Giants-Eagles Week 16 Preview, Predictions
55:46 Share

It's week 16 and the Giants head to Philadelphia for the first of two games against the Eagles in three weeks. I want to welcome you guys to the Blue Rush Preview Show. It's our Giants show and podcast for the New York Post and SNY. It's just me and longtime Giants beat writer Paul Schwartz.

Manning the fort today, Lawrence Tynes is out this week. We'll also have Jeff Kerr jump on the show later. Jeff covers the Eagles in the NFL for CBS Sports out in Philadelphia. Let's get Paul on the toolbox. Paul, happy holidays, my man. The Giants got a great chance to head down I-95 and play Scrooge and hand the Eagles their fourth L in a row. But as we both know and as history has shown, that ain't going to be easy.

Ryan Reynolds here from Int Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down.

So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium Wireless. How did it get 30, 30, how did it get 30, how did it get 20, 20, 20, how did it get 20, 20, how did it get 15, 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month? Sold! Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes each detail.

This episode is brought to you by Honda. When you test drive the all-new Prologue EV, there's a lot that can impress you about it. There's the class-leading passenger space, the clean, thoughtful design, and the intuitive technology. But out of everything, what you'll really love most is that it's a Honda. Visit Honda.com slash EV to see offers. Hey, Brandon, 10 straight, right? 10 straight losses in the link, two last year. The last time the Giants won in Philly,

Justin Pugh was a rookie. 2013, okay, was a rookie. I think they won 15-7. I think the Giants kicked five field goals. And you know who came in and played quarterback for the Eagles in that game? He's on the Giants now. Matt Barkley.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, Christmas, humbug. It's, you know, this is the worst place for the Giants to play. There's no question about it. Closest, the closest road game, but in many ways the most difficult road game. Yeah, when you say the worst place for them to go, especially coming off that loss down in the Big Easy to New Orleans, I'm

I think if they would have won that game, they would have had some momentum going in this game. And I think a lot of people would be, a lot of Giants fans would be driving down 95 or hopping on that Amtrak with their chest poked out, thinking that, hey, there's four in the row for the Giants. Eagles lose three in the row at that point. Giants could, again, go down there and play screws. Lots of storylines heading into this game today.

You've got a pretty cool article and it hits a lot of us. You know, a lot of people who've been covering this team, a lot of fans who've been ride or die with this team since 2016. I know Big Blue, a lot of people going for a long time, but this player has been here since 2016. That's my first year doing Giants TV, all that good stuff. Sterling Shepard, it looks like he could be playing or suiting up for his last three games.

as a New York giant, and you got a chance to talk to Shep in the locker room, man, what was his demeanor like? It was a head high when he was talking to you with heavy heart kind of gives the details on that conversation, Paul. Yeah. I, I, I wanted to check in with, with Sterling, you know, he's been, you know, I've covered him his whole career. Uh, he's always been a class act. Um,

He it's tough for him. You know, I mean, I mean, he's 30 years old, so he's not an old man. You know, on one hand, he said, I'm blessed. I've spent eight years with one franchise. You know, not many people can say they can do that. He certainly has some success in the league. He loves the Giants. And on the other hand, he's frustrated because he hasn't played that much. You know, he's had a couple of games where he has been healthy and hasn't played at all. He's had a couple of games where he's been healthy and played one snap.

uh last week i think he played three snaps he's got what seven catches this season so he is he feels he can do more he feels he's not finished um clearly they've gone in a different direction with wandale robinson and and and um jalen hyatt right you know i mean paris campbell is a veteran who is not really playing uh sterling shepherd's a veteran who's not really playing but you know paris campbell just got here he doesn't really have equity with the giants sterling does um and he admitted he i don't know what to feel um

I'm frustrated that I'm not playing. I am looking at, you know, look, he doesn't, you know, I asked him, would you want to go somewhere else? He knows it's over with the Giants. You know, he knows. Look, and he said, look, they didn't have to resign me last year. I was coming off an ACL. Yeah.

They gave me $1.3 million. They re-signed me. And he said, I don't know what, you know, he realized, I know they re-signed me because I have a great attitude and because I was great with the team last year when we made the playoffs and I was very upbeat and they liked that. And they probably thought I could play a little bit. He came back. He made it back to training camp. He looked pretty good. And it just didn't work.

let's face it, Brandon, the whole passing offense has not been good. So it's not just Sterling Shepard. But, you know, he's looking at the end of his Giants career. He's certainly looking at the end of his NFL career. I asked him, would you want to just go look for another team? He didn't really say yes to that. So, you know, this is something now. This is a little dramatic, Justin, but this is something that the great

Roger Kahn wrote in the book of the Boys of Summer, the great book about the Brooklyn Dodgers. OK, you tell me if this resonates with you. OK, an athlete dies twice. Unlike most, a ballplayer must confront two deaths. First, between the ages of 30 and 40, he perishes as an athlete.

And he goes on to there. I mean, it's dramatic, right? But did you feel that at some point when you were either told or you realized...

You know, no one's going to pay you to play football anymore. Yeah, absolutely. Once I hit 30, Paul, like I felt like my body wasn't the same. I said one, I felt like I wasn't recovering the same. I didn't feel like I had the same step. And at that time I was up in Canada and, you know, I retired on voluntarily to get in the TV in the middle of training camp. But the year prior, Deron Carter, who's Chris Carter's son, kind of came up there and stole my juice.

took my spot, took, he was making plays and I just wasn't the same guy. And the Montreal Alouettes kept me on for that same reason where I was an upbeat guy. I was a rah-rah guy. Obviously I could probably coach there if I, you know, got in contact with them, but they looked at me as someone that was like, Hey, here's a staple within this franchise for the last three, four years. He's good at mentoring the younger guys. He's, he shows up, he's a pro and all, but

He ain't doing the same thing as he used to do when we caught when my nickname was wavy and he's not doing the same thing that Deron Carter is doing so I was making good money up there as a receiver but at the end of the day when it comes to that money and it comes to hey I got a younger guy that can do exactly what you can do plus some for cheaper then you know that the writings on the wall and I believe that Wanda Robinson is his was his Deron Carter and

you know, for him, for me. And he looked, Sterling Shepard looked good in training camp. Sterling Shepard was making plays throughout training camp. But when you got those young guys,

And you got a new regime, a new administration. And these are guys that we handpicked. We selected. And you're losing at the same time. What did Dave will say? We got to get these young guys from reps. We ended right there. You know, and Sterling, you know, he said he's funny. He said, I've lived in two places in my life, Oklahoma and Jersey, you know, two places in my whole life. And he said,

I ain't going back to Oklahoma anytime soon. That's what he said. So he's going to stay around. You know, he's got a blended new family that he's he's he's, you know, coming, you know, you know, incorporating into his life. Yeah. He said, you know, you better watch out. He said, I may want to look into the media.

