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New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo (44) and Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) talk after a Thursday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Oct. 9, 2025. Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

4 Storylines Ahead of Giants-Eagles Part II

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Patricia Traina | Last updated Oct 22, 2025 10:42 AM ET

It's New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles Part II this weekend at the House of Horrors, otherwise known as Lincoln Financial Field, where Big Blue hasn't won a game since Oct. 27, 2013.

The game comes just two weeks after their first meeting on Thursday Night Football, when the Giants dominated the Eagles in one of the most complete upsets of the Brian Daboll era.

The Giants, who lost to the Broncos in an embarrassingly historic fashion, need to parlay any anger into beating up on an Eagles team that is currently above league average in points scored (170 to 155.6), but is also allowing more points to opponents (165) than the league average (155.6).

There will be some personnel changes on both sides. The Eagles got some much-needed pass rush help in the form of Brandon Graham, who came out of retirement this week.

In 24 career games vs. the Giants, including playoffs, he has eight sacks, 54 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 16 quarterback hits, one pass breakup, and four forced fumbles.

In their first meeting this year, the Eagles pressured Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart 40.6% of the time with a blitz percentage of 46.9%.

Dart, however, held up well against the pressure, completing 57.1% of his pass attempts under pressure for one touchdown, the score coming against the blitz in which Dart had a 61.5% completion rate. Graham and compoany will be looking to lower those numbers.

The Eagles are expected to have offensive lineman Landon Dickerson, defensive lineman Jalen Carter, and defensive back Quinyon Mitchell fully available for Part 2.

The Giants, meanwhile, are likely to be without cornerback Paulson Adebo and safety Jevon Holland, each of whom is dealing with knee ailments. Center John Michael Schmitz (concussion) was in the early stages of the protocol last week, so the hope is he’s made progress.

Receiver Darius Slayton (hamstring) missed the first meeting with the Eagles; will he be good to go this week?

And one of the biggest questions of all is who will be doing the kicking for the Giants on Sunday now that the team has moved on from Jude McAtamney.

Let’s dive into these and storylines.

How to Fill the Secondary

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Adebo and Holland are not locks to play Sunday, and there have been some early whispers that Adebo could miss some time.

That would be a huge blow to the Giants' cornerbacks group, which was thin to begin with. More importantly, it raises the question of how the Giants plan to address Adebo’s absence if he does have to miss multiple games.

The assumption is that Cor’Dale Flott, who is really having a strong season, could draw the opponent’s top receivers until Adebo returns.

On the other side, don’t be surprised if the coaches are forced to bring back a “rotation.”

An early guess is that Banks will draw third-down/passing-down assignments, and one of Nic Jones and Art Green, both of whom are a little more stout against the run, will take on the early downs.

Kicking It

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Jude McAtamney’s missed PATs against the Eagles and the two against the Broncos have led to his being waived.

Thus far, the Giants haven’t held any workouts for kickers, so the thinking here is that they will take it up to the last possible moment to see if Graham Gano, who is eligible to return from IR this week, is ready to go.

If not, the Giants will likely turn to Younghoe Koo, who sits on the practice squad. But it’s fair to wonder if there was a weekly competition between McAtamney and Koo, as the Giants have said was the case, was Koo that bad in practice that he couldn’t beat out McAtamney?

It’s been 84 years…

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Okay, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but with the Giants having not won in Philly in their last 12 tries (including postseason), it sure does feel like 84 years.

But the Giants, who have a much-needed injection of moxie courtesy of their rookie class headlined by Dart, running back Cam Skattebo, and outside linebacker Abdul Carter, have been slowly changing the culture and have given Giants fans something to watch every week.

And who knows? Maybe that moxie will be enough to break the spell of the Linc over the Giants for the last 84 years.

Hello Again, My Friend

Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Eagles running back Saquon Barkley hasn’t been the powerhouse runner he was last year. He is currently averaging 3.3 yards per carry, last among 10 qualifying running backs with at least 105 rushing attempts.

But against the Giants, whose run defense held the Eagles in check the first time, Barkley averaged 4.8 yards per carry, his second-best mark on the year.

The Giants' run defense, which had held opponents under 100 yards rushing in Weeks 5 and 6, gave up 142 yards last week to the Broncos.

Despite his struggles this season, Barkley is still capable of breaking loose at the drop of a hat. The Giants just need to be sure it doesn’t happen this weekend against them.