLB, +4.5

Breakdown: Barwin rushed the passer 23 times last night and registered a sack on better than one in eight, racking up a big night with a mixture of speed, power and work rate. His first sack capitalized on Manning being forced out of the pocket to his side but the next two were simply Barwin besting Justin Pugh one-on-one.

Signature Play: Closed out his third straight multiple sack game with 12:39 left in the game driving around the outside of Pugh to take down Manning after Peyton Hillis had picked up a first down on the opening play of the drive.

PFF Game Ball

Who else but Connor Barwin who only had two career multiple sack games in his career entering this season (in consecutive weeks in Tampa Bay and Jacksonville back in 2011) and has matched his sack output of the last two seasons in the last three games.

 

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