Giants vs. Eagles: Philadelphia scouting report

The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants face off for the first time this year on Sunday Night Football with both teams entering the game at 2-1. The narrative is well known around these parts, the Eagles as of recently have dominated the New York Giants winning 7 of their last 8 matchups. While the Giants have infinitely more Super Bowl championships than the Eagles have (or as an Eagles fan might say "a few more lucky wins"). Regardless of the outcomes, the games have recently been exciting and close. I'd expect much of the same this week. Let's take a look at how the Eagles have been playing this year from a statistical perspective. Later in the week I'll unveil my "Beyond the Box Score" for the Eagles after I finish watching all three of their first games.

Offense

Let's do this as a comparison between the two teams.

Offense

The Eagles also rush for more yards per game than the Giants, but I've never considered total rushing yards worth anything. I find rushing attempts, and rushing yards per attempt to be much better indicators of rushing success.

The Eagles have rushed the ball 30.7 times per game (9th most in the league) compared to the Giants 24.3 times per game (24th most in the league).

I find this very interesting considering that Andy Reid has a reputation of being too pass happy, while Giants fans get annoyed with how often Tom Coughlin wants to stick with the run. According to the data, however, the opposite is true. The Eagles run more than the Giants do and the Giants pass at a higher percentage than the Eagles have this year. How often Vick takes off and runs on designed pass plays is not indicated in this statistic, however.

Even though the Eagles are moving the ball extremely well, they are not scoring enough points. This has a lot to do with their turnovers, highlighted by six interceptions by Vick.

As far as the individual statistics go, their passing leader is Michael Vick (905 yards, 3 TD, 6 INT, 66.2 QB rating).

LeSean McCoy, some might say nimble like a ballerina (I kid, I kid), leads the team in rushing. McCoy has accumulated 261 rushing yards (4.5 yards per carry and a touchdown)

The receiving leader is......Did you guess Brent Celek? 14 receptions for 258 yards. That will be interesting to watch. It should be noted that Jeremy Maclin missed one of the three games this season.

Defense

The Eagles defensive numbers are impressive. The Giants clearly need to do a better job stopping the pass. 9.3 yards per attempt is absolutely terrible. They are almost a full yard worse than the worst team last year (Panthers had 8.4 yards per pass attempt allowed last year). Neither team has really gotten their pass rush going yet. Both teams are doing a good job forcing turnovers.

Statistical leaders:

Sacks: Jason Babin 2.5

INT: Coleman and DRC with 2 each

Tackles: Demeco Ryans with 18 solo tackles

Pro Football Focus leaders: Jason Babin (10.5), DeMeco Ryans (7.9), and Brandon Graham (6.4)

Dominqiue Rodgers Cromartie has an impressive 5.7 in pass coverage. For reference, Michael Coe leads the Giants with a 1.7, and the Chicago Bears' Tim Jennings leads the league with a 7.6

Special Teams

The Eagles are only averaging 19.9 yards per attempt (3rd worst in the league) and 5.3 yards per punt return (also 3rd worst in the league). DeSean Jackson has not returned punts yet for the Eagles this year.

Punter Chas Henry is averaging 48.3 yards per punt, but has only downed 2 inside the 20 yard line. Alex Henery has yet to miss a field goal.

These are the numbers, let me know if there is anything you want me to look at specifically for "Beyond the Box Score" coming out later in the week.