PHILADELPHIA − Many of the Eagles players weren’t planning to watch the Wild Card Round of playoff games over the weekend.
After all, the players haven’t had a free weekend since early November, and as right tackle Lane Johnson put it, why spend it watching even more football?
“I play so much football and I watch so much film all the time, it’s like me …. being a cop and going home and watching people getting arrested on ‘COPS.’
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Besides, there will be plenty of video review this week now that the Eagles know that they’ll be playing a familiar foe in the No. 6 seed New York Giants, who beat the No. 3 seed Minnesota Vikings 31-24 on Sunday.
The game will be played Saturday at a time to be determined.
The Eagles have played the Giants twice, all within the last five weeks. They beat New York 48-22 on Dec. 11 and 22-16 on Jan. 8.
The Eagles have never beaten a team three times in a season. They also haven’t had a chance to do so.
The coaches, of course, have already spent a good part of the bye week watching video of the four possible opponents to give them a head start. Now they will hone in even more.
“We have a lot of thoughts on those two division opponents,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said about the Giants and Cowboys.
Johnson expects to play after missing the last 2 games with a torn adductor muscle in his groin area. Johnson has put off surgery, which would require 8 weeks of recovery time.
“It’s real important to me,” Johnson said. “There are times when you’re on a team that you know has the chance to win at all. I could see that throughout the season. The timing of the injury wasn’t great … I feel like we have a chance to be something special.”
3 things to know about Giants
1.Eagles owned Giants: The first game, on Dec. 11, the Eagles grabbed a 21-0 lead in the second quarter and cruised to an easy 48-22 win. Miles Sanders had a career-high 144 yards rushing while Jalen Hurts threw for 217 yards and 2 TDs, while running for 77 yards and another TD. The Eagles held Saquon Barkley to 28 yards rushing and sacked quarterback Daniel Jones 4 times. In all, Eagles had 7 sacks against Giants QBs.
2. Giants scared Eagles: In the rematch last Sunday, the Giants rested their starters while the Eagles played an injured Hurts in order to lock up the top seed. It didn’t go as smoothly as the Eagles would have hoped. The Eagles were cautious with Hurts, settling for five field goals.
3. Giants have momentum: After the first meeting against the Eagles, the Giants beat Washington, lost to Minnesota on a 61-yard field goal, then buried the Colts to clinch the playoff spot. The Giants won their first playoff game since 2011.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
