PHILADELPHIA >> Week 3 of the NFL season has turned into a job referendum for Doug Pederson.
And he’s not the winless coach in Sunday’s matchup.
After running out of gas in a winnable game last week, Pederson and the Eagles need a victory almost as desperately as counterpart Ben McAdoo and the football-challenged New York Giants, their opponent Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field (1 p.m., Channel 29, WIP 94.1-FM).
A triumph would make the Giants all but playoff irrelevant, as just three teams have survived 0-3 starts to reach the postseason since the modern 12-team format was established in 1990.
An Eagles loss would raise criticism of Pederson to unheard of heights, particularly if the run game is ineffective or he makes a wrong decison or two on fourth down, which took six points off the board in a five-point loss to the Giants last season.
“It’s very big,” said Brandon Graham, who leads the Eagles with 2.5 sacks. “It’s an NFC East opponent. We’re trying to go 2-0 in the division and 2-1 with our overall record. Every week is important. But when you look back on seasons you can’t let games like this slip away. I think when somebody’s down like this they’re going to give us their best shot so we’ve got to make sure we’re prepared.”
Speaking of down, the Eagles’ run game doesn’t know what up is. The team’s leading rusher is quarterback Carson Wentz.
The Eagles are going to give Chance Warmack an opportunity to help them out at left guard, where Isaac Seumalo has been a disaster. Seumalo allowed three of the six sacks last week by the Chiefs. He wasn’t great in the first game, either.
The 6-2, 323-pound Warmack is wider and nastier than his counterpart. Exactly why Warmack didn’t dress for the first two games adds to the overall drama this week.
“In college he was a dominant run blocker,” offensive tackle Lane Johnson said. “So hopefully we get help with the run game with him. Just his size and what he can do in the run game.”
Wentz has been sacked eight times in two games. Unofficially he’s been hit 19 times, which is a lot for any player, much less a quarterback.
The last time the teams played at the Linc, Giants pass rusher Olivier Vernon sidelined Wentz with a hit that made the quarterback “woozy,” according to Jason Peters, who helped his teammate off the field. Wentz returned but he wasn’t the same.
Vernon and pass rusher Jason Pierre-Paul are back. The defensive line and the secondary are the strengths of the Giants’ defense. Peters made that clear to the Philly coaching staff, and he wasn’t apologizing for the pass protection last week.
“We threw the ball 50-some times,” Peters said. “You’re never happy with the sacks but when you look at the tape, it wasn’t all on us, you know what I’m saying? It isn’t all the offensive line. When you see a sack it isn’t all offensive line. It’s an offensive unit, yeah. But we worked this week to get better on that and we’re going to try to fix it this weekend. We’ve just got to stay balanced. Whatever Doug calls, we’re going to run the play and we’ve just got to execute it. If we execute those plays, we aren’t even talking about the run game.”
The Eagles probably won’t need a career day to prevail Sunday.
The Giants have scored a total of 13 points in two games, their fewest to open the season since 1947. Quarterback Eli Manning has thrown one touchdown and two interceptions. He also has been sacked eight times and come under fire from McAdoo, who has defended the potential of left tackle Ereck Flowers, who gave up three sacks last week.
This isn’t a good week to face the Eagles, who get after the quarterback with a fury.
“They’re an attacking scheme,” McAdoo said. “They play downhill at all three levels, so they’re very aggressive there. (Coordinator Jim Schwartz) seems to like to build it from the front back, putting that defensive line in position to really impact the ball game. Their linebackers take gaps away in a hurry in the run game. The safeties are aggressive, they play downhill and their corners are very physical and hands on.”
The silver lining for the Giants is that the Eagles last week held the Chiefs without a touchdown in the first half but gave up two in the fourth quarter. That was partly due to injuries at safety and cornerback.
This week the Eagles will play without cornerback Jaylen Watkins and safety Corey Graham, both nursing hamstring strains. They also could go without starting safety Rodney McLeod, who’ll test his hamstring in the pre-game Sunday.
Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (ankle) is healthier, and McAdoo has vowed to do whatever is necessary to ignite the offense, even relinquishing the play-calling duties.
Pederson, who calls the Eagles’ plays, could find himself in the same situation if his offense sputters.
Pederson has spent the week attacking questions about his run game, his use of Seumalo and what he’ll do at safety. He’s been downright argumentative. He’s in circle-the-wagons mode for this huge game.
“It’s big,” Peters said. “Any time we play the Giants up the street, the football Giants, we’ve got to put it on them. So them coming into our house, we’ve got to take care of them.”