You know, he might be coming for you like Carter did those years ago. You know, I mean, look, he's got some real estate property in Oklahoma. He mentioned coaching, which I think is more of a back burner thing. So, you know, he's thinking about it. And the main thing was that I wanted to convey to him and see what he was thinking is, are you able to enjoy this? You know what I mean? Because if you're going to go out bitter and you're going to be upset, you know, and he said, I'm trying to enjoy, you know, he said, look, I understand everything.

what I have here in this locker room, you can never get back. You know, you can't get it back. It's not, it's not the same. Right. And so he said, I'm trying to extract as much joy out of this in the last three games, whether I play or not. And, you know, kind of, kind of, and right when I was talking to him, Isaiah Simmons comes over to him and he's holding this big boom box with his Sterling. And he said, he's selling a man. Why don't you have

batteries. What is everyone taking this? There's no batteries in it. And it was just funny interplay. And it's just, you know, he's not going to get that back. You know what? I asked Jalen Hyatt, as you know, in that locker room, Hyatt's locker was right there, right? You have Daniel Jones, Jalen Hyatt, Sterling Shepard.

there is no accident that they put you know hyatt there they wanted him from to kind of learn from two and hyatt told me and we'll get into this with hyatt who had three targets last game at new orleans and had no catches he was down after the game i saw him in his locker he was down you know he knew he didn't do his job and he said sterling and i went into the fill room alone

And Sterling wanted to point out everything I did wrong and pick me up and show me everything. And he said, man, that guy is sixth on the all time, you know, franchise career reception list here. And he said, I value that he's here, man. He helped me, you know, and so that that's why Sterling's around. That's why people like him so much. You know, he doesn't have to do that right down the stretch of the season.

with the readers have to do that. You know, give him advice. But he said he sat in that room with him in that dark room and they went over every snap he took, you know, that Sterling, you know, he's called the longest tenure giant. That's what we call them now. Right. And there is some, you know, there's respect attached to that. Look, if I, if I told every player, you're going to be drafted in the second round, you're going to play eight years here. You're never going to leave. You're going to make 30 something million dollars in your eight years. Uh,

And, you know, you're never going to have to play for somewhere else. It may not end great. You know, he's trying to look at the positives here, and there certainly are a lot of positives. Yeah, an athlete dies a gladiator's death, you know, I feel like. You know, you know what's coming. Either they're going to push you out or you've got to voluntarily say, hey, I can't do it anymore. But I think – I'm glad you talked about Jalen Hyatt because we're going to segue into him. But that right there, Paul, was the passing of the torch. That was the official passing of the torch.

He knows the writing's on the wall for his career here. He knows this is a young guy. He has to get ready. He's seen some great things in, talking about Jalen Hyatt, and who has a future here with the New York Giants. 369 career catches, 477 yards, 23 touchdowns as a New York Giant. Sterling Shepard, we salute you. We hope you ride off in the sunset these next three games. Catch the touchdown. But let's go to Jalen Hyatt and these young guys because last game, the Patriots,

last game Paul as a receiver it's one of those games where you you really feel like you did nothing you were nothing and as for Jalen Hyatt what we say we say when we go look at the film is never as good is never as bad you had nine catches one drop you're upset with that drop you could have you know no catches but you still were open and you can be like oh well it wasn't bad but at

the time when you're feeling it in the game, you're giving zero production. You're feeling it. And this offense, what they've shown yesterday, not yesterday, against New Orleans, they took a step back. And as a young guy, I'm glad he wanted to get into the film room because you're looking at it, going into this week, the only way for the Giants to beat the Eagles, they got to throw at these guys. James Bradbury, Keely Ringo, I don't know the situation with Darius Slay, if he's going to play.

James Bradbury is giving it up. And when you have a Darius Slayton, Wondell Robinson, Jalen Hyatt, that's how you're going to be able to move the ball. That's how you're going to be able to get chunk plays. So when it comes to Jalen Hyatt, Wondell Robinson, Tommy DeVito, it's a chance for them to have a bounce back game, Paul. But how are they going to do that if they can't protect? We know Philly's defensive line is pretty solid.

They are. One more thing about Hyatt is, you know, and you would speak to this. What did we hear from him coming? You know, oh, he's a first round. You know, he said, I felt like a first round talent. He dropped the third round. Why? Because he was like a one trick pony. Right. You just go vertical. He's skinny. He doesn't you know, he doesn't do the stuff over the middle. Now, in the game, he said, I had two slants and one curl. He said on the one slant he was really upset with. He said, I made it a body cap.

