Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles rallied from an 11-point deficit over the final six minutes to earn a 22-21 victory over the New York Giants on Thursday night.
After a 2-yard touchdown catch by Sterling Shepard gave the Giants a 21-10 lead with 6:17 left to play, the Eagles managed two straight touchdown drives to steal away a potential road win for New York. A 3-yard touchdown pass to Greg Ward pulled the Eagles within a score and Boston Scott caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Wentz with 40 seconds left to play to lift the Eagles to victory.
It was a rather sloppy night of offensive football for both teams before points started to flow in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 14-10, Wentz led the Eagles inside the Giants’ 5-yard line midway through the fourth quarter only to have the drive end without any points. The Eagles elected to go for a fourth-and-goal from the Giants’ 3-yard line only to have a fade to Hakeem Butler fall incomplete for a turnover on downs.
Daniel Jones and the New York Giants managed to execute a 15-play, 97-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that culminated with the 2-yard touchdown pass to Shepard that pushed the Giants’ lead to 21-10 with 6:17 left to play.
A 59-yard pass from Wentz to John Hightower helped the Eagles quickly answer the Giants’ scoring drive. Wentz would connect with Greg Ward on a 3-yard touchdown to close the gap to 21-16. However, a two-point attempt was stopped by New York as Wentz was tackled short of the goal line on a quarterback run.
Evan Engram dropped a third down pass from Jones that would have allowed the Giants to essentially run out the rest of the clock. Instead, the Giants punted to Philadelphia and Wentz engineered the game-winning drive. It took just 1:22 and six plays for the Eagles to drive 71 yards for the go-ahead score.
Brandon Graham then strip-sacked Jones on the final drive to seal the victory for the Eagles.
Wentz completed 25 of 43 passes for 359 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also scored on a 1-yard touchdown to open the scoring for the Eagles.
Golden Tate caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Jones to even the score at 7-7. A 31-yard Jake Elliott field gave the Eagles a 10-7 advantage at halftime.
Jones’ 80-yard run-trip-and-fall on an option-keeper set up a 1-yard touchdown run from Wayne Gallman that gave New York their first lead of the night, 14-10, in the third quarter. Jones completed 20 of 30 passes for 187 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed for 92 yards on four carries.
Two teams dealing with myriad injuries saw more coming out of Thursday night’s game as well.
Devonta Freeman was listed as questionable to return with an ankle injury for the Giants.
Meanwhile, defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway was ruled out with a biceps injury while tackle Lane Johnson (knee) and cornerback Craig James (hamstring) were questionable to return for the Eagles.
DeSean Jackson was also injured on the final punt return of the game on a late hit by Madre Harper that saw Jackson’s leg caught awkwardly underneath him. He had missed the previous three games due to injury and was carted off from the sidelines.