Philadelphia Eagles fans at least had some fun watching their defense dominate throughout their Week 9 game against the New York Giants. It's too bad the offense forgot how to play competent football.
Philly's defense has been under fire all season for its struggles in the first half of the year. They allowed over 100 rushing yards in each of the first eight games and had 10 sacks in that span.
All of those issues seemed to disappear in an instant, thanks to an incredible defensive performance. The Eagles had it all on defense, but couldn't get the support needed from the offense.
Eagles' defense had their way with the Giants in Week 9
It was truly a monstrous performance from the Eagles' defense that was needed. They needed this kind of play for a long time, and they finally got it.
The pass rush has been the biggest complaint about this team. It seems all their issues were solved after racking up 20 pressures, nine quarterback hits, and six sacks.
Zack Baun led the way with two sacks, but the edge rushers finally stepped up, with Jonathan Greenard recording his first sack as an Eagle and Nolan Smith Jr. getting his fifth of the season. Greenard had a season-best game and also led Philly in pressures with four.
Their run defense was also so good, allowing 80 yards on 31 carries, with the Giants averaging just 2.6 yards per carry. Philly had 14 tackles for loss.
The Eagles are the first NFL team to have 14 tackles for loss and six sacks in a game since 2001, according to Bleeding Green Nation's Jeff Kerr. And as Kerr said it best after sharing that stat, "And still lost."
Philly's offense managed to once again waste another good defensive performance
Philly ended up taking a 19-11 loss to the Giants in Week 9, and it was clearly not because of the defense. This whole game is on the offense and how bad they were.
The Eagles only gained 220 yards, went five of 18 on third down, only possessed the ball for 25 minutes, and averaged 3.7 yards per carry on the ground. Oh, and the offensive line allowed seven sacks in the game, so that doesn't sound like a winning formula at all.
This has been the story of the Eagles since Vic Fangio took over as defensive coordinator back in 2024. Too many times this Philly team has lost because the offense couldn't step up to the plate. 2026 has been a bit different with the defense not playing well, but still, the offense deserves most of the blame for the losses.
There's a reason this is 2-7 and has lost seven straight. It all comes down to the fact that this offense is bad. They entered Week 9 as the worst offense in the NFL, averaging just 265 yards per game. That definitely showed in the Giants game how bad they are.
It's a shame that the defense finally figured out their problems with the pass rush and stopping the run. They still have problems with being prone to giving up the big pass plays, but the Giants game was major progress.
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Moving forward, Eagles fans have no idea how to feel about the future since the offense is a mess and the defense will continue to be forced to carry this season. Hopefully the offense can be fixed in the near future, but hey, at least the defense is back and better than ever, right?
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