PHILADELPHIA — In the closing seconds of the fourth quarter Monday night, precious seconds ran off the clock and it appeared as if Eagles coach Doug Pederson got the better of Pat Shurmur as the Giants lost 23-17 in overtime at Lincoln Financial Field.
Carson Wentz with 49 seconds left in regulation passed 9 yards to Joshua Perkins, and on fourth down, as the Giants put their punt return team on the field, Pederson made it seem as if the Eagles might go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 45-yard line. Shurmur allowed about 20 seconds to run off the clock before calling a timeout to make sure the Giants would not be caught without their defense on the field. After the timeout, the Eagles, with 19 seconds remaining, punted the ball away and the Giants only had 10 seconds to work with. Shurmur called for an Eli Manning kneel-down and the game went into overtime.
“I just wanted to make sure they were going to punt us the football there, because you never know,’’ Shurmur said of not calling a timeout sooner. “I wanted to see what they were going to do. I wanted them to punt us the ball and make a play.’’
Shurmur believes by calling the timeout, the Eagles were induced to punt the ball away — something they were probably going to do all along.
“I like to think calling a timeout gave them a chance to think about it and they punted the ball and it went into overtime,’’ Shurmur said.
It looks as if the Giants lost RG Kevin Zeitler to a serious injury after he was leg-whipped by Vinny Curry in the fourth quarter. Zeitler was replaced by Nick Gates. Zeitler was on crutches in the locker room and walked out with a boot on his right foot. Shurmur said Zeitler has an ankle injury.
“Not my best,’’ Zeitler said, when asked how he was feeling. Asked how he got hurt, Zeitler said. “I have no idea. I was up and then I was down.”
Defensive coordinator James Bettcher made a change in his secondary, moving Janoris Jenkins in as the slot cornerback and putting Sam Beal and DeAndre Baker on the outside. The move seemed to inject some needed cohesion into the defensive backfield. A slot corner was needed because rookie Corey Ballentine is in the concussion protocol.
“I think I played good,’’ Jenkins said. “I adjusted. I played within the scheme. Just some injuries in the inside between our guys that we had. Told coach I’d be happy to play the position if he needed me. He plugged me in there and I played football.”
Rookie WR Darius Slayton became the first Giants player with more than 150 receiving yards in a half since Plaxico Burress had 179 yards in the first half on Oct. 2, 2005, in a 44-24 victory over the Rams. Slayton had five catches for 154 yards at halftime against the Eagles.
RB Wayne Gallman has dropped like a rock in a pond on the Giants’ depth chart. He has only 29 rushing attempts this season and Monday night was a healthy scratch, one of the seven inactive players, with Buck Allen filling the role of the backup to Saquon Barkley. It seems as if this coaching regime is not high on Gallman, who had 111 rushing attempts as a rookie in 2017.
For more on the loss to the Eagles, listen to the latest episode of the “Blue Rush” podcast:
