Grading the Giants' Week 9 win over the Philadelphia Eagles

OFFENSE

The best possession of the game was a 76-yard touchdown drive engineered by backup quarterback Jameis Winston, who went 6-for-7 for 70 yards and ran for another 11 on it. The team’s net yards the entire rest of the game accounted for just 167. J.J. McCarthy was sacked five times, far too often, and Devin Singletary had just one run of over 7 yards. The inability to get a first down after receiving the ball up by eight points with 1:56 left would have cost them against a better opponent. Even when they got the ball at the Eagles’ 35 in the fourth quarter, all they could get from it was a field goal (Malik Nabers did drop a would-be touchdown in the end zone).

Grade: C

DEFENSE

The offense had one good drive and the defense had one bad one. It came in the first quarter and allowed the Eagles to take an 8-6 lead after Deonte Banks was flagged for pass interference. Arvel Reese had 3.0 sacks and 12 total tackles (10 soloss) in a dominant performance. The rest of the defense added four other sacks. Considering how banged up Saquon Barkley is and that Joe Milton was making his first NFL start, they probably should have done more, but they did manage to do enough.

Grade: B

SPECIAL TEAMS

John Harbaugh first chided himself for not giving a game ball to kicker Dominic Zvada, but then rescinded that because the rookie “did what he is supposed to do.” In this case, it was go 4-for-4 on field goals with a long of 53 after some recent struggles. Punter Jordan Stout had a terrific game too, capped by pinning the Eagles at the 5 for their final possession. The rest of the crew was a mess, though, which included Charlie Jones muffing a punt, having 12 men on the field for an extra point, and allowing Eagles punter Braden Mann to connect on an 86-yard punt that was the longest in the NFL since 2001.

Grade: C

COACHING

Harbaugh did something that none of the past four Giants coaches could do by winning in Philadelphia for the first time since 2013 when Tom Coughlin was in charge. Being able to adapt to different quarterbacks coming on and off the field should be routine for this coaching staff by now, but their ability to handle those changes on Sunday was impressive. Defensively the Giants abandoned their typical blitzing in favor of keeping everything in front of them, a strategy that ultimately paid off.

Grade: B

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.