I made it a body catch. You know what I mean? And he said, I got great hands. Why am I making it a body catch? He was down on himself. And I said, are you more down on yourself because that's

that was the knock on you, right? The knock on you is you can't be physical inside on those slants. And he said, yeah. You know, the one thing about him I like is he doesn't get defensive. He said, yeah. Yeah, that's what they were talking about me. And he says, I got to do better. I got to do better. So that's, and you know, is this the week to do better? But first let me ask you, why would a guy do a body catch there? Is it lazy? Is it sloppy? Is it I don't want to extend myself, you know, to get hit? Is, you know, I mean, he was covered, but

You know, he's a skinny guy. You know, you've seen him. He's so skinny. He needs to bulk up a little bit. You know, why would it, why would a guy running a slant, which you did, you know,

body catch instead of catch it with his hands. We're always going to say it's lazy. The ball should never touch your body. If your hands, because we call those guys, we'll point them out as receivers. Oh, he's a body catcher. Oh, he's a body catcher. And you see that a lot when it comes to the speed guys, because why, Paul? They always have some sort of separation. They're always running by somebody and it's just going, dropping into the bread basket. And you've got two yards separation from somebody. Me as a big body

possession guy, there was always somebody on me. I'm 6'5". If I put my arms out to catch, you're not coming behind me and slapping my hands away. So I'm glad that he went in there with a Sterling Shepard, a route technician, a guy who works his technique because I had an Amani tumor.

My rookie year. Show the way. You never saw a mining team really catch the ball with his body. Same thing, Plaxico Burris. So it was one of those things where you can get away with it from time to time. But at that moment, that great moment, that's where you have to apply even the smallest detail of technique. Because that catch could have got him going. Instead, what did it do? It got you in the dump. So bad technique can get you in the dump. Great catch.

You may not have scored a 70-yarder on that, but now you're like, okay, got me a little catch. Forget what happened before that. Let me move a little bit. All right, ball's coming again. You put together technique, technique, and then comes the big play when it comes to that, Paul. So, yeah, he was lazy on that one, and he'll be the first one to tell you.

Now, right. It's easy. You know, you're a receiver. You always say you want we want to throw the ball. I don't think Tommy DeVito played a terrible game in New Orleans. You know, he didn't. You know, we said, OK, this kid's riding high. He's going to come back there. No fumbles, no interceptions. A couple of throws he wants back. There's no question. You mentioned the protect. You know, I think he was less aware in the pocket that led to some sacks. Clearly, I mean, Justin Pugh had his worst game. I mean, he admitted it.

He said, you know, we gave up seven sacks. I might have had a hand in four of them. He admitted it. I don't think the rookie John Michael Schmitz had his best game. But, you know, so can you protect? You know, I agree you can attack the Eagles. You know what I mean? But this 10-game losing streak, you know, you can put a lot of things on why the Giants struggle against the Eagles. I think the number one thing is their offensive line cannot handle the Eagles' defensive line. There's a lot of other things they don't do well in this.

But that is the key to all of it. They usually have a good defensive line. But the Eagles this year are not – their sack totals are not impressive. I mean, they have monsters, but –

they just haven't been dominating. They haven't, they haven't been getting pressure. I mean, in Philly, if you ask them, they said, you know, they are bad, some bad third down defense. They don't get third down pass rush. So can the giants come back in this game up front and give DeVito a chance? You know, can they block these guys? I mean, you know, Carter, you know, you know, they, they, they, they, they looked into, I mean, you know, he dropped into their laps. I mean, he's,

He's different. You know, he's, he's like, he's like Dexter Lawrence different. You know what I mean? He's not Dexter Lawrence yet, but I mean, if he's not going to become a really good or great player, I think a lot of people are going to be shocked. Fletcher Cox can still do it. A sweat is there, you know, Graham is there. They're good. You know, they're really good. They're not good as their numbers would indicate this year, but, um,

you know, are we bracing for a get well game for the Eagles? You know, I mean, right. A get well game where everything is just out there and boy, that three game losing streak is over. You know, you got to brace for that. You know, I don't know. You know, I, you, you mentioned about, um,

you know the difference between last week and this week i felt it in the locker room brandon you know i felt it you know no they weren't like uh before the saints game the week before they weren't like we're making a player this is our playoff push but they were feeling it they won three in a row they knew they had some sort of destiny in their hands if they could keep winning um

some sort they weren't in good shape but they they felt like you know you have a chance until you don't have a chance and you could feel it this week it was just a different atmosphere not that they don't think they can win are they going to play hard but they know that the season is ending in three games

Well, defensively, we saw last week that defense caused no turnovers. Didn't get the ball back for the offense. Jalen Hurts is kind of giving the ball up a little bit. The Philly offense is not looking. So and here's here's the frustrating part, Paul. It's like you got the Eagles. You got a wounded eagle here, but you but you can't go there. You can't approach it.

with confidence to really step on his neck because of what was shown last week. Defensively, just was trending in the right direction but couldn't take the ball away from Derek Carr.

Again, when we talk about these get-right games, the Philly offense is looking at this game where it's like, hey, our offensive line can control this defensive line. Our receivers on the outside, you give us time, we can throw at these guys. We've got home run hitters on the outside, and you've got a dangerous tight end like Dallas Goddard. And then you've got Swift, and then the giant killer himself, Boston Scott, who no one talks about until his time to play the Giants game.

Paul, it's one of those things, you're either looking at a Giants win by a field goal or you're looking at a complete blowout, I feel like. Well, you know, one thing, Wink Martindale spoke with us this weekend. One thing I was a little quizzical about with Wink, you know, he said he was generally pleased with the performance against the Saints. You know, mentioned some stats, you know, less than 300 yards allowed and, you know, some good things here and there. And then he said, what was the difference? He said, well, turnovers, you know, we have to cause turnovers. And

a really good legitimate defense i mean yes you can you know the best defense cause turnovers i get it but you can't count on going into a game and saying if we don't get two or three turnovers we can't win this game that's not the way it works right you know it's not the way it works i mean i mean you know you have to be a a lockdown defense even if you don't cause turnovers you know i look it helps it certainly helps now uh let me give you four guys josh dobbs

right? You know who Josh Dobbs is, right? Josh Allen, of course, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, and Sam Howell. Four quarterbacks, right? What do they have in common, those four? They lead the league in turnovers. All four of them are tied with 17 turnovers, okay?

but that's shocking isn't it you know hurts last year hurts last year was a guy who never turned up all over you know he is an interesting guy he's definitely been banged up a little bit you know you can see when he runs you know

He has 14 rushing touchdowns this year. No quarterback in NFL history has ever had 15, ever, ever. I mean, so he is, you know, their offense is, you know, you mentioned Swift is a terrific running back, but they score because he scores touchdowns, you know. Obviously, the tush push. I prefer the brotherly shove, you know. I like the brotherly shove better because –

Anyone can call it the tush push, right? The brotherly shove is all Philly, right? All Philly, yep. And it's got the shove. Now, it was an interesting debate in the locker room. You know, Wink said...

