Eagles end Giants magical season with 38-7 beatdown, so what now for Brian Dabolls team?

PHILADELPHIA The Giants showed admirable and unexpected progress all season, defying doubts under a rookie head coach and winning a playoff game for the first time in 11 years.

Then, in one half Saturday night, the Eagles crushed the Giants magic, buried their postseason dreams, and showed them how far they still have to go.

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The Eagles 38-7 win in an NFC divisional round playoff game was essentially sewn up at halftime, when they led 28-0 a margin that meant the Giants would need their biggest ever comeback.

Even for coach Brian Dabolls resilient team, that hill proved far too steep.

So the top-seeded Eagles, and not the sixth-seeded Giants, move on to the NFC Championship Game, back in Philadelphia next Sunday against the 49ers or Cowboys.

And the Giants head into the offseason with looming questions about how theyll retain two of their most important players, quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley, who both excelled this season.

Those are just two issues that general manager Joe Schoen, in his second offseason, needs to address. Because Saturday truly revealed how wide the talent gap is between the Giants and Eagles, their bitter NFC East rivals, who might just win their second Super Bowl in six years.

Before the season, no one with any sense considered these Giants Super Bowl contenders, let alone a playoff team. Yet for this storied franchise, which regained its pride in 2022, that is now the next goal in the coming years: Find a way to topple the Eagles and reclaim the Lombardi Trophy.

It wont be easy. That much was evident in Saturdays first half, when the Eagles out-gained the Giants 258 yards to 64 and had 18 first downs to the Giants three. It was a thorough beatdown just like the Eagles 48-22 win at the Giants in December.

But this is also an Eagles team that went 14-1 this season in games started by quarterback Jalen Hurts, who showed no ill effects Saturday of his right (throwing) shoulder injury.

The Eagles scored touchdowns on their first two drives, to go up 14-0, meaning the Giants would once again have to overcome a double-digit deficit to win. While going 9-7-1 in the regular season, they did that three times to win games and once to tie, revealing their resilience.

But on Saturday night, the Giants dreadful start was low-lighted by Daboll going for it on fourth-and-8 on the Giants opening possession which led to a 52-yard Eagles touchdown drive. Then, on the second play of the Giants next drive, Jones threw an interception to ex-Giant James Bradberry. Things went so poorly for Jones that he had to run to the sideline on the third drive because he lost a contact lens. Meanwhile, Giants fans wanted to shield their eyes.

The Giants punted to end that possession and the Eagles responded with a 63-yard touchdown drive that put them up 21-0 with 7:29 left in the second quarter.

It was all too much to overcome, even for a quarterback who led four fourth-quarter comebacks this season and engineered six game-winning drives, including last weeks wild-card win at Minnesota.

The Giants came to Philadelphia a loose team. They danced their way through Thursdays practice, their final workout before this showdown between teams separated by 95 miles of Interstate 95.

The Giants clearly didnt care that everyone thought they should just be satisfied with winning in Minnesota last Sunday, when the Eagles had their bye. They definitely didnt care one bit about their recent failures against the Eagles. Entering Saturday, the Giants were 6-24 in their last 30 games versus Philadelphia.

Then, on Saturday morning, a broken pipe at the Giants hotel in Philadelphia caused a water outage for about three hours.

None of that bothered them because, of course, nothing has bothered them all season.

But the Giants on Saturday did have some history on their side. Under the NFLs current playoff format, which began in 1990, they were 6-0 against No. 1 seeds the longest winning streak of any team. None of those games came against Philadelphia, though.

Saturday was the fifth ever Giants-Eagles playoff game. The Eagles won in 2006 (wild-card game) and 2008 when, as the No. 6 seed, they shocked the top-seeded Giants in a divisional game in East Rutherford. The Giants won in 1981 (wild card) and 2000 when they beat Philadelphia in a home divisional matchup, en route to a Super Bowl loss.

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This season, the Giants wont sniff the Super Bowl. And while thats certainly an acceptable result for Dabolls inaugural team given the expectations and roster talent the Giants 0-3 record this year against the Eagles, with those two losses by 26 and 31 points, will sting them all offseason.

On Saturday, the Eagles sent Daboll a clear message: Its a long way to the top of the NFC.

Time to start climbing.

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Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com.