New York Giants Week 8: How the Philadelphia Eagles Defense Might Be Different

The New York Giants' offense is looking to have another big game against the Philadelphia Eagles' defense in the rematch.

Personnel

The Eagles will have some additions to their defense compared to the first matchup two weeks ago.

The Eagles will have star defensive lineman Jalen Carter back after he was a late scratch from the first matchup on Thursday Night Football.

Veteran defensive lineman Brandon Graham, who retired after the Super Bowl earlier this year, has come out of retirement to join the franchise again.

Graham may not be a full participant right away, depending on whether he’s in football condition, but he should know most of the playbook by now, maybe just needing to update the terminology.

In 2024, Graham still played at a very high level when healthy, but a lot can change in eight months for a football player in his late 30s.

Linebacker Nakobe Dean will also be back for the Eagles' defense this time around after playing exclusively special teams in the Week 6 matchup.

Dean had just been activated for the first time all season before the first game between the Eagles and the Giants. He was being eased into play, but he played 31 snaps against the Vikings.

That number should climb this week against the Giants.

Someone who played in the first matchup but left in the first quarter was cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.

Mitchell got injured and would miss the remainder of the game, but he played all 69 snaps in the Eagles' Week 7 game against the Vikings, so he should be full-go this week as well.

Scheme

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is not going to change much of his scheme; it’s what got him here, and he’s been known to ride or die for it.

What changed in week seven was that the Eagles came out in much heavier defensive sets than they did for much of the first six weeks of the season, presumably because of the return of Dean to the linebacker room.

Finding ways to get Zack Baun, Dean, and Jihaad Campbell all on the field at once is important for the defense, so they went heavier—something that should be expected as the Giants will use 12-personnel more.