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Domo's Day-After Review of Eagles-Giants Game

Some random thoughts, relevant statistics and ridiculous observations from the Eagles' first shutout victory in 18 years:

--In the first five games, opposing defenses stayed in their base defense against the Eagles' three-wide receiver sets to stop LeSean McCoy and dared Nick Foles to beat them through the air.

Not the Giants. For some strange reason, their defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell elected to play nickel almost the entire game, with no prompting, against both "11'' personnel (three wide receivers) and "12'' personnel (two tight ends). The result: McCoy finally found some running room, rushing for a season-high 149 yards on 22 carries. As a team, the Eagles rushed for a season-high 203 yards.

McCoy, who had been averaging just 2.3 yards per carry this season out of two-tight end sets, rushed for 61 yards on six carries out of the formation Sunday night. He rushed for 84 yards on 15 carries out of three-wide receiver sets and had four yards on one carry out of a three-tight end set the Eagles used a few times against the Giants.

--Nick Foles' two best passes against the Giants were his perfect first-quarter touchdown strike to tight end Zach Ertz, and a 13-yard pass to Riley Cooper in the second quarter. On the pass to Cooper, Foles was under pressure, moved adeptly around the pocket and then rolled to his right and found Cooper open on the sideline.

That pass to Cooper was immediately followed by one of Foles' worst throws, however – the under-duress pass to Darren Sproles that was intercepted by Giants safety Antrel Rolle. Sproles did a nice job of recovering and tackling Rolle. Otherwise, he would have scored easily on the play.

The pass to Sproles was just a poor decision. But Foles also was flat-footed when he threw the ball. He's been having issues with his footwork all season. Those footwork issues were the reason many teams didn't like Foles coming out of the University of Arizona. Scouts felt he developed a lot of bad habits with his footwork because he constantly was throwing under pressure in college.

--The Eagles' special teams continued to shine. Darren Sproles had a 43-yard punt return. Cody Parkey converted both of his field goal attempts and had just two of his six kickoffs returned. Chris Maragos partially blocked a Steve Weatherford punt. And the coverage units kept the Giants in check.

Seven of Sproles' 17 punt returns this season have gained 16 or more yards. There were some terrific blocks on his 43-yard return Sunday. Trey Burton took out linebacker Zak DeOssie early in the play. Marcus Smith had a nice block on Daniel Fells,and Josh Huff laid out Michael Cox near the end of the play. If Sproles hadn't run into teammate Malcolm Jenkins, he would have scored.

Huff, who played a season-high 22 offensive snaps, is an excellent blocker. He also had a nice, sustained block on Giants cornerback Trumaine McBride on Sproles' 15-yard third-quarter touchdown run.

--The Eagles had three four-plus-minute scoring drives against the Giants. In their first five games, they had just TWO POSSESSIONS that ate up four-plus minutes.

--Just four of the Eagles' 15 touchdown drives have been four plays or less. Last year, 22 of their 51 touchdown drives were four plays or less.

--The Eagles, who gave up 15 pass plays of 20-plus yards in the previous three games, allowed just one Sunday. That was a 20-yard completion to backup tight end Daniel Fells.

--Foles was just 4-for-9 for 55 yards with a touchdown and an interception on third down. He is 25th in the league in third-down passing with a 77.4 rating. Last year, he led the league in third-down passing with a 111.0 rating.

--Foles has been sacked just seven times in the first six games. That's the sixth fewest in the league, behind Denver (6), Cleveland (6), New Orleans (5), Oakland (4) and Cincinnati (2). The Eagles are fourth in the league in sacks allowed per pass play.

--Tight end Zach Ertz had three catches for 47 yards and a touchdown against the Giants. Two of the three catches, including the TD, came on third down. He has a team-high 10 third-down receptions. Rookie Jordan Matthews is second with eight. Ertz has converted all 10 of his third-down catches into first downs. Matthews is second with five third-down receptions for first downs.

--Just one of the Giants' 14 drives started at better than their own 25 yard line Sunday. Their average starting field position was the 21.9 yard line. The Eagles' was the 31.

--The Eagles used a three-tight end formation three times against the Giants. They used it once on their first possession and LeSean McCoy ran for four yards on a second-and-eight play. They used it on a second-and-10 play on their second possession. Sproles picked up two yards. And they used it again in the second quarter on Foles' 26-yard touchdown throw to James Casey.

Casey lined up on the left side on the play. Ertz and Brent Celek lined up on the right. Foles rolled to his right and Casey ran across the field and was wide open.

--Ertz, whose snaps have gone down mainly because he has struggled with his blocking, had a couple of decent blocks against the Giants. He had a pretty good wham block on Jason Pierre-Paul on an 18-yard run by McCoy in the first quarter. And he had another pretty good block on Giants safety Quintin Demps on McCoy's 15-yard run in the second quarter.

--Four of the Eagles' six sacks of Eli Manning came with a four-man rush, including two of Connor Barwin's three sacks. Barwin also delivered Manning to Vinny Curry on his first-quarter sack by forcing Eli up in the pocket, right into Curry's hands.

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