The Eagles did what they had to do and beat the New York Giants, 22-16, to lock down the NFC’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs. It was another suspect late-season effort, but Jalen Hurts was restricted in his return, and the team at least has an extra week to work out any kinks before the postseason. Win, lose, or draw, here’s what we learned:
The Eagles of the last four games will not be the Eagles of the playoffs
Let’s start with Jalen Hurts. The quarterback was rushed back from his right shoulder sprain when backup Gardner Minshew and the Eagles failed in two tries to hammer down the top seed. Hurts was clearly limited based on how coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen held off on designed runs, how aggressive he was in the open field, and how he threw the ball. After the game, Sirianni was quite frank about his quarterback’s condition. “He was hurting bad,” the coach said. If he was hurt that bad it stands to reason why his coaches would have him drop to throw on 42 plays. But the Eagles couldn’t put away a Giants team that started its third-string quarterback and rested key players and Hurts had to go the distance.
