NFC Notes: Eagles, Giants, Washington

Eagles HC Nick Sirianni defended his decision to have a pass-heavy game plan on Monday night. Philadelphia had only three rushing attempts by running backs, the lowest number ever in NFL history. 

“We wanted to make sure we were able to keep up with them,” Sirianni said, via EJ Smith of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We knew they were an explosive offense. We wanted to be able to push the ball down the field and hit some of the underneath zones that we saw while also obviously mixing the run game in there and the screen game. You fall behind a little bit, you have to get off that game plan a little bit. We knew we had to score with this team because we knew they were able to score and score quickly.”

Sirianni added the flow of the game was a big reason for abandoning the running game, even though the handful of times RB Miles Sanders touched the ball, he was gashing the Cowboys. 

“The first half, just with how that went, not getting a lot of plays, those [rushing] numbers get skewed sometimes,” Sirianni said. “I know they are what they are, but when you don’t have that many plays in the first half, whether you have penalties that stop drives, the defense was on the field quite a bit and then you’re in a position in the second half where we’re down two scores the whole time and that’s where that kind of comes into play. I know we were trying to get him the ball on some screens and stuff like that, but obviously he’s a good playmaker and we wanted him to touch the ball more. Just the way the game went, we weren’t able to do that.”

• NJ.com’s Mike Kaye expects Eagles OL Nate Herbig to step into one of the starting spots at guard, the only question is if Philadelphia puts him on the right or left side. 
• With OL Jack Driscoll coming off injured reserve, the Eagles could bench second-round OL Landon Dickerson who looks like he might not quite yet be ready to start. 
• If the Eagles look outside the building to boost their offensive line depth, Kaye lists free-agent OL Forrest Lamp, Texans practice squad G Lane Taylor, Raiders PS C Jimmy Morrissey, and 49ers PS G Senio Kelemete as some potential options. 

Giants

Giants TE Evan Engram had a rocky 2021 debut in Week 3. Engram lost a fumble and fans both booed when he subbed into the game and cheered when he subbed out. The Giants have held on to Engram despite trade interest and exercised his fifth-year option this offseason. It’s becoming harder to see a future for him in New York, though.