By AJ Olona

Thursday, Oct. 22 at 8:20 p.m. ET

NFL Network

SPREAD: Eagles, -4.5

Despite both the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles each sitting on losing records, they both still have a chance to jump to the top of the NFC East. Currently, the NFC East is far and away the worst division in all of Football. Between the Cowboys, the Eagles, the Giants, and the Washington Football Team, the division as a whole only has 5 wins compared to 18 losses and a tie. The Cowboys sit in the driver’s seat with a 2-4 record heading into Week 7, so even though the Eagles and Giants only have one win apiece on the year, this game is huge. A win here for either team could put them right back at the top of the NFC East.

New York Giants

The New York Giants have been on a free-fall offensively ever since they lost their star running back Saquon Barkley for the season due to an ACL injury. In his place, the Giants have turned to veteran Devonta Freeman who has been a mixed bag. The Giants only win of the year came just a week ago to NFC East rival, the Washington Football Team. Given the fact that the Giants barely beat a 1-4 team that is shuffling its quarterback situation, it does not spell confidence for the team moving forward.

Giants Offense

Heading into his second year in the NFL, quarterback Daniel Jones has shown no signs of improvement from his rookie year. In fact, it is fair to say that the former Duke player has regressed in his sophomore season. Entering the year as the definitive starter, Jones has led the Giants to the worst offensive team in the NFL. The Giants currently rank dead last in terms of offensive yards per game with just 275.3. They are also in the bottom three in the league in terms of passing yards per game as well as rushing yards per game. To put it simply, the Giants have one of the worst offenses in the entire NFL. Daniel Jones only has 3 passing touchdowns on the year, also last in the NFL, compared to 6 interceptions. The Giants leading rusher on the season is Daniel Jones himself, as he has 204 yards on the ground. The only player to step up and make plays for this New York team has been second-year receiver Darius Slayton, who currently has 406 receiving yards, good for 16th in the entire league. This Giants team lacks both a passing attack, as well as a rushing attack and it is why they currently only have one win on the year. The Giants offense could get a spark if wide receiver Sterling Shephard is finally able to return from injured reserve for this game, but that is still a question mark.

Giants Defense

Surprisingly, the Giants have had a decent defense in the league. While they aren’t a top 5 team on that side of the ball, they are much improved from a season ago. They are currently allowing 342 total yards a game, allowing just 106.5 rushing yards a game, and 235.5 passing yards a game. Again, the Giants are much improved on defense from a year ago. The Giants secondary has seen a massive improvement since adding both James Bradberry and Logan Ryan in the offseason. Given the fact that the Eagles have struggled in the passing game this year, it is safe to bet on the Giants being successful in shutting things down for Carson Wentz and the Eagles passing game.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles have been also been a dreadful win in 2020.  Coming into the season, there was a lot of hope for the Eagles to be successful, yet they have completely faltered. The Eagles have opened the season going 1-4-1, with their only win on the season coming against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4 when the team was playing without their starting quarterback and running back. The Eagles are coming off of a very close game in which they were almost able to tie the game up late against the Ravens. Despite the loss, Carson Wentz was finally able to play a solid game for the Eagles for the first time all season. The Eagles are entering this game banged up on the offensive side of things. Both Miles Sanders and Zach Ertz will miss this game, as they are both rehabbing injuries. The Eagles have already ruled out six players heading into Thursday night, including Alshon Jeffery, Malik Jackson, and K’Von Wallace, as well as the aforementioned Sanders and Ertz. The already struggling Eagles will need their young, inexperienced players to step up.

Eagles Offense

Through six weeks, the Eagles have one of the worst offenses in the entire league. Heading into their matchup with the New York Giants, they are averaging only 329.3 yards per game on the offensive side of things. The Eagles have been able to find some success on the ground with second-year back Miles Sanders, but he will not be available for this game. Boston Scott will step in and try to be the lead back for the Eagles, but they are most likely going to see a huge step down in production from their running backs without Sanders. Carson Wentz has also been less than stellar in 2020. He is only averaging 207 passing yards a game and is second in the league with 9 interceptions. Week 6’s matchup against the Ravens was the first time that Wentz did not throw an interception in a game all season. Despite no turnovers through the air, Wentz still managed to lose a fumble in the game. Carson Wentz has dealt with a flurry of injuries all season long. His top two tight ends, Ertz and Dallas Goedert, are both out for significant periods, and his top two receiving options heading into the season, Alshon Jefferey and first-round pick Jalen Reagor, have hardly been on the field for the Eagles. Carson Wentz is being asked to do a lot for this Eagles team and he is simply not stepping up to the plate. If Wentz experiences another bad game against the Giants, it may be time to look to Jalen Hurts to take over the offense.

Eagles Defense

While the Eagles pass defense has taken a huge step forward from 2019, the team still is not successful enough to make up for the offense. With the addition of Darius Slay in the offseason, the Eagles defense has not been a huge liability when trying to slow down opposing teams quarterbacks. The Eagles are allowing nearly 30 points a game to opposing offenses, but a lot of that can be attributed to the high powered offenses that they have faced so far this season. The Eagles will be well equipped defensively to take care of the Giants offense on Thursday night.

The Prediction

These two teams are a lot more similar than many people may realize. They both bolster middle of the pack defenses that are avoiding being liabilities for their teams. They don’t play great defense, but they are not horrible either. However, when it comes to the Eagles and the Giants’ offenses, both teams are horrible in those regards. We expected that from the Giants the second that they lost Saquon Barkley. It has been more surprising to see the Eagles struggle as much as they have. This game is going to be a very low scoring one, and a game that could end up being very hard to watch. Expect a lot of turnovers in this game, and whichever defense can win that battle will come out on top.

SHAWN’S PREDICTION: Giants 24 - 20

AJ’S PREDICTION: Eagles 13 - 10

JAKE’S PREDICTION: Eagles 28 - 14

CADE’S PREDICTION: Eagles 35 - 14

Follow AJ on Twitter @age_lona