An inside look at Sunday’s Giants-Eagles Week 18 matchup at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia:
Marquee matchup
The task at hand vs. what comes next
There is no reason to analyze how one Giants player or position group will do against an Eagles team that will be resting starters for their NFC playoff game.
This is game No. 17 of a long, losing season for the Giants and the temptation to look forward to the offseason, coming up as soon as this game is completed, is often a real distraction.
The end of a 10-game losing streak came last week and that came as a great relief.
As crazy as it sounds, will there be a letdown in this finale against an opponent keeping most of its top players on the sideline?
Paul’s pick
Trying to figure out how a team with nothing to play for, closing out a terrible season, will perform is always risky business.
Factor in that the other team will rest its starters, and it is anybody’s guess what goes down here.
You have to think the Giants are the more motivated side, right?
Can Drew Lock, coming off a spectacular performance, get it done two weeks in a row?
Another question: Does anyone really care?
Giants 23, Eagles 13
Four downs
On the job training: Malik Nabers recently reviewed his college film, paying close attention to the way he broke free for yards after the catch at LSU — highlights he has often struggled to create in his rookie year with the Giants.
“I was like, ‘What was I missing?’ ” Nabers said. “And it was like, I wasn’t really scared. I was just out there when I got the ball, I was just running. But now, the guys are trying to hit out here. But I play free. I play with no regrets. So, I went out there and just was myself. It showed.’’
Yes, it showed. After he studied himself, Nabers went out and produced a career-high 171-yard receiving game against the Colts.
Next man up: With quarterback Jalen Hurts remaining in concussion protocol and backup Kenny Pickett dealing with broken ribs, the Eagles will give Tanner McKee his first NFL start.
McKee, a 2023 sixth-round pick from Stanford, finished up for Pickett in last week’s 41-7 rout of the Cowboys.
McKee attempted four passes and completed three of them — two for touchdowns.
He will take the field alongside a bunch of second-teamers.
“Our bye week being Week 5, very early bye week, so it’s very valuable to be in this position to do that,’’ Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. “This isn’t our first time having to do this. We’ve had experience with this. A lot of that went into planning all these things.’’
Sit-down Barkley: Saquon Barkley finished with the eighth-most yards in a season in NFL history, and perhaps that is fitting, considering Eric Dickerson set the record of 2,105 yards in 1984 in a 16-game season.
Barkley played 16 games in his first year with the Eagles, so this is an apples-to-apples comparison.
Barkley, with 2,005 yards, came up exactly 100 yards short.
If he played in his 17th game, he undoubtedly would have risen up the list, passing No. 7 Chris Johnson (2,006 yards in 2009), No. 6 Terrell Davis (2,008 yards in 1998) and No. 5 Derrick Henry (2.027 yards in 2020).
Would he have moved ahead of No. 4 Barry Sanders (2.053 yards in 1997), No. 3 Jamal Lewis (2,066 yards in 2003), No. 2 Adrian Peterson (2,097 yards in 2012) and vaulted ahead of Dickerson?
Long division: The answer is … never.
Since 1970, no team has ever gone winless for an entire season against other NFL East teams.
The Giants are on the precipice of making the wrong sort of history, as they are 0-5 in the division.
Finding a way to beat the Eagles and Cowboys has been nearly a decade-long problem, but the Giants were usually able to handle the Commanders. Not this year.
Will beating an Eagles-lite squad mean anything other than preventing an 0-6 record in the division?
The real indicator of how these teams stack up came in Week 7, when the Eagles routed the Giants 28-3.
Here’s something: The Giants have not won in Philly since 2013.
