The Philadelphia Eagles are coming off their first loss of the season, and are looking to bounce back with a big Thursday night win over their NFC East rivals, the New York Giants. Meanwhile, the Giants are 1-4 through the first five weeks, and Brian Daboll‘s seat is really starting to heat up, but a win over the defending Super Bowl champs could go a long way towards cooling it off.

While the Eagles are a touchdown favorite, we have a feeling this game could be closer than many anticipate. Divisional games are always tough, especially on the road, so hopefully we’ll be treated to a close game on Thursday night.

Let’s break down some of the biggest storylines, players to watch, and give some bold predictions for Thursday’s game.

How does Jaxson Dart respond?

After winning his first game as a starter, Jaxson Dart struggled a bit in their loss to the New Orleans Saints. He completed 65% of his passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 55 yards, but he threw two interceptions and fumbled once. We thought he actually did a lot of things well, but three turnovers in a single game can do a lot to a young quarterback’s confidence, so it will be interesting to see how he responds against a very tough Eagles defense.

Will AJ Brown be involved?

Last week, the Eagles made a concerted effort to get their star wide receiver AJ Brown the ball. He was very vocal to the media about his frustrations with the offense this season, but even though they threw it his way eight times, he had just 43 yards.

According to reports, Brown, Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley had a meeting on Monday that “went well.” The Eagles’ star trio are off to a very slow start, but this could be a big “get right” spot. The Giants defense is not the best and gives up nearly 240 passing yards per game. If there’s any game they’re going to get on the same page, it’s this one.

And what about Saquon Barkley?

While Brown’s struggles have been well documented, not many people are talking about Barkley’s issues. After rushing for 2,005 yards a year ago, the First-Team All-Pro is off to an incredibly slow start to the season. Through five games, Barkley has 267 yards and three touchdowns and is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry.

Just like it is for the Eagles’ passing attack, this is a get-right spot for their rushing attack. The Giants defense allows over 140 rushing yards per game, which ranks 26th in the league. Barkley has rushed for over 60 yards just one time this season, but there should be ample opportunities for him on Thursday night.

Can the Giants pass rush get home?

On paper, the Giants of one of the best pass rushes in the NFL. Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter, Brian Burns and Dexter Lawrence form one of the scariest front sevens in all of football, and they’ve been very successful this season. They’re only averaging two sacks per game, but they’re putting pressure on the opposing quarterback at an extremely high rate.

Through five weeks, the Giants have three of the top 25 pass rushers in terms of pressures. Carter has 22 (12th), Burns has 21 (14th) and Thibodeaux has 18 (24th). However, they face an Eagles offensive line that is very, very good at protecting Jalen Hurts.

Will the Giants be able to put pressure on Hurts consistently? If so, we think this game ends up a lot closer than people think/

Can Theo Johnson establish himself as a consistent fantasy option?

Alright, enough talking about the real game (for now). Let’s talk some fantasy.

Theo Johnson was on absolutely nobodies radar after three weeks. He had six catches for 49 yards and no touchdowns, but ever since Dart has taken over, he’s become a viable option. In two weeks with Dart, Johnson has been targeted 12 times and caught nine passes for 50 yards and three scores. In fact, all three of Dart’s passing touchdowns in his career have gone to Johnson.

But has it been a fluke? It’s hard to rely on someone who’s scored well over 50 percent of his fantasy points on touchdowns, but the targets and snaps are there. If Dart consistently throws his way on Thursday, he could become a valuable waiver wire option for those of you who need tight end help (and that’s basically everyone).

Players to Watch

• AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith (WRs, Philadelphia Eagles)

Usually these would be two separate points, but we’re looping them into one. Both of these guys have voiced their frustration with their role in this year’s offense, and while Smith had a big game last week, Brown did not. The Eagles made an effort to get these two the ball last weekend, throwing it 38 times to just 11 rushes, and guess what happened? They lost.

The Eagles got away from their roots, which is rushing the football. Will they do it again this week to try and keep their two stars happy? Or will they go back to running the ball early and often, and risk them getting angry?