Wink Mortendale said, it's a rugby play. It's not a football play. It's a rugby play. And obviously he mentioned Kelsey, who's an Hall of Fame center and that hurts squats 600 pounds. You watch Eli Manning for 16 years. He never ran a quarterback sneak. He just didn't want to do it, and they didn't want to do it with him. So you have the great center and an incredibly strong quarterback, but

you know, Saquon Barkley was asked about it. And he said, you know, why should we outlaw this? You know, just because they do it better than everybody. So I asked Saquon, I said, how much do you squat? And he said, a heck of a lot more than Jalen does. So I said, so why don't you run? Why don't the Giants run a push-push with you, right? Because a lot of people say, well, why don't you do it with the quarterback? Because the quarterbacks don't want to do it. They can't do it. You know, they can't do it.

you know Jalen Hurts can do it he looks like a fullback so I said why don't we do with you say once a while I have to learn how to take the snap and everything like that and you know obviously they don't have Jason Kelsey so I mean Wink said it is it is first and nine when you play the Eagles what an advantage right it's first at nine they're completing they're converting 75 of their fourth downs it is an incredible weapon you can't get them off the field it's an incredible weapon

Yeah, and that's just one weapon on that offense. Devonta Smith on the outside. A.J. Brown is having himself a Pro Bowl caliber year.

Hi, it's one of those things where you kind of, I don't want to say feel bad for the Giants defense, but they're going into this game with their hands tied and they're going to need some sort of offensive help. Someone's going to have to put some sort of points up on the board when it comes to offense. But defensively, they're going to need every tip ball to fall their way, every fumble. If there is a ball on the ground, things are going to have to go their way. But at the end of the day, the way that Bobby O'Kerrick and some of these guys have been playing defensively,

Xavier McKinney, you can't just write this Giants defense off against this Eagles offense. So it's going to be something very interesting. In this losing streak, they've scored 19, 13, and 17. Okay. You know, now I get it. 49ers, Cowboys, Seattle. Okay. But, but right. I mean, if they're,

Last year, the Eagles were 14-3 to end the season, right? Their point differential was plus 133. They are 10-4 this year, right? You know what their point differential is? What's that? Plus 18. Wow.

With a 10-4 record. I mean, their games are close. They're close. They win close. That was the thing about the Eagles when they were 10-1, right? They don't look right, but they always win, right? They always find a way to win, but they don't look right. They're not dominating.

So then they lose three in a row to really good teams. You know, Seattle's a pretty good team. So, I mean, yes, this could be one of those games, but to think the way the Eagles are playing now that the Giants are going to go in and lose 34 to 10 and it's going to be a blowout. I mean, that's a shame. I mean, we shouldn't be thinking that way. It might happen. And I think I'm going to pick a game that, you know, the Eagles win and cover the 12 point spread, but

you know, darn it. I mean, the giants have a decent defense, you know, they shouldn't go in there and lay down. They shouldn't go in there and lay down. This team is not scoring a lot of points, even though they're capable of it, you know? So, um,

You know, it's it's it's you know, the Eagles defense is not locked down like it used to be. It just isn't. They don't get the pressure. They don't. You know, you know, a slay is out. You know, I mean, Bradbury's getting run by that last play right now. Now, that's a good young receiver, but he's playing off man coverage, right? Yeah, that's what we did. That's a go route against off man is the most disrespectful route ever.

That you could call against off man and he didn't have, you know, I mean, Bradbury's coverage wasn't terrible. It was a great throw and it was a ridiculous catch. I mean, he caught the ball, you know, the back of the of the football, you know, it was a great throw, great catch. But, you know, they asked Bradbury after the game and he said he ran by me.

You know, he ran by me. Bradbury's a stand-up guy. He said he ran by me. That's exactly what happened. You know, he's got an eight or ten yard cushion and he's backpedaling. He's going forward and he just ran by me. So, you know, can Jalen Hyatt just run by him? I mean, why the heck not? You know what I mean? I mean, let's

know i mean i mean you know if you're gonna go down go down giving them a battle blooding them you know what i mean it's gonna be you know what the atmosphere is gonna be like it's christmas it's really a night game it's 4 30 it's going to be dark it's christmas they'll be everyone will be dressed up in in santa costumes you know they're going to want to kill you know tommy devito you know there's a lot of italians in in philly but they're not going to have any love for the you know for for army cutlets right you know did you see he he he got trademarked

branding rights for two things, Tommy Cutlets and the passing Paisan. Smart kids, smart kids, because we don't know what his career is going to be like. So we don't know how much he can capitalize on that. His 15 minutes could end at the end of this year, Paul, but it's smart because you make sure no one else capitalizes on your name and your nickname. They're going to be calling them. They're going to be yelling at stuff. You know,

hostile, hostile environment. You know, you know the press box there. The fans, you know, unlike MetLife Stadium where it's so high and the way it's configured, you know, there's nobody there. We just have, you know, open air. But in Philly, the fans are right there. Wow. So, you know, they can like bang on the thing a little bit and they turn around. They know where the New York, you know, the New York, New Jersey Giants media is sitting. You know, they yell, they turn around and, you know, do this to us and everything. You know, and I'm protected by plexiglass. I'm protected by...

You know what I mean? So it's it's it's a hostile environment, you know, I mean, and, you know, I like that Tommy DeVito does not seem, you know, look, we'll see how he gets out there. You know, he's asked he was asked about that this week about hostile environments. And what do you say? The Bosco? He said, have you ever been to the Bosco? What was it? Paramus game or something? Yeah. Yeah.

