Eagles-Giants: Pregame stats that matter in a pivotal game of the season | Paul Domowitch

Some really cool stats to help get you ready for Eagles-Giants:

— Jim Schwartz tried everything last week to help his injury-ravaged secondary. He blitzed Drew Brees 11 times on the Saints' first 29 pass plays. He dropped eight into coverage and only rushed three a season-high five times. Nothing worked. Brees was 9-for-11 for 155 yards and one touchdown when the Eagles sent extra rushers at him. He was 3-for-5 for 63 yards when the Eagles only rushed three. He was 11-for-16 for 155 yards and three touchdowns when they rushed four.

— Last week was the first time this season that the Eagles failed to register at least one sack against an opposing quarterback, and the first time since Week 3 of last season when they had no sacks against the Giants and Eli Manning in a 27-24 win. The Eagles have 26 sacks this season. They're 22nd in sacks per pass play.

— In their 34-13 Week 6 win over the Giants, the Eagles blitzed Manning just once in 47 pass plays. They managed to put pressure on him on 20 of those 47 pass plays, didn't allow a touchdown and had one interception. The interception, by linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, was the last one the Eagles have had. They've been interception-less in their last five games and have just four the entire season. Only the Bucs (1) and 49ers (2) have fewer.

— Schwartz has not blitzed Manning much since becoming the Eagles' defensive coordinator. In five games against Eli, Schwartz has sent extra rushers on just 19 of 252 pass plays (7.5 percent). Manning was 13-for-18 for 181 yards with three TDs, 1 INT and one sack on those 19 blitzes.

— The Eagles have given up 344 rushing yards in their back-to-back losses to the Cowboys and Saints (5.3 yards per carry). They've plummeted to 24th in opponent rush average (4.7).

— The Eagles have allowed 4.85 yards per carry on first down this season. That's the eighth worst first-down opponent rush average in the league. Last year, they were No. 3, holding opponents to 3.37 yards per carry on first down. In the Eagles' last five games, they've allowed 6.7 yards per carry on first down.

— Giants rookie Saquon Barkley rushed for 130 yards on just 13 carries against the Eagles in Week 6. One hundred thirteen of those 130 yards came on first down. He averaged 14.0 yards per carry on first down.

— Barkley is sixth in the league in rushing with 728 yards. He is tied for the league lead in runs of 20 yards or more with eight. Two of them – for 50 and 46 yards – were against the Eagles.

— Opponents have racked up 36 rushing first downs against the Eagles in the last six games. They allowed just 12 in the first four games. They've given up 15 runs of 10 yards or more in their last four games. They allowed just 11 in the first six.

— Carson Wentz is coming off the worst performance of his career. He had a 31.9 passer rating against the Saints. His lowest passer rating before that was 52.4 in a 21-10 win over the Vikings his rookie year (2016).

— Wentz had three interceptions against the Saints. It was only the second three-interception game of his career. He also threw three in a 32-14 loss to the Bengals in '16. Last week was the first time he threw more than one interception in a game in 25 starts.

— All three of Wentz's interceptions against the Saints came on 20-plus-yard throws, to Nelson Agholor (56 yards), Golden Tate (43 yards) and Dallas Goedert (36 yards). Wentz was 0-for-5 against the Saints on 20-plus-yard throws. He was 6-for-8 for 82 yards on throws of 11 to 19 yards, 7-for-12 for 50 yards on throws of zero to 10 yards, and 6-for-8 for 24 yards on throws behind the line of scrimmage.

— Wentz had his 22-game streak with at least one touchdown pass snapped against the Saints.

— Wentz hasn't been nearly as productive on third down this season as he was last year. He is 13th in third-down passing with a 96.6 rating, which is 27.1 points lower than last year when he was the league's No. 1-rated third-down passer. He has a 58.9 third-down completion percentage and already has been sacked eight times in 73 third-down attempts. Just 42.5 percent of his third-down attempts have resulted in first downs. Last year, he had a 65.3 third-down completion percentage, and 50 percent of his third-down attempts produced first downs.

— Wentz has a 92.8 passer rating on third downs of eight yards or more this season, compared to a league-best 133.0 last year. Just eight of his 27 attempts on third-and-eight or more (29.6 percent) have resulted in first downs. Last year, 24 of 58 attempts (41.4 percent) produced first downs. He's thrown just one touchdown pass on third-and-eight or more. Last year, he had seven.

— Wentz already has been sacked 26 times in 328 pass plays this season. That's once every 12.6 pass plays. In 13 starts last year, he was sacked 28 times in 468 pass plays (once every 16.7 pass plays).

— Wentz had just one rushing attempt for six yards and no rushing first downs against the Saints. It was the first time he didn't have at least one rushing first down in a game since the Eagles' Week 4 loss to Tennessee, which was just his second start since coming back from his knee injury. He has nine rushing first downs in his eight starts this season. He had 26 in 13 starts last year. He is averaging just three carries per game this season. He averaged 4.9 last year.

— The Eagles have scored on their first possession in just two of 10 games this season, and still haven't scored yet on their second possession. They've been outscored, 42-21, in the first quarter. Last season, they had the league's highest first-quarter point differential, outscoring opponents, 106-48.

— The Eagles have just 11 first downs on their first possession, and six of them came in their Week 3 win over the Colts. They have just three first-possession first downs in the last six games. The Eagles are averaging just 3.6 yards per play on their first possession.

— The Eagles have led after the first quarter just once this season. That was in the first Giants game (14-3). In their six losses, they've been outscored in the first quarter, 26-0.

— The Eagles are 27th in average drive start (26.5). They were fifth last year (30.0). The average distance of their 23 touchdown drives has been 71 yards. Last year, it was 61.9 yards. Just four of their 23 TD drives have been less than 65 yards. Their field-position problems are related to two things: their lack of takeaways and the absence of big special teams plays.

— Rookie Josh Adams is averaging 7.0 yards per carry in the last three games (23-161) and 6.1 overall (34-207). He's averaging 6.0 yards per carry on first down.

— Since Jay Ajayi's season-ending knee injury in Week 5, Wendell Smallwood and Corey Clement have averaged a collective 2.7 yards per carry (68-185), and 2.4 on first down (35-83).

— The Eagles have just five rushing first downs in the last two games and have just 12 runs of 10 yards or more in their last six games. Four of their eight double-digit-yard runs in the last three games have been by Adams.

— The Giants are 25th in run defense (125.4 yards per game) and 18th in opponent rush average (4.5). They've allowed 5.0 yards per carry over the last three games, even though they've won two of those three.

— Tampa Bay had 10 rushing first downs against the Giants last week.

— The Giants have allowed 4.67 yards per carry on first down. The Bucs averaged 5.4 last week, the 49ers 5.5 the week before.

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