Eagles analysis

Eagles grades by position after Week 18 win over Giants

The Eagles beat the Giants in Week 18. Here are position grades before looking ahead to the playoffs.

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The Eagles’ backups beat the Giants 20-13 on Sunday afternoon at the Linc.

Before all the attention turns to the Packers and the first round of the playoffs next weekend, let’s take a quick look back at the Eagles’ Week 18 win that gave them 14 wins on the season.

This is the second time in four seasons under Sirianni that the Eagles finished with 14 wins in the regular season.

Quarterback

Tanner McKee: 27/41, 269 yards, 2 TDs, 100.6 rating

Even without the starting offensive line and without A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, Tanner McKee still looked the part. He got his first NFL start and certainly didn’t look out of place. There was no panic from McKee even when he was under pressure. He did a good job delivering some perfect passes and even made some wise decisions to check the ball down. Kenny Pickett (ribs) is dealing with an injury and even though the Eagles probably won’t do it, I’d seriously consider making him the backup entering the playoffs.

Grade: A-

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Running back

Will Shipley: 10 carries, 32 yards; 4 catches for 35 yards

Saquon Barkley was inactive for this game and finished the regular season with 2,005 rushing yards. His backups Kenny Gainwell and Will Shipley were the only running backs active for this game. Gainwell started and got just 14 yards on 11 carries and 9 yards on 2 catches. But Shipley showed something when he got in, putting up 67 yards from scrimmage. Shipley also showed some wiggle on his 13-yard catch in the second quarter.

Grade: B-

Receiver

Jahan Dotson: 7 catches on 11 targets, 94 yards

Entering the weekend, Jahan Dotson had been targeted just 22 times and had just 12 catches for 122 yards all season. But without Brown and Smith, the Eagles had Dotson as their top target and he came through with his best game of the season by far. He nearly doubled his yardage on the season in Week 18. It seems like the No. 3 receiver is never going to be a huge part of the offense but it at least looks like the Eagles can trust Dotson in the playoffs if the ball does find him. Rookie Ainias Smith had 4 catches for 35 yards and his first-career touchdowns and rookie Johnny Wilson had 3 for 24 yards.

Grade: A-

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 4 catches on 6 targets, 55 yards

After missing the last four weeks with a knee injury, the Eagles wanted Dallas Goedert to knock off some rust and he did. Goedert started the game with a 16-yard catch and played the first couple series before getting pulled from the game. It’ll be a big boost to have a healthy Goedert in the playoffs. Grant Calcaterra had 2 catches for 10 yards and EJ Jenkins caught a 7-yard touchdown; it was the first reception of Jenkins’ career.

Grade: A

Offensive line

The entire starting offensive line rested in this game and the Eagles got decent play from their backups (L to R): Fred Johnson, Tyler Steen, Nick Gates, Jack Driscoll, Darian Kinnard. Eventually, Steen was replaced by Trevor Keegan, who got the first snaps of his NFL career. McKee was sacked a couple times and the Eagles didn’t do a ton of damage on the ground but we’re grading on a curve for an all-backup unit.

Grade: B

Defensive line

Jordan Davis: 5 tackles, 1 TFL

While Jalen Carter, Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith didn’t play in this game, the Eagles obviously couldn’t rest everyone. So Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, Jalyx Hunt, Bryce Huff, Moro Ojomo, Charles Harris and Thomas Booker played in the rotation. Give credit to Davis, who made some big effort plays in this one. The Eagles didn’t get a sack on Drew Lock but they held the Giants to just 4.0 rushing yards per carry.

Grade: B+

Linebacker

Oren Burks: 17 tackles, 2 TFLs

No Zack Baun or Nakobe Dean in this game but the backups played well. Oren Burks filled up the stat sheet with 17 tackles and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. ended up with 11. The good news is that Dean (abdomen) is going to be ready to play in the playoffs but it was a good showing from the backup linebackers.

Grade: A

Secondary

Kelee Ringo: 4 tackles, 1 PBU

The Eagles rested their entire starting secondary; that meant no Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship. Even without those guys, Lock threw for just 138 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Malik Nabers had a big 45-yard touchdown catch but that was pretty much it through the air. Sydney Brown had some rough moments as a tackler but made up for it with an interception to seal the win late.

Grade: B+

Special teams

Jake Elliott: 1/2 on FGs, miss from 39

Even though it was windy at the Linc on Sunday, you still don’t want to see Jake Elliott miss a 39-yarder in the final regular season game of a shaky season. Braden Mann also had a bad kickoff that rolled out of bounds to give the Giants the ball on the 40. The Eagles also gave up a first down on a fake punt from the Giants. The good: Kelee Ringo had a big tackle as a gunner on punt coverage. And Isaiah Rodgers had a 51-yard kick return to start the second half.

Grade: C+

Coaching

Record: 14-3

It had to be tempting for the Eagles to give Saquon Barkley a chance to break the NFL single-season rushing record. Ultimately, Nick Sirianni made the right decision. He got his key starters some much-needed rest after 12 straight weeks with games. And then to have your backups ready to play and win in Week 18 is an impressive feat for the coaching staff.

Grade: A+

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