Giants-Eagles 'Kudos & Wet Willies' Review

Let's do this. The final score was Philadelphia Eagles 27, New York Giants 0, with the addition of one devastating injury to Victor Cruz and the destruction of the Giants' apparently inflated sense of how good they thought they were. We follow every Giants' game with a 'Kudos & Wet Willies' review, and as awful as this one was for the Giants this Monday morning will be no exception. So, let's get to it.

Kudos To ...

Moving on.

Wet Willies To ...

Justin Pugh -- I didn't think it was possible for the talented second-year right tackle to play this poorly. Neither did a stunned Pugh, who said "there isn't a word to describe how bad I played." He's right, but we can try. Terrible. Atrocious. Revolting. Ghastly. Dreadful. Frightful. Horrifying. They all work. Go to Thesaurus.com and find your own word. Pugh surrendered four of the Giants' eight sacks. Trent Cole and Connor Barwin made Pugh look a guy off the street playing his first NFL game instead of a first-round pick who has played terrific football since early in the 2013 season. Pugh had a -4.3 Pro Football Focus grade.

The rest of the offensive line -- Weston Richburg had a -3.3 PFF grade, including one very amateurish unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for spearing an Eagles player who was on the ground after the whistle. The Eagles blitzed up the middle all night and they ran over, around and through Richburg, John Jerry and J.D. Walton. Jerry had a -2.8 grade highlighted by three penalties. Will Beatty had an OK night, except for one sack and a holding penalty that negated a brilliant touchdown catch by Larry Donnell. I honestly don't know how much fault you can pin on Walton, but the center is responsible for communication up front, and the Giants obviously had no clue how to handle the blitzes and stunts the Eagles ran at them.

Quintin Demps -- This is one of those cases where stats are misleading. Demps had 10 tackles, but it was mostly because the Eagles kept targeting him and getting completions or because LeSean McCoy was running untouched until he got to Demps 15 yards down the field.

Jason Pierre-Paul -- Followed up one of the best games of his career against the Atlanta Falcons with a stinker. Pierre-Paul's game is all about strength and he clearly wasn't strong enough, or quick enough, to get through or around All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters.

Jon Beason -- You love Beason's desire and his leadership. But, Beason is clearly limited by the foot/toe injuries that have plagued him since OTAs. He didn't belong on the field.

Giants' Punt Coverage -- Entering the game you had to fear that the Eagles would have a tremendous advantage here, and they did. Steve Weatherford punted 10 times and way too many of them were right down the middle of the field. Darren Sproles took one of them back 43 yards. The Eagles also partially blocked a punt, with Tom Coughlin indicating after the game that not only was the protection bad but that Weatherford, with his injured ankle, has been slow to get punts off.

Coaching Staff -- I hate doing this, but I have to. The Giants were dominated in every phase of the game. Antrel Rolle said the Giants "took today off." Getting them ready falls to head coach Tom Coughlin, and as much as I respect Coughlin the Giants weren't ready to play. Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo takes a hit because the Giants had no answers up front and were clearly in panic mode on offense all night. Perry Fewell's defense was abominable. So were Tom Quinn's special teams.

Final Thoughts 

I could probably go on and on. There are probably a half-dozen other players who could hit the 'Wet Willies' list. You could make an argument that a couple of players, particularly defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins and cornerback/special teams gunner Zack Bowman, could get 'Kudos.' Maybe Eli Manning deserves 'Kudos' for simply surviving with all of his body parts intact. Manning certainly does not deserve a 'Wet Willie.' He had absolutely zero chance Sunday night.

The problem for the Giants is that this was more than a loss. They, of course, lost Victor Cruz for the season, a crushing blow to their offense. More than that, though, the Eagles stripped the Giants of their bravado. Their swagger. Their confidence. You could hear it in their voices and their words after the game.

The Giants were not only beaten and humbled Sunday night. They were absolutely shocked. They were a confident bunch entering the game and never saw a beat-down like this coming. Now? They are a crushed, chastened team with a brutal five-game stretch coming up that begins Sunday night on the road against the 5-1 Dallas Cowboys, a team that just vanquished the defending champion Seattle Seahawks in their own house.

The Giants are now two games behind a pair of NFC East teams that right now look better than they are. How do they recover? Can they recover? Is their season, which looked so promising just last week, now already washed down the drain?

I don't know. I do know that if the Giants are going to recover it starts with keeping their mouths shut and getting back to work.