Eagles-Giants player matchups to watch in Week 7 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles (3-2) will take a trip to North Jersey to face the Giants (2-4) at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Here are some key matchups to watch:
Saquon Barkley vs. his old team
This is a big game for Barkley and he knows it. The Eagles’ star running back was drafted by the Giants with the No. 2 overall pick out of Penn State back in 2018 and played six seasons in New York without much help on offense. He was a two-time Pro Bowler in those six seasons but the Giants franchise-tagged him for a year and then let him walk after the 2023 season. Barkley signed a three-year deal with the Eagles this offseason and has been very good.
Although Sunday’s game against the Browns was his worst performance of the season, Barkley still has 482 rushing yards, 92 receiving yards and 5 total touchdowns through five games. He has been one of the Eagles’ better players this season.
The Giants are 15th in the NFL in opposing rushing yards but have given 5.2 yards per pop, which ranks 31st out of 32 teams. In terms of EPA/rush, the Giants are 10th in the NFL. They have given up 24 runs of 10+ yards this season — just five teams have given up more. And they’re giving up 1.48 rushing yards over expected per attempt, which ranks 31st in the NFL and they’re giving up 2.03 yards before contact, which ranks 29th in the NFL. Even with big Dexter Lawrence in the middle, Barkley might be able to have a nice day in his former home.
Eagles OL vs. Giants DL
We already brought up Lawrence and that’s where we’ll start with this Giants’ defensive line. The 340-pound nose tackle is well on his way to a third straight Pro Bowl and is probably the frontrunner to be an All-Pro in 2024. Through six games, he already has 7 sacks and 11 quarterback hits. Browns nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson had a nice game against the Eagles in Week 6 and he’s nowhere near as dominant as Lawrence. It’ll be a tough matchup for Cam Jurgens and the Eagles’ guards in the middle.
The Eagles will also have their hands full on the edges without starting left tackle Jordan Mailata. Mailata is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury and this is a tough week to be without him. The Giants lead the NFL with 26 sacks and their pressure rate is just out of the top 10 at 35.7%. Without Mailata, the Eagles will start backup swing tackle Fred Johnson at left tackle.
The Giants are going to be without Kayvon Thibodeaux in this game; he’s on IR with a wrist injury. But they still have two really good edge rushers in Brian Burns and Azeez Ojulari, who had a nice game against the Bengals with a couple of sacks. In Week 6, the Giants mostly had Burns lining up on the right side of the defensive line, which sets up a matchup between the two-time Pro Bowler and Fred Johnson. That’s a huge matchup in this game.
Jalen Hurts vs. Giants pass defense
The Eagles’ defense has just two interceptions through five games but the Giants are one of just five teams in the NFL with one. They let Xavier McKinney walk in free agency — a strange decisions — and they miss him.
The Giants have the No. 12 pass defense in the league in terms of yards and 20th in terms of EPA/pass. For years in this matchup, we highlighted the high blitz rates of Wink Martindale but the former Giants defensive coordinator was fired in January. This year, the Giants have a blitz rate of 27.7%, which ranks 16th in the NFL. The Eagles have blitzed more than the Giants this season.
After turning the football over seven times in the first four games of the season, Hurts had a clean game against the Browns in Week 6. That’s something he can build on.
Josh Sweat vs. backup LT
The Giants will be without their best lineman for the rest of the season after Andrew Thomas needed Lisfranc surgery this week. That leaves a big hole at left tackle for New York. We’ll see how the Giants plan on going forward. They will most likely plug Josh Ezeudu in at left tackle or they could move right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor to left tackle and then play Evan Neal at right tackle or just play Neal at left tackle. None of these options is ideal.
Meanwhile, the Eagles’ defensive line is coming off its best performance of the season against the Browns. We should probably take that with a grain of salt because the Browns have been under fire all season. But maybe it’s something that can boost the Eagles’ confidence level going into Week 7.
Keep an eye on Sweat in this game. After not having a sack in the first three games this season, Sweat has two in his last two games. Against the Buccaneers and Browns, Sweat has 2 sacks, 6 tackles, 2 TFLs and 3 QB hits. Sweat generally rushes against left tackles so this could be a major advantage for the Eagles in this game.
Quinyon Mitchell vs. Malik Nabers
The Giants used the No. 6 overall pick to take Nabers out of LSU and it looks like they nailed this one. While Nabers has missed the last two weeks with a concussion, he has been practicing this week and could make his return against the Eagles. In the four games Nabers has played, he already has 35 receptions for 386 yards and 3 touchdowns. From the moment he stepped on the field, Nabers has been the Giants’ No. 1 playmaker in 2024.
“He’s a guy you’ve got to be aware of,” Eagles DC Vic Fangio said. “He’s a tough matchup.”
While Nabers lines up on both sides of the field and even in sth slot sometimes, the most fun matchup will be against fellow rookie Quinyon Mitchell, who is off to a great start. Mitchell doesn’t have his first interception yet but he has gotten close on plenty of passes and has six pass breakups in his first five games — just eight players in the NFL have more.
Eagles defense vs. Daniel Jones’ legs
In Year 6 of his NFL career, Jones still isn’t a very good quarterback. He has completed 62.1% of his passes for 1,343 yards with 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions this season. His passer rating of 80.9 ranks 27th in the NFL, just ahead of Deshaun Watson.
But Jones still has some mobility as we saw against the Bengals in Week 6, when he picked up a season-high 56 yards on 11 carries.
“Yeah, they really ran him a pretty good bit in this past game with quarterback designed runs,” Fangio said. “He pulls it and keeps it on the zone-read stuff more than most quarterbacks. Very athletic, very fast. He’s a tough assignment with his movement and his arm strength. They are throwing the RPOs more than they have in the past, and he’s throwing them. So, I think their offense is definitely a lot better than it was last year, and it’s going to be a tough assignment up there.”
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