The Philadelphia Eagles clinched a playoff bye on Sunday with a 34-29 victory. However, it didn't come easily against the two-win New York Giants.
Doug Pederson's team allowed a previously woeful Big Blue offense to rack up 504 yards, committed seven penalties and converted just 6 of 13 third downs on offense. The Eagles coach knows it's not the type of performance that will get the job done in January.
"We're slowly checking boxes, you know, NFC East a week ago and then a bye and a home game now, check the box but there's still everything in front of us and I just challenged them that you can't play like this and win in the postseason obviously," Pederson said, via the team's official website. "Can't play like this and expect to win every week. You have to come prepared and when I say prepared I mean from a mental standpoint, that emotion, that sort of sense of urgency and that dominating swagger that you want to see your team come out of the dressing room with and that was kind of the message today. Happy for the guys again. They found a way to win, we hung in there and we're 12-2."
The question for the Eagles entering Sunday was how Nick Foles would step in for Carson Wentz. The answer was a positive, as the quarterback tossed four touchdowns. Foles made his share of backup-quarterback plays, but the Eagles can win with that sort of performance.
Seeing Jim Schwartz's defense taken to the woodshed by Eli Manning was the shocker. The 504 yards were the most by a Giants team since Week 5, 2015, and the 29 points are the most for Big Blue this season. The Eagles defense has struggled over the last three games.
First 11 games of 2017: 17.1 PPG allowed, 291.6 total YPG allowed, 227.5 pass YPG, 28.6 3rd down percent allowed
Last three games: 29.3 PPG allowed, 373.7 total YPG allowed, 278.7 pass YPG, 48.6 3rd down percent allowed
With a first-round bye clinched, the Eagles must now figure out how to plug the gaps as Pederson's crew attempts to earn home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