He said, there's 15,000 there and it's not good for you or your family. So, you know, this is a little, you know, this is that times a thousand. But look, you know, I mean, I mean, I will be very disappointed if the Giants go in there and just lay an egg and just show no real competitive fire. You know, I mean, that that's you can't do that against against a division opponent. You know, you got to make make them know they're in a battle here. You know, even if you can't, you know, you're not good enough to beat them.

And still, it's still a primetime game because it's a Christmas game. It's going to be the only game going on at that time. Got to go out there, like you said, be competitive. Got to put your best foot forward. It was cool as we were talking about James Bradbury and the Eagles defense. Also, I talked with Jeff Kerr about that and also Matt Patricia calling the plays. Jeff Kerr, who is the NFL writer who covers the Eagles for CBS Philadelphia. I got a chance to sit down and talk with him on Know Your Enemy. You guys check this out.

This episode is brought to you by Experian. Are you paying for subscriptions you don't use but can't find the time or energy to cancel them? Experian could cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you an average of $270 per year and plenty of time. Download the Experian app. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions are eligible. Savings are not guaranteed. Paid membership with connected payment account required.

At BlueNile.com, you can find endless ways to make your moments sparkle. From classic and timeless jewelry gifts to creating the custom engagement ring of her dreams. All at prices you won't find at a traditional jeweler. And right now, you can save up to 40% on fine jewelry and 25% on engagement ring settings during the Blue Nile Anniversary Sale. Going on now. Go to BlueNile.com to shop the Blue Nile Anniversary Sale and save up to 40%.

That's BlueNile.com. Can Big Blue go green and go full Grinch on the Eagles on Christmas Day? That's the question. Let's break this game down from the Philly side of things with NFL writer for CBS Sports, and he covers the Eagles for CBS Philadelphia, Jeff Kerr. Jeff, thanks for hopping on with this, my man. We should call the Eagles the Wounded Eagles.

Eagles because three straight losses for this team. Jalen Hurts took some heat for saying that his squad needs to be committed. Jason Kelsey has come out and kind of cleared things up. I guess I'm asking you, is there a rift going on in that locker room right now?

I wouldn't say rift, Brandon, but I would say there's been some finger-pointing. And this has been, even when the Eagles were starting 10-1, you know, there's been communication issues on the back end of the defense. The young players are getting confused with the defense. The veterans didn't like, you know, how confusing the defense was. Guys that were brought in. Guys that have been with this team for a while. So this has been coming, but...

It was shocking to hear it from the offensive side of the ball with Jalen Hurts that the team wasn't committed. And I think that was a message to this football team saying, hey, we got three weeks to get this thing right. And as the leader, as the captain of this football team, I'm going to publicly call people out. And I like what Jason Kelsey said. Hey, look, I'm not disagreeing with him, but we do have guys in this locker room that want to win. And I truly do believe that as well. I just think they got to handle a lot of

internal things right now. And, you know, it's guys getting their piece of the pie or guys getting the football. I think they got to kind of take a step back on that and go for the team aspect right now. It's the Eagles are, they're a close knit team. They're a close knit bunch, but they just haven't handled losing very well right

Well, it makes you think like how long things have been going on internally, you know, because winning masks everything and they had started off 10-1. You know, nothing's going to come out publicly. You saw some back and forth with A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts on the sideline. But again, when you're winning games, no one's going to go digging. But you lose three straight. They've got some pressure on them. So I got to ask you, is this more of a get right game for them, knowing that the Giants are kind of –

lesser in talent or is this more of a must win game for Philly? I thought Seattle was the get right game personally but they also haven't beaten Seattle in 15 years and they haven't won in Seattle in 15 years so I knew that was going to be a tough game and then you got the Jalen Hurts flu stuff and taking a separate plane you're like okay like they still should be able to win the game and they

They were winning the game until the very end. And, you know, Matt Patricia was doing a solid job. And, you know, you saw the ending of that Seattle game. So maybe the Giants are the get-right game. They seem to be the get-right game for a lot of teams this year. And I just keep trying to tell people if –

you want my honest opinion, it's the Giants. They should beat them and they should beat them by two touchdowns. But I don't know what the Eagles can be anybody right now. The Giants are still an NFL team. You have to go out there and play hard against them or Tommy DeVito is going to cut this defense up. I don't care who

Who's the quarterback? I don't care who's on the Giants offensive line. You've got to show up and play football. You've got to play to your talent level. If the Eagles do that, then yes, it's a get-right game. But if not, Giants may pull off an upset here. And that's crazy that you're having to say that about this team, the team that was just in the Super Bowl last season, the team that, again, started off 10-1. It's like this defense has shown its weakness, and teams are taking advantage of that. And you mentioned Tommy DeVito. DeVito Madness is going south on 95th.

to go down there and try and light up the link and light up this defense. Any word on who's going to be calling plays for the defense this week? And if it is Matt Patricia, you think that the team and the fan base has confidence in Patricia? We had a running joke going into the week. When we found out the whole Matt Patricia is calling the plays for the Seattle game,

they never took away the defensive coordinator title from Sean to sign. So we call them the press secretary. You know, he was going to answer all the questions while Patricia was going to do the dirty work. Well, no, Matt Patricia is actually speaking today at 1230. So, or I guess it technically would be Thursday. But yeah. Yeah.

Sorry, guys. Yeah, but Matt Patricia is speaking this week. And so I guess Matt Patricia is the defensive coordinator for the time, even though he doesn't actually have the title. So Matt Patricia will be the one calling plays for this football team, Brandon. So you will see a Matt Patricia defense. And again, I like some of the stuff he did against Seattle. It just, you know...

