Philadelphia Eagles need to keep Darius Slayton in check Week 17
By Dan Parzych
The Philadelphia Eagles need to do a better job at keeping Darius Slayton in check during Week 17.
Even though the Philadelphia Eagles came out victorious during their first meeting with the New York Giants a few weeks ago, this game could have easily gone the other way for the NFC East leaders, especially when seeing how much of a problem Darius Slayton turned out to be.
After the Giants decided to use a first-round pick on Daniel Jones during the draft back in April, the team would also end up using a fifth-round selection on Slayton at wide receiver to provide their new rookie quarterback with an extra weapon to hopefully use for years to come.
Like most rookies, Slayton has struggled to be consistent on offense for New York throughout the 2019 season, but also has displayed a few impressive performances.
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In fact, the argument can be made that Slayton’s Week 14 outing against the Eagles was the best game of the wideout’s young NFL career after he hauled in five catches for 154 yards to go along with two trips into the end zone.
Obviously, it was frustrating for Slayton and the rest of his teammates watch this performance go to waste after Philadelphia fought their way back from a 17-3 deficit before going on to win in overtime 23-17.
But also, if Slayton had little trouble putting up these kind of numbers during his first career meeting against the Eagles, it’s safe to assume that he can pull off a similar performance when the two teams meet in Week 17 to close out the regular season.
Not to mention, Slayton could benefit even more from Jones being back in the lineup along with the weather conditions expected to be better than the first meeting a few weeks ago.
Over the last few months, the Eagles have proven to be one of the biggest victims of the injury bug across the NFL, and while the wide receiver position sticks out the most, cornerback has been just as frustrating at times, as the latest injury to Ronald Darby will show.
Slayton may not have recorded a catch during New York’s recent overtime win over the Washington Redskins this past Sunday, but this doesn’t mean Philadelphia will benefit from the rookie continuing to struggle.
If anything, the Eagles should be on high alert to make sure Slayton isn’t feeling extra motivated to bounce back with a strong performance to help the Giants pull off the Week 17 upset, and complicate the NFC East race for Philadelphia in the process.