Knee-Jerk Reactions: Call It What You Want, Eagles Beat Giants By 20

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Was that the ugliest 20-point win, division overtaking football win of all-time?

It might have been. It might have been.

The Eagles beat the Giants 27-7 on Monday to improve to 3-3. Let's hit it.

Was it ugly? Sure. Do I care? Nope.
The Eagles are 3-3 and in first place in the NFC East.
One more time!
I said, the Eagles are 3-3 and in first place in the NFC East.
Hallelujah!
Since when do we need to classify 20-point NFL victories? The Eagles have back-to-back 20-point wins over two formidable NFL offenses. Do you realize how difficult it is to beat two teams in the NFL by 20+ points in back-to-back weeks?
Narrative before the games: "The Saints are tough, Drew Brees is scary." Or, "Eli Manning is playing his best football, the Giants could be 5-0."
Narrative after the games: "The Saints stink (they go on to beat the Falcons on Thursday night)." Or, "The Giants stinks! Their offense is terrible."
As Chad Johnson would say, child please.
The defense is playing dominant football, so I'll start there.

The first drive of the game, the Giants put together the smoothest, most fluid offensive drive of football I've seen this year---high school, college, or pro---resulting in an Odell Beckham Jr. touchdown catch and the Linc was hush-hush.
On that first drive, the Giants did not face one third-down situation. Not one.
On the ensuing driving the Eagles got three yards on three plays, punted, and the Giants came right back down the field.
But on the ninth play of what seemed to be like the Giants' backbreaking second straight scoring drive to start the game, DeMeco Ryans made a season-saving type of play, yanking the ball out of the hands of Larry Donnell.
After drive one, the Eagles allowed just 172 yards on the final 12 drives (eight punts, two interceptions, a fumble and a turnover on downs).
The defense forced three more turnovers and now have 16 on the season, 2nd in the NFL behind only the Broncos (17).
Ryans was a beast in the first half, but left the game with a hamstring injury.
Jordan Hicks picked up the slack, of course. With Najee Goode along side of him at ILB in the second half, the Eagles' defense did not miss a beat.
Hicks finished with a game-high 10 tackles. The kid is playing more like a Pro Bowler than a rookie.
Nolan Carroll had an excellent game in coverage and his pick-six on Eli gave the Eagles the lead for good.
Malcolm Jenkins was Malcolm Jenkins. He continues to be the team's most dependable defender. Jenkins had four tackles, a forced fumble, and was flawless in coverage.
And that pass rush.
All the talk before the game was how quick Eli is with the ball, how he doesn't take sacks, and how he doesn't throw interceptions.
Well, besides the two picks, Manning was sacked three times. Fletcher Cox had 1, Brandon Graham had 0.5, and Vinny Curry had 1.5.
Graham came to life against the Giants, continuously getting pressure, finishing with 0.5 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, and 2 QB hits.
Connor Barwin, although he went sack-less, was also excellent getting to the QB.
Bennie Logan continues to be a beast against the run and he deserves a mention in every game recap story, until further notice. Plus, he's arguably the coolest Eagle, and most not sure it's arguable.
Byron Maxwell was OK, not great. A couple of frustrating penalties, but overall, the Eagles slowed down Beckham (7/61/1) who had no second-half catches.

To the offense!...?
Let's start by saying after a 519 total net yard performance against the Saints, the Eagles racked up another 425 yards of offense. That's 944 yards of offense in two games, for those counting at home.
The scheme, at the very least, is encouraging.
But the talk of this game will be Sam Bradford, who struggled again.
Bradford threw three more interceptions, including one in the end zone. That's nine in six games and three in the end zone over the last two weeks. Yikes.
Riley Cooper, other than completely stopping during a deep route resulting in a bad INT, had a nice game (3/76/1). He also made a really nice tackle on a punt.
Jordan Matthews still has the drops. No clue what's going on with J-Matt, who also fumbled.
Just three touches and five yards for Darren Sproles.
And what the heck is going on with Jason Kelce?
Kelce continues to struggle. Bad snaps, holding penalties, and missed blocks. Very unlike Kelce.
DeMaco Murray really got going with 22 carries for 109 yards and a score, plus three catches for 14 more yards.
The Eagles' third-quarter TD drive, ending a 12-yard Murray stiff-arm highlighted run, made it 24-7 Eagles and put a stamp on the game. It was Murray's drive and it felt good to see him take control.
Ryan Mathews had success too, rushing for 40 yards on just nine carries, battling a groin injury.

Caleb Sturgis! Credit where credit is due. 2/2 FG's, 3/3 EXP.