Giants' Cam Skattebo suffers dislocated ankle in loss to Eagles
Giants running back Cam Skattebo leaves the field after an injury during the first half of an NFL game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Chris Szagola
PHILADELPHIA — Jaxson Dart couldn’t stand still. He rocked side to side, his eyes mostly looking down while he searched for answers after yet another defeat.
The Giants’ 38-20 loss to the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday wasn’t as shocking as the previous week’s collapse in Denver, but it seemed to be their most painful loss of the season.
At no time was that more evident than in the second quarter. Cam Skattebo, the Giants’ dynamic rookie running back, came down awkwardly while attempting to catch a pass. While on the ground, he pointed at his injured right ankle.
Dart could barely look at the gruesome sight as he walked away. Several teammates knelt. A cart quickly came out and Skattebo had an air cast placed on what the Giants called a dislocated ankle.
“I was devastated,” Dart said of his close friend. “It’s my boy, man. So seeing him go down and obviously reacting to what happened, that sucks. It’s the worst part of this game.”
The Giants said Skattebo, who led all rookies in scrimmage yards and touchdowns entering Sunday, was scheduled for surgery at a local hospital.
“Feel absolutely terrible for the young man,” coach Brian Daboll said. “Obviously, you saw it, looked bad. I know you feel for anybody on your team that goes down and has a really bad injury. I know the players feel the same way about Skatt.”
“It’s really hard to see,” wide receiver Darius Slayton said. “A young guy that was having a heck of a year. Somebody who’s a unifying personality. An energetic personality and certainly sad to see him go down.”
Added receiver Wan’Dale Robinson: “I saw it and immediately took a knee and just said a little prayer for him. But hope he’s doing well, at least with what he can.”
Skattebo brought hope with an 18-yard touchdown catch that helped tie it at 7 in the first quarter. The Eagles were up 14-7 when he got hurt, and from that moment on, the Giants looked out of it. The offense had only 246 yards, its second-lowest total of the season, and the defense was gashed often for big runs.
It led to a 10th straight road loss dating to last season. Even worse, they allowed Saquon Barkley to finally break loose.
Barkley scored on the second play of the game, a 65-yard run through the left side. It was his longest play of the season; he hadn’t had a run longer than 18 yards before Sunday.
His 9-yard TD catch helped make it 14-7 for the Eagles (6-2). After failing to reach 100 rushing yards in the Eagles’ first seven games, Barkley had that many by the two-minute warning of the first half and finished with 174 all-purpose yards (150 rushing) before sitting out the fourth quarter with a groin injury.
It was part of a day in which the Giants (2-6) gave up a season-high 276 rushing yards, including 104 to backup Tank Bigsby.
“It’s never just one thing when you give up close to 300 yards,” Daboll said. “It could be a call, it could be a run fit, it could be a missed tackle. A number of things. But that was obviously way too many yards against a team that wants to run the ball.”
When it wasn’t the running game, it was Jalen Hurts carving up a secondary without starting cornerback Paulson Adebo and safety Jevon Holland. Hurts threw four touchdown passes, two to Dallas Goedert, and finished 15-for-20 for 179 yards.
The first touchdown to Goedert came after Graham Gano converted a 40-yard field goal in his first game back from injured reserve. Hurts led a seven-play, 58-yard drive that made it 21-10 just before halftime.
The Giants, meanwhile, were losing the war of attrition. Cornerback Cor’Dale Flott didn’t play in the second half because of a concussion. Tight end Daniel Bellinger suffered a neck injury and didn’t return.
Cornerback Art Green, a key special teams player, also didn’t return after an early hamstring injury. It forced the Giants to play rookie Korie Black in the secondary alongside Deonte Banks, who started for Adebo.
The Giants also didn’t benefit from a call in the second quarter. The Eagles ran their famous “tush push” play on fourth-and-1 from the Giants’ 11. Hurts converted the play but was stripped by Kayvon Thibodeaux, but it was ruled that Hurts’ forward progress had been stopped, and the Giants couldn’t review the play. They tried to challenge the spot of the ball and the call stood.
Daboll declined to discuss specifics. Thibodeaux was displeased and used several profanities while understanding that the officials have a hard time officiating the play.
“Sounds like some [expletive] to me. But that’s the hard part about the tush push. Sorry, I mean, that was a great call by the ref,” Thibodeaux said. “You can’t blame missed calls on anything. I think we didn’t stop the run. They made the 50/50 balls and they got the best of us.”
The defense sacked Hurts four times. Brian Burns had one, giving him 10. He is tied for the NFL lead with Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.
Dart finished 14-for-24 for 193 yards and was sacked five times. He scored on a 2-yard run on the Giants’ final drive with the game well in hand.
This was the first time since he took over as a starter that the Giants were dominated and outplayed.
“I hate it. I’m not used to it,” Dart said. “I’m not just going to accept it. I’m not going to be OK with it, and we as a team can’t be OK with it. We got to figure this out.”
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
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