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Storylines to follow on Thursday Night Football

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The Giants have quickly flipped the page from Sunday's loss to Thursday's matchup against the Eagles.

After picking up their first win of the season in Week 4, the Giants were unable to make it two in a row in New Orleans this past weekend as they fell to the Saints, 26-14.

The Eagles went into Week 5 as one of the NFL's few remaining undefeated teams. However, they were unable to take care of business at home against the Broncos as they picked up their first loss of the season, 21-17.

Thursday's matchup will be the Giants' third divisional game of the season but their first against the Eagles. The Giants lost their first two NFC East matchups, while the Eagles won their only divisional game back in Week 1 against the Cowboys.

Here are storylines to follow heading into the primetime matchup.

Quick turnaround

The Giants quickly put their Week 5 loss in the rearview mirror after they turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions against the Saints. The team now prepares for a difficult matchup against the 4-1 Eagles, the first of two meetings between the division rivals in the next 17 days. Thursday's game will be a tough challenge for quarterback Jaxson Dart and the rest of the offense against a solid Eagles defense. It will be interesting to see how the rookie quarterback and the rest of the unit bounces back on a short week.

"Obviously it's a tough game, but it's a short turnaround now," assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike Kafka told reporters Monday. "So, we've got a division rival coming up. We've got a game in a couple of days here. We've got to hit the reset button, get back refocused, and get our bodies back and healthy and refocused in on the task at hand."

Kafka added: "I'm excited for the response, not from just Jaxson, but from the entire offense. I think that's going to be the exciting part again on a short week. So, I'm looking forward to seeing how these guys respond. They come in tomorrow with the right firm mind. I know they will. We got the right guys in there and I'm excited to see them respond."

Dart continuing to grow

Speaking of Dart, the 22-year-old quarterback has had some ups and downs over his first two starts. The rookie has completed 65.0 percent of his passes for 313 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions while adding 19 rush attempts for 109 yards (5.7 avg.) and an additional touchdown. While the signal-caller is facing the first adversity of his young career coming off a three-turnover game, his head coach said the quarterback's demeanor hasn't changed.

"I'm not saying he was the same, but even after the first game he played and we won, he goes back to the things that he could have done better," coach Brian Daboll said on Monday. "I've got a tremendous amount of respect for the young man and how he's handled really everything on the field, off the field. It's no surprise that's the type of guy that he is. He's a pleasure to work with. I don't want to sell him short, and I know what he'll say, but I thought he did a lot of good things that gave us chances. We've got to take advantage of those chances."

After a dominant start to the season, the Eagles' pass defense has taken a small step back over the last two weeks. In their first three games, Philadelphia held Dak Prescott, Patrick Mahomes and Matthew Stafford all under 200 passing yards. But over their last two outings, the Eagles allowed Baker Mayfield to throw for 289 yards and two touchdowns and Bo Nix to throw for 242 yards and one touchdown.

Slowing down Philly's run game

The Eagles have been one of the league's best offensive units over the last few years, led by the team's dominant run game. Through the first two games of the season, Philadelphia averaged 140 yards on the ground per game and appeared to pick up right where they left off last year. However, those numbers have dropped significantly in the last three games with an average of 73.0 rushing yards during that span.

Following his historic campaign last year, running back Saquon Barkley has taken 83 carries for 267 yards, good for an average of just 3.2 yards per carry, with three touchdowns while adding 17 receptions for 128 yards and an additional score. In last week's loss to the Broncos, the talented back only had six rush attempts for 30 yards, although he did add 58 yards and a score through the air. Regardless of how the first month of the season has gone, slowing down Barkley has to be the Giants defense's top priority on Thursday.

"We got to make sure we do a good job, obviously, with the run game, continue what we did yesterday for the most part," defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said at the start of the week. "I think it starts there. Obviously, with Saquon, he's going to be juiced up, ready to go Thursday night here. So, it starts there…

"First and foremost, we got to be good on hopefully these first and second downs and create some more third and longs. That's where yesterday I felt like we kind of let them off the hook a little bit. We lived in third and three, I think seven snaps of third and three or less, and it gets hard. So, we got to make sure we do a good job with all those guys on that side of the ball on first and second down."

The Giants put together their best performance against the run last week, limiting the Saints to just 88 yards on 30 carries (2.9 avg.). Linebacker Bobby Okerkee played a big role in that with his team-high 10 tackles, as the veteran is tied for fourth in the NFL with his 48 total tackles.

View photos of the New York Giants' 2025 roster as it currently stands.

Stepping up in the red zone

Perhaps the biggest area the Giants offense has struggled in through the first five games of the season is the red zone. The Giants have gotten the ball inside the opponents' 20-yard line 19 times, tied for the sixth-most in the league. However, they have converted those trips into touchdowns just six times, giving them a 31.6 conversion percentage, the lowest in the NFL.

During last week's loss in New Orleans, the Giants converted on their first two trips inside the red zone before failing to get into the end zone on the next two. The first of the two failed attempts ended up being a back-breaking play as Cam Skattebo fumbled the ball, which the Saints recovered and took back 86 yards for a touchdown to make it a two-possession game.

While the Giants have struggled inside the 20, the same cannot be said about the Eagles. Philadelphia comes into this game with the No. 1 red zone offense, scoring a touchdown on 12 of 13 trips inside the 20, along with the No. 3 red zone defense, as opponents have gotten into the end zone on just six of 14 trips inside the Eagles' red zone.

The Giants come into this matchup with the No. 9 red zone defense after allowing a touchdown on eight of 14 trips inside the 20 (57.1 percent).

Scouting the rest of the Eagles

Quarterback Jalen Hurts has completed a solid 66.9 percent of his passes and has yet to throw an interception, but is averaging just 177.8 passing yards per game to go with his seven touchdowns through five games. He is averaging fewer than 28 pass attempts per game but has been efficient when he has thrown it, earning a passer rating of 101.3. Hurts has also been a weapon for the Eagles on the ground, with 43 rush attempts for 182 yards and a team-high four touchdowns.

We touched on Barkley earlier, but he is far from the only elite playmaker in the Eagles offense. Philadelphia boasts a pair of talented wide receivers on the perimeter in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. With the passing game down overall, the two receivers don't quite have the stats we're accustomed to seeing from them. However, both Brown and Smith have a game with 100+ receiving yards under their belts this season, as both have the ability to erupt any given week. Additionally, tight end Dallas Goedert has a touchdown in each of the last three games, with four total during that span.

While the Eagles have long had one of the NFL's top offensive lines, the unit is coming off one of it's rougher performances. Hurts was sacked a season-high six times in last week's loss, and the unit has surrendered 14 sacks over the last four games after allowing just one in the season opener.

On the defensive side of the ball, Philadelphia has dominant players at every level. Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis lead the way on the interior of the defensive line, while Moro Ojomo is tied for the team-lead with two sacks. Linebacker Zack Baun, coming off an All-Pro season, also has two sacks, along with three passes defensed and a forced fumble to go with his team-leading 42 tackles (26 solo). He is joined by rookie linebacker Jihaad Campbell, who has gotten his first season off to a strong start. The Eagles defense enters this game ranked 22nd in rushing yards allowed and 25th in yards per attempt allowed.

The Philadelphia secondary is the area that has really made the biggest jump over the last few years. The Eagles now rank 15th in passing yards allowed and tied for seventh in passing touchdowns allowed thanks to their young secondary. The group is led by second-year cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, who are joined in the defensive backfield by safeties Reed Blankenship and rookie Andrew Mukuba.

View rare photos of the historic rivalry between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.

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