EJ Smith Breaks Down the Eagles Win Over the Giants
The Eagles dominated the Giants. beat them 38-7. The game was never close, and the Eagles strolled into the NFC Championship Game. What went so well for the Eagles? EJ Smith from the Philly Inquirer joined The Best Show Ever to break down the win, preview Sunday’s game vs the Niners, and more. Here is what EJ Smith had to say.
On if how much they dominated the Giants surprised him…
“I was surprised. I wrote that I expected the game to be a knockout drag-out division round-type game… But the Eagles just outclassed the Giants. I knew that the Eagles had a stark talent advantage. But we have seen teams have that talent advantage in the playoffs but it still be a close game… The Eagles were a sleeping giant there for a little bit. We saw them wake up in the divisional round. It reaffirms what we expected from this team.”
On the Eagles’ Offensive Line
“The whole offensive line has been dealing with injuries. They are a tough group and an incredibly talented group. But the way that they beat up the Giants’ defensive line, was one of the biggest surprises for me. Dexter Lawrence is legitimately one of the best Nost Tackles in the league. Not only against the run but especially against the pass… Jason Kelce had the highlight block with the one-arm pancake… It’s a testament to what the Eagles have done for a long time. Building through the trenches. That is the type of stuff that shows up in playoff football. And it definitely showed up against the Giants.”
On Jalen Hurts elite decision-making…
“The thing that surprised me the most this season is the decision-making. We knew he was s a great athlete. We knew he was making strides as a passer… Eagles fans should not take that for granted with Jalen Hurts. He is ruthlessly efficient with the football in a way that a lot of Qbs arent. You don’t see him make too many mistakes. He is very consistent with his decision-making…
It’s something that does not necessarily show up on the stat sheet as much as rushing yards or passing yards. It is not something that can viral on Twitter the way that Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes can with deep passes… But with Jalen, the decision-making is kind of one of those things you can count on him a lot more to not make those catastrophic decisions… You look at what makes teams make it to this part of the season, that’s a big part of it… As good as Josh Allen was, the turnovers and decision-making in general ended up being his undoing.”
You can listen to the full conversation with EJ Smith below…
