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These Jalen Hurts Eagles are nobody’s Rocky. More like Clubber Lang sprinting up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. <\/p>\n
The Giants will show up anyway. <\/p>\n
They know they will have to play the way December contenders play, not necessarily the perfect game, but damn close. <\/p>\n
There are inalienable football truths that so often define the difference between winning and losing. \u2026 The one that looms largest over the others in Eagles-Giants on Sunday is espoused by Saquon Barkley: <\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s the same thing as every game: Dominate the line of scrimmage. You dominate the line of scrimmage, you win football games.\u201d <\/p>\n
Serby’s Big Blueprint for shocking the world: <\/p>\n
Bully the bullies: The Eagles have a massive, elite offensive line. <\/p>\n
\u201cProbably one of the best in the NFL. That might be an understatement,\u201d Kayvon Thibodeaux said. <\/p>\n
Veteran center Jason Kelce is the anchor. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s fast. When you think about a center that can move, that’s scrappy, you think about Kelce,\u201d Justin \u201cJelly\u201d Ellis said. <\/p>\n
The matchup there is Kelce’s brain against Dexter Lawrence’s brawn. <\/p>\nBrian Daboll<\/figcaption>Robert Sabo for the NY POST<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cI saw some statistics about their center being like no pressures, no sacks, no nothing,\u201d Thibodeaux said. \u201cI talked to Dex like, ‘Hey, that’s the guy you’re going against.’ He just kind of laughed at me, and we went on to the meeting.\u201d <\/p>\n
Thibodeaux laughed when it was suggested that he was attempting to rile up Lawrence. <\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely trying to put some red in front of that bull,\u201d Thibodeaux said. <\/p>\n
The Giants offensive line must stand up to and hold up against the army of defensive linemen that the Eagles (42 sacks) will throw at Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley \u2014 and keep your fingers crossed that his questionable neck is not problematic. <\/p>\n\n\t<\/aside>\nPlay to win: <\/strong>The quote from Herm Edwards was not, \u201cYou play to tie the game.\u201d Don’t be afraid to go for it this time on a critical fourth-and-3. Third-and-1 deep in enemy territory before the half? Take an end-zone shot. Nothing wrong with a fake punt or fake field goal either, at the right time. Send a message to the Eagles that forfeiting the game was never a consideration. <\/p>\nStart fast: <\/strong>Play from ahead. Get your fans into the game early. The Eagles can be vulnerable early: The Jaguars jumped on them in a 14-0 first quarter before losing 29-21, and the Colts took a 13-3 lead into the fourth quarter before folding in a 17-16 defeat. <\/p>\n\u201cYou can’t let up, because I feel like they’ve been down this year and they came back, so I feel like once you get on ’em you gotta stay on ’em,\u201d Ellis said. <\/p>\n
Win on first down: <\/strong>\u201cYou want to keep your offense on schedule, so that way the offensive coordinator has his whole Rolodex of play calls and stuff like that,\u201d Evan Neal said. Third-and-manageable is preferable to third-and-unmanageable. <\/p>\n