Zach Ertz hauled in nine catches for 152 yards against the Giants. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

Who said the season finale between the Eagles and New York Football Giants on Sunday had nothing on the line?

Players on both teams were asked what they will take with them into the offseason after the Birds (7-9) edged Big Blue (6-10), 35-30 at MetLife Stadium.

It was funny because you would normally finish this sentence with “in a game that means nothing.”
That was not the case for the Eagles, especially tackle Lane Johnson.

“It feels good …we don’t have to travel to London,” said Johnson, referring to how the schedule for next year worked with the loser of this game being required to play a regular season game in London against the St. Louis Rams. “Yeah it was on our minds. It was something I didn’t want to have to deal with.”
The winner of the Eagles-Giants earned a trip to Seattle and a date with the Seahawks vaunted 12th man.

Was Johnson OK with that as the alternative?

“Yeah,” Johnson laughed. “They can make that trip next year.”

A few other things worked out for the Eagles who racked up 435 yards of total offense. Obviously with Chip Kelly out of the picture and interim head coach Pat Shurmur allowed to run the offense the way he wanted to and did so with suggestions from his players.

Lane Johnson wanted no part of a trip to London next season. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

One change was audibles at the line of scrimmage. Under Kelly that was not an option. Today the offense did that without going back to a huddle offense.

Remarkably there no problems with penalties from false starts, illegal motion etc.

Shurmur was asked how many audibles were there early in the game?

“We audibled throughout,” said Shurmur, who said he would return as offensive coordinator if the opportunity was there. “I think that was sort of the idea. We wanted to get lined up and we have a handful of plays, and then we tried to get into the best one.”

Quarterback Sam Bradford not only talked about audibles but also about running the offense
noticeably a bit slower and at a different pace. Bradford was asked how much did that help in the efficiency and no pre-snap penalties and the other things that had been happening before.

“I think it helped,” said Bradford who was 30 of 38 for 320 yards, two touchdown passes and one interception. “I think we got into a rhythm there, especially on the one drive in the fourth quarter. I think it eliminated a lot of the negative plays that you’d seen all year. For the most part, today we were getting the right plays called against the right books. I think that’s why we were able to be more consistent and more efficient today.”

Johnson said slowing down the pace was important for the ground game.

“We slowed the game down, ran the ball well and tried to the run the clock as well,” Johnson said. “We slowed things down a bit and we were able to execute the offense as best as we did all year. Everything was a lot smoother than what it normally was.”

It was smooth from the start. The Eagles got the ball first at their own 20-yard line and were in the end zone in just five plays including a 54-yard touchdown run by DeMarco Murray.

Murray finished the day with 69 yards on 12 carries.

The Birds got a six-yard touchdown from Pro Bowl-bound Darren Sproles, two receiving scores from Jordan Matthews who made up for a terrible drop in the first quarter and a 83-yard pick-six by former Giants defensive back Walter Thurmond.

Tight end Zach Ertz didn’t get into the end zone but dominated the Giants secondary with 152 yards on nine carries. His chemistry with Bradford now has teammates and fans clamoring for the Eagles to sign the once project quarterback.

Matthews said he thinks the duo can carry the Eagles where they want to go and need to build this offense needs to be built around a tight end like Ertz.

The third-year player out of Standord was asked if he thought Matthews words were accurate.

“I think a lot of tight ends nowadays are focal points to the offense,” Ertz said. “I don’t know if that was necessarily the case throughout the past couple of years. I remember with my first team as the Eagles offense, the past couple years and that’s kind of how I approached it. I worked a lot on my run blocking throughout the offseason. When I had the opportunities in the past, I made the most of them, and if that’s the case going forward, then I’m going to be really excited about it.”

While the offense showed promise Sunday the defense did not.

Pat Shurmur is 1-0 as Eagles head coach and that was Sunday against the Giants. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

Bill Davis’ unit allowed Eli Manning and the Giants offense to amass 502 yards including 208 yards rushing. Manning was 24 of 43 for 302 yards and two touchdowns.

Rashad Jennings torched the Eagles front seven for 170 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown.

Defensive lineman Fletcher Cox, who is headed to his Pro Bowl, talked about how disappoint this season has been.

“We started off bad and it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go,” Cox said. “We got a little energy, a little momentum midways…and we lost it, didn’t make the playoffs. That was the most disappointing thing. We haven’t made the playoffs in two years. It’s a long offseason.”

Cox was asked how much winning the game, meaningless in the standings, meant to him and the team.

“It’s always good to finish with a win,” Cox said. “It’s a new year, 2016, and we got a win.”

Cox said he is confident that if there is a change with the defensive coordinator, he will roll with whatever the new guy brings.

“At this point I don’t think it matters that much,” Cox said. “I think I’ve proved I can play in both. Whatever defense we play next year, I’ll be ready for both.“
If you think the Eagles had it bad this year look at what happened to the Giants.

The Eagles have won six of their last eight games against the Giants and have won eight of their last nine trips up the New Jersey Turnpike to play at the Meadowlands dating back to Giants Stadium.

Their loss to the Eagles Sunday was another game they led well into the third quarter. Several losses came after leading with two minutes or less the game.

Head coach Tom Coughlin, who is expected to resign on Black Monday, was asked if he thought he’ll ever decipher that theme this season. Will he just be confused as to what went wrong or does he think there’s an answer?

“I can tell you what went wrong with five—what, going into this game,” said Coughlin, who has led Big Blue to two Super Bowl championships. “Five games that ended up in the final 30 seconds either one way or the other and this is probably the exact same circumstance. Finishing has been very difficult for us, for this team and you see it here. They line up, they throw the ball when the game is on the line, they didn’t even go into a normal four-minute mode and run the ball. They made first downs getting the ball in the hands of the tight ends, etcetera, etcetera, and had we been able to stop them earlier, we would’ve had more time on the clock even though my timeouts were going to be gone. But finishing the game has been an issue all year for us, and we’ve talked about it, we’ve worked on it, I switched the two-minute drills around in practice to try and make it more of an emphasis, and we’re still working on it.”

Sunday’s loss to the Eagles may have been Tom Coughlin’s last game as the Giants head coach.
Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com