Basically, it's personnel related, right? Sean Desai was the scapegoat for bad personnel decisions by this front office. And James Bradbury, as you guys know very well, James Bradbury looks like the worst cornerback in football this year. He's given up nine pass touchdowns.

opposing quarterbacks in the 90-panther ring. So if Tommy DeVito wants to have success, you go against James Bradbury and don't test the rookies, Kaylee Ringo and Eli Ricks. Well, I was about to ask you about DeVito mania. I was going to say, like, do you think that he can have the same success against the Eagles defense that Drew Locke had? And you kind of just answered that question. So other than James Bradbury in the secondary, how else? Are there any other weaknesses in this Eagles defense?

For a team that's built to have a lead and get sacks, they don't do that often. At least not this year. You're up 17-13. You weren't able to get a sack off Drew Locke and the Seahawks offensive line, the 41-year-old Jason Pierce. I know Jason Pierce is a future Hall of Famer who's having a solid year, but...

you know, Assam Reddick can't make a play. Josh Sweat can't make a play there. So, but again, maybe the Giants offensive line is the cure-all. As we've seen, like Tommy DeVito has been sacked, what, 27 times in his five starts. I think that's like the fifth most by any quarterback in his first five starts, which is kind of crazy to me. But,

One of my biggest criticisms of the Giants this whole offseason and going into the year was, yeah, it's great. They did this, they did this, they did this. But their offensive line still is god-awful. And they have proven to be god-awful all season long. So the Eagles should be able to feast on this kid, but...

Can they? That's the thing. If you can't get pressure off the Giants, I don't think you're going to win a playoff game. That's just my personal opinion. So, I mean, the Giants, it's a bad offense. Tommy DeVito has at least put some excitement into it. But at the end of the day, if you just look at the battle between the trenches, the Eagles should dominate.

Yeah, if you're looking at the trenches, you can see what the Saints defensive line did to the Giants offensive line. So if you're Fletcher Cox, you're Hassan Riddick, this is, I guess they're looking at this as a get-right game against this Giants offensive line. Last but not least, Jalen Hurst has taken heat. James Bradbury has taken heat. Let's talk about the head coach. Is there heat on Nick Sirianni to win this game?

You know, the sports talk radio stations may think so. I don't think Nick Ceriani is coaching for his job, but he's definitely pulling out the defense card this week, defending his offensive coordinator, Brian Johnson, saying it's his offensive scheme. These are his guys. And look, Jeffrey Dorey, he does care about offense more than anything in the world. He's fired head coaches that...

don't have innovative offenses. And right now it's not looking like that, even though you have Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith, Dallas Goddard, this offensive line, and they can't score 20 points in the football game. It's crazy. But no, I don't think Nick is coaching for his job yet. Maybe that's something to revisit after the season. Again, look, they have three chances to get this thing right.

Christmas against the Giants. Then you play Jonathan Gannon and the Cardinals. Then you get to play the Giants again. The Eagles have one of the easiest schedules, if not the easiest schedule, to close out the year. They can still go 13-4, which is one heck of a season. So in a way, yes, Nick kind of has to stop the fire. But I don't think his job is on the line anymore.

By any means, I don't think he's coaching for his job, but you have to wonder, you know, the way this team has fallen since the 10-1 start, if the pressure is cooking for Nick. Yeah, and you could call it the city of brotherly love all you want, but when you're losing games, you're going to get some hate. Jeff, tell the people where they can find you.

You can find all my work at CBSSports.com. You can find me every Sunday if you really want to watch CBS Sports Philadelphia. This is a New York station here, but you can find me on Sunday kickoff. I'll talk about the game, and I'll have plenty of coverage from the Eagles and Giants on Monday from both angles because, let's be honest, Brandon, the Giants –

Dave at least put some excitement into a lost season over the last couple weeks. Hey, thanks, Jeff, for hopping on. I know we call that segment Know Your Enemy, but they are showing love down in the city of brotherly love. Appreciate them hopping on. All right, Paul, it's that time. Let's get into these player prop bets and the predictions. We'll start with Jalen Hurts, passing yards, 230.5. I'll let you start, sir. Over, under. All right.

All right. They're passing offenses right in the middle, 16th in the league. You know, they're not, you know, as you said, they have two great receivers. You know, you said he's having a Brown is having a Pro Bowl caliber season. Get rid of caliber. You know what I mean? He's he's you know, he's he's beast. He's terrific.

230 and a half. I'm going to say under. I just think they're going to run the ball a little better. It's hard. It's hard to figure with this. You know, you know, the Giants got no pressure last week. That's another thing I didn't like what Wink said in his press conference about getting no pressure on the Saints. He said, I know you guys don't want to hear this, but they were getting rid of the ball in two point something seconds, whatever.

You're right. I don't want to hear it. You know, I mean, get pressure any way you can. You got to get pressure. Good offensive line with Philly. I get it. But I'm going to say under because I think I think, you know, Hurts runs a lot, too. Yeah, I'm going to overall in this one, but only about like five yards. I think he gets that 235 around that area because, like you said, they run the ball. And I think it's not supposed to rain on that day, but on Christmas Day at the link,

Three losses in a row. I think they're going to try and play some physical football against the Giants to run that clock and get up out of there. Jalen Hurts, 40 and a half rushing yards over under.

It's a rough number. I'm going to say over. You know, I mean, he he seems to get a, you know, 12, 14, 15 yard run. You know, if you play man and run down a field and you got to stick with those guys, there's openings. You know, he can you know, he I mean, he hasn't looked right. You know, he said he's got knee issues. He doesn't look explosive when he runs.

But he's obviously in short yardage. He's terrific around the goal line. He's almost unstoppable. And yeah, I mean, he runs out of bounds. He's not he doesn't play hero ball too often. So I'm going to say over. I'm going to go over with you on that one, Paul. Like you said, the need doesn't look the need looks like it's hurt, hurt. But at the same time, he's doing a great job. He gets out of the pocket and he'll still get you six to 12.

So he'll do that three or four times, and that's almost 40 and a half right there. And not to mention the QB design runs. Yeah, over 40 for sure. Over 40 and a half for sure. Let's talk about that bad man, A.J. Brown. 74 and a half receiving yards over under, Paul. I'm going to say over. He's got over 1,300 yards this season. He's got three games left.

