Well that was a surprise. What, five days ago some were probably wondering how many games the Eagles would march methodically through without losing. Now they've been clobbered by the lowly Giants. Let's get to it.
QUARTERBACKS
In the preseason, I had mixed feelings about Jaxson Dart. I figured he'd be starting some games, with Russell Wilson washed up, but I thought it would be pretty rough. Two starts in, it looks like the Giants have found their quarterback.
As a passer, he still looks a little rough. There were a couple of completions last night that were off-target throws where either the receiver made a nice adjustment or the defensive back just badly misplayed things -- a really poor game from the Philly secondary. Quinyon Mitchell left early with an injury, that was part of it. (They also didn't have Jalen Carter up front.) But Dart also made a couple of nice downfield throws, and an end-zone touch pass that probably should have been a touchdown.
Most impressively, as noted by Kirk Herbstreit, his mobility and patience in the pocket was impressive, moving around and buying time for guys to get open. The actual scrambling -- 58 yards and a 20-yard touchdown run -- was nice and pleasing to fantasy teams, but it was the ability to buy time and make good throws without panicking that really stood out. Poised beyond his years. There will be rough spots and rough games, but nobody is lamenting the absence of Daniel Jones these days.
Final numbers for Jalen Hurts made it look like he had a good game. Certainly did a nice job of finding his tight end, and the passing yards and 2 total TDs were solid. But he missed a wide-open DeVonta Smith on what should have been about a 90-yard touchdown, didn't run much or effectively (7 for 13), and both touchdowns were lame -- a Tush Push that took 4 tries to get in and a pass that was basically a handoff. And a bad red-zone interception. Another week, another disappointing game for the passing offense, and not against a great pass defense, either.
RUNNING BACKS
I'm pretty sure we've had some dismissive things to say about Cam Skattebo since the Draft. I'm still not sure he's a true NFL starter. But fortunately we did rank him as a quality starter last night and were not at all swayed by reports that Tyrone Tracy would return, and Skattebo delivered a huge 3-TD game for those who believed. The Eagles not having Jalen Carter certainly helped, and the running quarterback does too, but Skattebo looks like he's going to help a lot of fantasy teams who believed in him.
Saquon Barkley, it's safe to say his second game as a visitor at Giants stadium was not quite as good as his first. Barkley was on the injury report with a knee injury and it seems pretty likely that affected him as much as the Giants defense did. Snap counts indicate he played throughout, but a very quiet 14 touches for 67 total yards. His biggest play was a meaningless 18-yard run before the half that the defense wasn't expecting. Forgettable outing. Gets a few extra days to rest that knee at least.
WIDE RECEIVERS
A.J. Brown is an elite guy, that's for sure. Having a disappointing year along with the rest of the passing game, but the catches he does make really stand out, and that was the case again last night. You don't get extra points for degree of difficulty in fantasy leagues, however, so a decent game (6 for 80) but not a world-beater. And another dud from DeVonta Smith, who could have had a great one if only Hurts hadn't overthrown him on a bomb where he'd gotten behind the secondary. That kind of night for the Eagles passing game (which was actually better than most of their games this year). As usual, nothing else doing for Philly wideouts (one catch for Jahan Dotson, whose name I won't bother to bold).
For the Giants, a shoutout to Lil'Jordan Humphrey, who I mentioned in passing was on the practice squad but didn't imagine he'd be their most targeted wide receiver. Four for 55, with a dropped touchdown that I think he's caught a little too much heat for (the defender was there getting a hand in on the play to at least distract him if not actually deflect it). Could have been caught, but not a clunker of a drop. Wan'Dale Robinson was the top performer, helped by a blown tackle on his longer touchdown. Robinson looks like the actual No. 1 with Nabers and now Slayton (hamstring) out, and he'll probably have a bunch more 5- and 6-catch games coming up. Jalin Hyatt joined the season but won't be much of a factor in the offense, and Beaux Collins mostly played special teams. It's a Wan'Dale-Lil'Jordan tandem.
TIGHT ENDS
I'd brag more about having Dallas Goedert in every league if I hadn't left him on the bench in three out of five of them. Painful to miss out on a 20-plus point game in those. His touchdown catch was a long handoff/trick play that the Eagles have used previously, but he was the main guy for most of the night. I won't be benching him again.
Giants tight ends were hugely disappointing. Maybe the Eagles focused on taking those guys away after the way they were featured last week. Both Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger played over 60 percent of the snaps, but Bellinger wasn't even targeted and Theo caught 2 passes on 4 targets. I will stick with the idea that Theo will be a solid start most weeks, but it didn't happen last night.
MISCELLANEOUS
Tank Bigsby badly misplayed a kick return against the Broncos, but the Eagles gave him another chance in this one and he proceeded to badly misplay another one before the half, potentially costing Philly a chance at getting 3 points. Nick Sirianni was ticked off, hey man maybe you shouldn't have used him in that role, it's clearly not a strength.
Another kick-related note, Giants kicker Jude McAtamney missed an extra point badly and seemed like he was trying to guide another one through by willing it to happen. Maybe New York will give Younghoe Koo a shot in practice this week.
Giants are now 2-4 and when you consider they choked away games against both the Cowboys and Saints, they are maybe not quite as bad as anticipated. With the Eagles, they'll probably figure things out, but their defense sure looked shaky last night, and they didn't do much good on offense either. Stuff will need to change beyond little dumpoffs to Goedert and Tush Push plays to get this team back to a Super Bowl favorite.