Giants blow a game they led by 11 with five minutes left, as Carson Wentz leads Eagles win
Daniel Jones’ soon to be legendary blooper, when he fell down on a sure touchdown run, wasn’t the New York Giants’ only face plant Thursday night.
The 1-5 Giants somehow lost a game that they led 21-10 late in the fourth quarter. They’re a bad team, and they were at their worst in the final five minutes on Thursday night.
Give Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles credit for putting together two long touchdown drives, including the game-winning score on a pass from Wentz to Boston Scott with 40 seconds left that lifted the Eagles to a 22-21 win. That makes the Eagles 2-4-1 and amazingly, puts them in first place of the NFC East
But the Giants’ failure to seal a game the Eagles were trying to give them sums up the 2020 NFC East.
Eagles make mistakes to give Giants a late lead
The Giants had the game. They weren’t good enough to finish it.
New York took a 21-10 lead in the fourth quarter after a few bizarre Eagles decisions.
Philadelphia trailed 14-10 in the fourth quarter. Wentz’s third-and-goal run was stopped at the 2-yard line. The Eagles went for it on fourth down. That decision wasn’t bad. The play call was bad. Phenomenally bad.
The Eagles threw a fade to Hakeem Butler, who hadn’t played a snap of offense this season before Thursday night and had never caught an NFL pass. The pass was incomplete and the Eagles turned it over on downs.
Then on the next drive, Doug Pederson wanted to challenge a play that resulted in a Giants first down inside the Eagles’ 5-yard line. It seemed Sterling Shepard was down before the first-down marker. But Pederson waited too long, the Giants ran a play and even though Pederson threw the challenge flag it was too late. Instead of fourth-and-1, the Giants got a first down and ended up with a touchdown from Shepard.
“I think for sure he wins the challenge,” Fox officiating expert Mike Pereira said on the broadcast. “But, that’s the determination he’s got to make quicker. Nobody is going to be looking at him ... he has to throw it earlier. Big play, because he would have won that challenge.”
That would be enough for most teams to claim a win. But the Giants made their own mistakes.
Eagles come back in final minutes
The Eagles hit a long pass despite rarely having anything going on offense. John Hightower’s long catch set up a Greg Ward touchdown. The Eagles didn’t get the two-point conversion, and the Giants still led 21-16.
The game should have been over on the next possession. Wayne Gallman ran well and picked up some first downs. Then on a third down, Jones threw a perfect pass to Evan Engram. A catch would have sealed the game. Engram dropped it. The Giants punted and Wentz put together another long drive. A defensive holding penalty kept the drive going when it appeared the Eagles would be facing a fourth-and-goal in the final minute. The Giants got a big break with a face mask penalty on center Jason Kelce, but Wentz hit Scott on the next play to take back the lead. Jones lost a fumble on a strip sack to end the Giants’ last chance.
New York got off to a brutal start this season. A win last week over the Washington Football Team at least got them a victory after an 0-5 start. When they led late on Thursday night, it seemed like they might even have some life in the horrible NFC East.
The 2020 Giants just aren’t good enough to take a gift being given to them.
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