You know, I don't know. I mean, he's a physical guy. He can run. You know, does he match up best with Deontay Banks? I guess. Right. Because of his size. I talked to Banks a little bit about it in the locker room the other day. You know, he doesn't really want to break down these guys individually. He says, you know, every week it's somebody every week. It's somebody different every week. It's an A plus guy.

you know, I mean, it, this is, you know, banks has played a lot of snaps this year. He's a rookie. Um, he says he's not wearing down. I'm not sure if that's the case. You know, I don't think he or a Dory Jackson played great, certainly in new Orleans. So I think, um, AJ Brown can get 75 receiving yards in this game. Yeah. I'm going to go over as well on this one. I mean, the guy, he gets yak, he's physical. They, they mastered the back shoulder. Uh,

he's just like you said i'm taking the caliber out of it he's having a pro bowl year uh devontae smith 52 and a half receiving yards uh over under well if he gets that he goes over a thousand yards for the season he's at 957 and you know to have two guys with a thousand yards you know is rare you know that's that's rare you know that you got a one and one a and um you know usually one guy doesn't get both get a thousand so that that's you know

Good for them if they get it. I'm going to say under. I don't really. You know, he's got six touchdowns. You know, at the tight end, they'll probably do some damage because they usually do against the Giants. So I'm going to say under. Not with a lot of real conviction here. He's terrific. You know, I think maybe a Dory Jackson can do a little better. A Dory smaller and quicker. Maybe he can hang with them a little bit. So I'll say under. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm going to go over on this one. This kid, his speed, not only is it his speed, but it's the way he tracks the ball. Like, I love the way he tracks it, keeps his eye on it. And he's a small kind of frail guy, but he high points it. He plays a lot bigger than what he does. I would love to see him in a Giants uniform sometime soon in his prime. But, you know, I mean, it is Christmas. Wishful thinking. Let's flip this thing over, go with the Giants.

Finding some prop bets for this one. It's obviously kind of, I think it's kind of disrespectful to the passing game. So I wanted to throw these out there to get your take on it. Darius Slayton, 27 and a half receiving yards, Paul. 27 and a half over under.

You know, Slayton is trending down. He's just trending down. You know what I mean? I mean, he's, you know, they're trying to get Wanda on the ball. I get it. But, you know, Slayton's getting his reps. You know, he's getting his snaps out there on offense. You know, I think you can make, as you said, I think you can make some plays offensively.

on the Eagles down the field. You know, I do. So I think 27 and a half is a very low number. As you said, you know, he could get that on one catch. And I think he might, I think he will get that on one catch. I'm not saying they're going to throw for, you know, 300 yards, but I think he will have, you know, he could get a catch of 2025, 26, 28 yards. So I'm going to say over, I mean,

Really, shame on the Giants if they can't get over here. You know what I mean? Slayton's a pretty good player, and, you know, the cornerbacks are not great. You mentioned Ringo, the rookie who hasn't played much from Georgia. You know, he's been forced to play now. You know, I don't think they want any part of Ringo on Slayton because Slayton will run by him. I'm still going under on this one, Paul. I think that – hey, hey.

Watching the Giants offense in the past game against the Saints last game was very frustrating as a receiver. I know Tommy DeVito didn't have a terrible game, but those deep balls that they didn't connect with, thrown out of bounds. Darius Selling had to come back to the ball instantly.

It just wasn't there. And it's this offense. When it's clicking, it's clicking. But when it's trash, it's absolutely trash. I got to go Darius Slayton under on this one because he has become an afterthought in this offense. And it's not his fault. It's just Tommy DeVito is a lot more comfortable with some of these younger guys. That's why I got Wondell Robinson, 5'4".

30 and a half receiving yards. And people, I'm not setting these. These are out there. This is public information on Google, all these betting sites that I had to scour to find these. So Wondell Robinson, 30 and a half receiving yards, Paul.

You know, he's averaging eight yards a catch, right? And don't we want more from that from Wandale? Absolutely. No, I get it. He was the first part of the season. He's still coming back. He's still coming back. We've seen more. You know, nobody rises when the whole operation is, you know, rough. You know, every sack you take means the ball has not been thrown, right? And they're at what? They're at...

Let me get it right here. The Giants are at 69 sacks this year. Okay, so that's 69...

past, you know, past attempts that have not happened that could be reception. So I get it. You know, I get it. But I'm going to say over. OK, I'm going to say over because I just think it's a ridiculously no number. And I'm going to say over. And a lot of those jet sweep things, which is a pass, right? It's a big boy. You would love they didn't run as many jet sweeps when you were playing. Right. How are you? How much you would have liked that? Get a little flip of the ball and run 15 yards. And it's a it's a reception. Right. That's pretty good. Not too often.

It's better for the quarterback. But I would have had like negative one yards. I wasn't a yak guy. I wasn't a catch and jet sweep guy. Yeah, I know.

I block on the outside for somebody, though. That's right. You were too big to be going to good. You couldn't hide from anybody. You couldn't hide from anybody. I'm going to say over. I'm going to say over. Yeah, I'll go over as well just because that is Tommy DeVito's comfort guy. It's his comfort food. You know, when you're sitting there on the couch, you want some marshmallows. That's Wondell Robinson to Tommy DeVito. So I'll go over on this one, on Wondell. This one, I found out,

highly disrespectful and we talked about this young man earlier in the show Jalen Hyatt 17 and a half receiving yards this is out there Paul this is what the bookies or Vegas or these people think about this passing game and these receivers Jalen Hyatt 17 and a half receiving yards over under

well that's 17 and a half more than he had last week right so you know you know it's not like you know here's why I will say over okay because if you add 27 and a half which was Slayton's number Wandale's 30 and a half and Hyatt's 17 and a half what do you have 30 40 50 60 70 80 you have less than 80 yards okay okay so now those are the three main targets right

right? Those are the three main guys. You know, it's not going to be Paris Campbell. It's not going to be Sterling Shepard. Like I said, it'll be a little bit of Waller, you know, maybe a little more of Waller, maybe a little bit of Bellinger, maybe a little bit of Saquon. So you tell me the top three receivers can't get 80, 80, you know, hopefully they're not going to have a hundred passing yards in a game. Hopefully they'll have more than that. And if they're losing, they may even get more yards, you know, garbage time yards, that kind of thing. So

I will say over. And, you know, people say, well, you're crazy. You gave over to Slayton, Wandale and Hyatt. But the numbers are so low. You know, even if they all go over by a little bit, you have less than 100 receiving yards and you've had a lousy day. Yeah. Yeah. And it could be one of those days, Paul. You know, even even if the Giants do fall behind and then they have to throw in.

