The Philadelphia Eagles had a dominant second half against the New York Giants, scoring 31 unanswered points in cruising to a 34-10 victory -- and grabbing hold of the No. 7 seed in the NFC playoffs thanks to the Minnesota Vikings falling to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Philadelphia and New York were tied 3-3 at halftime as the Eagles struggled to move the ball in the first half, but the Eagles capitalized off plenty of Giants miscues in the second half to make it a rout. The Eagles scored on four consecutive possessions to open the second half, highlighted by a 3-yard touchdown run by Boston Scott to give Philadelphia the lead for good at 10-3 and a 4-yard catch for DeVonta Smith that put Philadelphia up 20-3 and in full command of the game.
Lane Johnson -- yes, the offensive lineman -- caught a touchdown pass in the second half. That was the first touchdown reception by an Eagles offensive lineman since Todd Herremans' in 2010. On the Giants' next play from scrimmage after the Johnson touchdown, Alex Singleton intercepted Mike Glennon's pass and took it 29 yards the other way for the touchdown to make it 34-3.
Glennon replaced Jake Fromm, who started for the Giants, in the third quarter. Fromm was abysmal in his first career start, finishing 6 of 17 for 25 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the loss. The Giants finished with under 200 yards of offense.
Jalen Hurts rebounded from a slow start to finish 17 of 29 for 199 yards with two touchdowns. Smith had five catches for 80 yards and a score while Miles Sanders recorded seven carries for 45 yards in the first half before leaving with a hand injury.
Philadelphia has the final playoff spot in the NFC with two games to play while New York has been eliminated from the postseason.
Why the Eagles won
The Eagles didn't have a great first half, but deserve a ton of credit for making halftime adjustments against a bad Giants team. Hurts, who looks bothered by his ankle injury, went 10 of 12 for 105 yards and two touchdowns in the second half (142.7 rating) while having just 7 yards rushing on the afternoon. Hurts hit Quez Watkins on a 40-yard pass to set up a score and threw a nice pass to Smith on a rollout that resulted in a touchdown that put the Eagles up three scores. The Eagles had only 130 yards rushing, yet were able to move the ball efficiently in the second half.
Why the Giants lost
The Giants' offense was abysmal against the Eagles, starting with Fromm in his three quarters of action before being benched for Glennon. Take away 87 yards of garbage time, and the Giants had just 87 yards on 10 possessions -- averaging just 1.8 yards per play. Glennon wasn't any better than Fromm, throwing an interception returned for a score in the fourth quarter before the Eagles put in their second-stringers. The Giants averaged just 2.6 yards per play on the day and went 8-for-20 on third down.
Turning point
The Eagles and Giants were tied 3-3 at half, but New York had the ball to start the third quarter, On the second play of the quarter, Fromm threw an interception to Rodney McLeod on a deep pass over the middle intended for Kenny Golladay. Fromm had an abysmal performance but had failed to turn the ball over to that point.
The Eagles scored their first touchdown of the game on a Scott run five plays later en route to 31 unanswered points in the second half. The volcano erupted once Fromm turned the football over and the Giants lost all momentum after the turnover.
Play of the game
This was a tough decision between Smith's toe-drag touchdown catch and Johnson's touchdown catch, but Lane deserves the accolades for this one. Johnson, who stepped away from the team earlier this year to take care of his mental health and depression, earned this one with his 5-yard catch from Hurts to put the Eagles up 27-3 early in the fourth quarter.
Johnson became the second offensive lineman in franchise history to catch a touchdown pass. His 5-yard catch was the longest for an Eagles offensive lineman since Bubba Miller in 2000.
The quote
"That's not a play that can be in each week, but we've had it in our plan before. We've had reps of it, but it hasn't been in the game plan in a couple of weeks. Great job by the coaches and players on the execution." -- Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni on the Johnson touchdown catch.
Sirianni has been creative the last two weeks, first using Darius Slay on offense and lining up Smith in a three-point stance in last week's win. Now he called a play that resulted in a touchdown pass to a wide open Johnson.
Up next
The Eagles (8-7) travel to Washington to face the Football Team next Sunday while the Giants (4-11) square off against the Bears. Philadelphia can actually clinch a playoff berth next week with a win, a Vikings loss, a Saints loss in one of their next two games, and a 49ers win in Week 17.