New York Giants 34-17 Philadelphia Eagles.
Please re-read the above scoreline multiple times, pinch yourself to check you are not dreaming and then read it once more!
After over a decade of not winning on Thursday, the New York Giants had a very impressive outing in all three phases of the game to overcome the Eagles and win 34-17.
This is a team that committed five turnovers on five consecutive drives last week to throw away a game against the New Orleans Saints. The team were missing their top two wide receivers and looked wounded and short of confidence, going up against their old nemesis on Prime Time.
Everything needed to be as close to perfect as possible to win.
Jaxson Dart
How can you not get carried away by this kid? Rookies are supposed to look overwhelmed and make mistakes, but not Jaxson Dart.
He stands in the pocket with an instinctive sense of where pressure is coming from and knows when to step up into the pocket or scramble. He was identifying pressure at the line, making adjustments, throwing on the run with precision, going through his reads and running like a Cam Skattebo wannabe.
He is injecting excitement back into Giants football and is just an easy guy to root for.
As a Star Wars fan, having endured a decade of misery, to have someone paint his face to resemble Anakin Skywalker who we can call ‘The Chosen One’ is sensational.
This season was always going to be about when will Dart play, how will he look and should we have hope for the 2026 season.
Well, not to put him in Canton already, but he is definitely making Giants football interesting to watch again.
Cam Skattebo
Cam is another exciting rookie. He always runs angry but to see him out-perform Saquon Barkley on a day in which Barkley released a documentary on himself about leaving the Giants for the Eagles was blissful.
He enjoyed a three-touchdown day and bullying the Eagles to the point where they just wanted out of MetLife Stadium was glorious viewing.
For so many years, the Eagles have bullied the Giants. I never expected to see it the other way around against a Vic Fangio-led defense.
Inevitably, injuries will effect Cam because of his hard-running style, but he really does run every play like it could be his last. That energy is contagious and leads to other skill position players wanting to get more physical.
Defense
They got away with one busted coverage that should have been a touchdown, but other than that, it was an excellent outing for the Giants defense.
Regular pressure was applied to Jalen Hurts, tight coverage, good against the run, exceptional on third down. The Eagles only converted one of nine third-down attempts.
It has been a frustrating season under Shane Bowen. He does some stuff well and the more aggressive scheme he has, the better.
Reports state that a defensive players-only meeting and a word from head coach Brian Daboll stating the defense needs to be more aggressive seems to have worked.
Hats off to Cordale Flott who intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass in the red zone that all but secured the win. Hopefully, this will breed some confidence into the players to make more turnovers.
Week to week of the NFL
On Thursday afternoon, I felt like almost all of Giants Nation was prepared that if we lost badly on Prime Time, with a 10-day break before our next game, that at least one coach would get fired and maybe wholesale changes would come.
The season was over and Dart had no chance to develop this season as we had no talent around him and it was going to ruin him as a prospect.
Fast forward to victory Friday and we have the most exciting young quarterback/running back duo in the NFL. Dart looks a total stud of a pick and we have Abdul Carter making big impacts on games, just not quite on the stat sheet yet.
The NFL truly is such a week-to-week sport. After resigning myself to another season of misery, this win has me eagerly awaiting the next game against the Denver Broncos.
Win that to get to 3-4 and then we get the chance to sweep the Eagles in their own backyard to get back to .500
This season really has been a rollercoaster. No, that is not me hiding B*Witched songs into this article and we are only a third of the way through the season.
Let us stay on this ride and just enjoy that there may be A New Hope – yes, that one was a Star Wars pun!
Go Big Blue!