You usually look at that like, uh-oh, stat pattern. Let me get me an extra four or five catches. But with the way that this Philadelphia defense and defensive line is still set up, like we said, I know they haven't been as good as they were last season. But the way that they still have been dominant against the Giants offensive line, it could still be guys out there running cardio routes.

just out there running and DeVito running around, like, trying to save his life, you know, back there. And this is no knock against the Giants or anything. We just see how these games can go. You know, that's just how it is when it comes to a team that's struggling playing against a team that's just physically better and just more talented. Last but not least, I saw this one and I was like, question mark emoji, total points, 53 and a half.

What are they expecting the Eagles to get 40? I mean, you know what I'm saying? I mean, what are the Giants averaging per game? So, yeah, I mean, you know, I'm not a math major, but let's say, okay, let's say the Giants get 17. That means the Eagles, you have to put them in for 37 if you want to go over, right? 37, 17, that's a high number. Like I said, shame on the Giants if they can't,

do something to slow the Eagles somewhat. You know, they're not running up and down the field on everybody. You know, it's one thing if you say when they were playing the Dolphins, when they were, oh, geez, this is a juggernaut. You can't stop them.

You know, I mean, the Eagles are not doing that to everybody. They're winning a lot of games. They've lost three in a row. I understand the Giants are not the Cowboys and the 49ers on defense. But but, you know, they're not they're not scoring in bulk. You if they do, shame on you. So I'm going to say under here. Now, a lot of that is also because do I think the Giants can get to 17? Maybe. Can they get to 20? Yeah.

Maybe, maybe, you know, maybe depending on how the game goes, if it's too open. Look, that 38-3 is not far from my thoughts from the playoffs last year. Now, the Eagles are on a different kind of role then, but like I said, I just think the Giants got to man up a little bit here and play a good game. And if you're not good enough, you're not good enough. You know what I mean? I'm not saying if they don't win, then it's, you know, everyone's got to be damned to hell. If you're not good enough, you're not good enough. They're not good enough to beat the Eagles, I would imagine. But

but they should be good enough against an Eagles team that's just not playing on all cylinders to compete and stay in the game somewhat. Yeah, I'll take under on this one. I think Philly just, I think they just want to get the win, be impressive with the win, show some sort of dominance, put that back

out there, put their physicality back out there, play some strong defense on the back end. Hopefully for them, thinking the way for them, Matt Patricia, they want him to call a good game, get guys settled in with his calls because it looks like he's going to be the D.C. going forward. I just go under on this one, 53 and a half, but you just want the Giants to be competitive in this game. You want to win, but you want to be realistic. Go down there and be competitive. Paul, were you a kicker back in the day? Yeah.

Was I a kicker? I was not a lot of things. OK, I would say I used to be able to we used to play streetball and I would punt it sometimes. I could probably I could definitely get the ball up in the air and I could probably get it around 15 yards. So, no, I know I was not a punter, but I was I was compared to other things in football. You know, punter might have been, you know, a better specialty for me.

Paul punt net yards over under 15 and a half. Well, kick us home on this. Kick us home on this one before I close this out. Final thoughts, Paul.

I am not trademarking the punting, Paul's punting paisan. I'm not trademarking that, okay? Anyway, that's open. That's open domain for anybody. Here's what I would say is that, look, the Giants have the Eagles, the Rams. Now, how good did the Rams look Thursday night? The Rams looked like a legitimate playoff team. And then the Eagles again.

We thought the Eagles might not need anything to play for that week 18. They probably will need that game for some sort of playoff positioning. You know, the Eagles have the Giants, the Cardinals and the Giants. You know, the Eagles have to look at this and say, we have pretty much, you know, we'll lock up the division and, you know, if we need help, we can get the one seed. Probably not because they've lost to the 49ers. But again,

For this game in particular, like I said, it's Christmas. You know, you don't want everyone to be down and, you know, you have to work on Christmas anyway for the players. They know the drill. That's what football players do, you know, sometimes. But they have to play a good game. You know, they have to you know, they can't just go quietly into the night here and lose to the Saints and lose the Eagles and lose to the Rams.

and lose to the Eagles again and go out with a five-win season. I don't know if they can beat any of these teams, but they have to play good football, and if they lose, they lose. I think that's very important.

Good football. And if they lose, they lose. Spoken like a true gent. Yeah, but you're right. You're right. There's no more expectations. No more hype. Close this thing out on the right foot. We'll talk to you in the offseason and figure things out from there. Start over. Hit the reset button. Everybody starts their journey to the Super Bowl.

all over again in the offseason, but you're right. That three in a row, if they don't win one, two of these next three, then all the DeVito madness, all that three-game hype just gets thrown out of the window and people are back down in dumps.

We don't want you guys down in the dumps. It's the holidays, y'all. And we want to thank you guys for watching another episode of Blue Rush. Just two more preview shows left to close out the year. Where's the time gone? Thanks for checking us out and we appreciate all the comments. Be sure to subscribe to the New York Post Sports YouTube page and SNY to stay up to date with all

things Blue Rush and of course your Giants news for Paul Schwartz, Brandon London and the entire Blue Rush crew. Happy holidays everybody and as always thanks for watching.