• Cam Skattebo (RB, New York Giants)

Everyone was so excited about Cam Skattebo. In college, he was a bulldozer, running over everyone and breaking a ton of tackles. While he still does that at the NFL level, he hasn’t been nearly as successful. Through five weeks, Skattebo has rushed it 63 times for 240 yards (3.8 average) and one touchdown.

To be fair to him, his offensive line hasn’t done him any favors. Of his 240 yards, 189 of them have come after contact. He’s averaging about 0.80 yards before contact on each rush, so he’s averaging about 3.0 yards after contact, which ranks 19th in the NFL. This week he plays an Eagles defense that, somewhat surprisingly, has given up over 125 rushing yards per game.

If the Giants want to keep this once close, they’ll need a big day from Skattebo on the ground.

• Zack Baun (LB, Philadelphia Eagles)

Zack Baun has been one of the Eagles’ best players on defense since signing with them last year. He was named an All-Pro in 2024 and is off to yet another hot start in 2025, racking up 42 tackles, nine pressures, three tackles for loss, three passes defended, two sacks, and one interception.

However, he made a grave mistake last week that could’ve cost the Eagles the game. The Broncos were already up by one with minutes on the clock. The Eagles desperately needed to get the ball back, and it looked like they did after getting a big third-down stop with over two minutes to go, but Baun was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty, which gave the Broncos a first down.

Instead of getting the ball with two minutes on the clock, the Eagles wouldn’t get it back until the 1:11 mark with no timeouts. They couldn’t get down the field and score a touchdown in time, so those 50ish seconds would’ve been valuable.

Baun’s going to come out with a fire lit under him. He knows he cost them a good chance to win that game, so watch for him to be all over the field tonight.

Bold Predictions

Giants sack Hurts five times

We’ve talked about how good the Giants are at putting pressure on the quarterback, but they haven’t translated those pressures into sacks much, so why do we think they’ll get five on Thursday?

Let us explain. Hurts is notorious for holding onto the football too long. He has one of the best offensive lines and is mobile, so he should be able to extend plays, but sometimes it bites him. The Eagles’ offensive line has the sixth-best pass blocking grade in the NFL, and yet, Hurts has been sacked 15 times, which is tied for the sixth-most.

If Hurts isn’t able to get the ball out quick, which he hasn’t been able to do all year with a 3.1-second average time to throw, the Giants are going to get pressure. Eventually, those pressures will turn into sacks. Even a great offensive line can only keep an elite pass rush from getting home for so long, so we think the Giants will put Hurts on the ground a lot on Thursday.

Eagles score two tush push touchdowns, spark controversy again

The tush push has been a very controversial play. The Eagles are the only team in the league who can run it successfully almost every time, but (especially in recent weeks) it appears the refs aren’t calling it clean. The Eagles are lining up offsides and false starting on almost every tush push attempt, and if it comes into play tonight on prime time, it will spark controversy again.

This just feels like it’s going to be a grind-it-out type of game. The Eagles offense has struggled and the Giants have that elite pass rush we’ve talked about all day, so every yard is going to be hard to come by. We have a feeling the tush push will be called on multiple occasions tonight, especially in the red zone, so be ready for Giants fans to whine about how it’s not fair play.

Giants win

We’re putting our foot down and calling it now. The Giants take down the Eagles on Thursday Night Football.

Could we be way off, and the Eagles win by 2+ touchdowns? Absolutely. But we just have a feeling about tonight.

The Eagles’ offensive struggles have been well-documented this season. We know they’ve struggled getting the ball to their star receivers, and they’ve also struggled running the ball between the tackles with Saquon Barkley. If the Giants get after Hurts consistently, they’re going to be able to get off the field on defense.

Offensively, we just want to see the Giants play a clean game. Don’t turn the ball over and give the Eagles extra possessions. If they can keep the ball in Jaxson Dart’s hands and he can avoid throwing interceptions, good things will happen. If they still had Malik Nabers, we’d feel a lot more comfortable about this prediction, but Dart’s ability to throw and run makes him a dangerous weapon in this game.