The Philadelphia Eagles will look to strengthen their playoff position when they host the New York Giants on short rest Sunday.
The Eagles (7-7), who defeated the Washington Football Team 27-17 on Tuesday night, will now aim for their third win in a row and a split against the Giants (4-10).
But the Eagles may be without head coach Nick Sirianni, who tested positive for COVID-19 and is questionable to be on the sidelines by Sunday. Passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo would likely be the acting head coach if Sirianni remains out.
“Hopefully, I’ll be ready to go on Sunday,” Sirianni said. “I’ve been prepared for this.”
Quarterback Jalen Hurts rushed for two touchdowns, threw for another 296 yards and a touchdown and also set a franchise record with 10 rushing scores this season. Michael Vick held the original mark of nine in 2010.
After a 3-6 start, the Eagles can continue to push for a playoff spot. They finished Tuesday tied for the final wild-card position in the NFC.
“We’re back at .500 for the first time ever this year,” Hurts said. “It’s a big deal but I know the job isn’t done. The job isn’t done, nowhere near from done. We know what we want to accomplish.”
Hurts recovered from a sprained ankle to play for the first time in 23 days and rallied the Eagles from an early 10-0 deficit. There won’t be much time to recover before another huge divisional matchup on Sunday.
“Right now in December we can’t be denied of what we want,” Hurts said. “With all the adversity we had this week, with all the adversity we had today earlier in the game, we didn’t let it affect us and I’m so happy about that.”
The Eagles are relatively healthy with three games remaining. Despite a bizarre schedule, all they can do is move forward.
Miles Sanders led a massive rushing attack with 131 yards.
“It doesn’t matter if we play on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or whatever day they tell us that we are going to play,” Sanders said. “We are going to come ready to play.”
The Giants defeated the Eagles 13-7 on Nov. 28.
But they haven’t been victorious since.
New York will hope to avoid a fourth straight loss when they visit the Eagles. The Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Chargers and Dallas Cowboys have combined to outscore the Giants 78-36.
The Giants now have dropped at least 10 games in each of the past five seasons.
To make matters worse, quarterback Daniel Jones (neck) and wide receiver Sterling Shepard (Achilles) have both been placed on injured reserve for the rest of the season.
Quarterbacks Mike Glennon and Jake Fromm are going to split reps in practice, though it’s possible for Fromm to make his first career start for the Giants.
Glennon started the previous three games but scuffled against the Cowboys.
The Giants signed Fromm off the Buffalo Bills practice squad three weeks ago and he completed 6 of 12 passes for 82 yards on the final drive of the Giants’ 21-6 loss to the Cowboys last Sunday.
“There’s a drastic difference of starting a game rather than coming in at the end,” Giants coach Joe Judge said. “Both guys have worked hard and shown good leadership. We’ll make a decision by the end of the week.”
The Giants have been besieged by injuries all season. Right now, they’re limping to the finish line.
“That’s the game we play, and we’ve played since kids, and it’s the game that we love,” running back Saquon Barkley said. “Just bad luck, I guess you could say.”
–Field Level Media