The Giants look surprisingly decent. While they have a lesser offense (30th in yards, 30th in scoring) Philadelphia is really struggling.
The Eagles have allowed an average of 29 points in their last nine games. Its defense allowed at least 2 TDs in all of those games, and at least 3 in two thirds of them.
Admittedly, New York didn’t do much against them in Week 16, managing only 292 total yards, with one of its 2 TDs coming on a bomb in the second half (it got to 25 points with the help of a defensive touchdown). But New York has switched quarterbacks now, putting up 424 yards on Sunday against a Rams defense that’s better than this one. New York might be the more motivated of the two teams, looking to finish the season strong, while the Eagles are kind of running out a ground ball, hoping Dallas might stub its toe in Washington. And this one is at MetLife. About 2 TDs seems about right, with the chance there’s more.
Tyrod Taylor stacks up well against the many other modest quarterbacks at the controls in Week 18. The Eagles have been pretty dreadful against the pass all year, but especially recently. Only four teams have allowed more passing yards, and Philadelphia has allowed 34 TD passes, 2nd-most in the league. They’re terrible. And Taylor is one of the better backups. He passed for 319 yards and a touchdown last week against the Rams, and he passed for 279 yards and 2 TDs in a start earlier in the year against a similar leaky Washington defense.
When he came on for the second half of the Eagles game two weeks ago, he passed for 133 yards and a touchdown. He’s connected on touchdowns of 69 and 80 yards the last two weeks. And while he’s in the later stages of his career, he can still move. He’s started four games this year, and he’s run for at least 24 yards in all of them – 40 yards against the Rams, and 21 yards in a half the previous week against the Eagles. If you’re looking for a quarterback on the waiver wire, this is probably your guy.
We’ll also give the thumbs up on Saquon Barkley. While the Eagles have been comically bad against the pass, their run defense has also slipped. Philadelphia allowed an average of 66 rushing yards in its first nine games, looking like a top-5 run defense. But it’s allowed an average of 150 rushing yards in its last seven games, with the last six of those teams all scoring rushing touchdowns. They’re not stopping anyone right now. Barkley didn’t have a great day against them in the earlier meeting, but the Giants kept feeding him the ball, with Barkley closing at 23 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown. And Barkley is averaging 3 catches per game, with 4 touchdowns in that capacity. For the season, he's averaging 71 rushing and 18 receiving yards, with 8 TDs in 13 games.
With the Giants looking like candidates to pass for 250-plus yards, some thought can be given Darius Slayton, first and foremost. He’s caught 69- and 80-yard touchdowns the last two weeks. He caught a 40-yard touchdown a month and a half ago, and that one was also thrown by Tyrod Taylor – those two have a connection. Slayton has caught 3-4 passes for 60-plus yards three weeks in a row, and now they’re playing a home game against a terrible secondary that’s playing with one eye on the postseason. That probably makes Slayton the best available wide receiver on the waiver wire in a lot of leagues.
Those in larger leagues using PPR scoring might want to think about Wan’Dale Robinson. He’s caught 23 passes in his last five games, including 6 for 55 on Sunday. There’s not a lot of downfield work, however (he averages only 8 yards per catch) and he’s caught only one touchdown all year. Robinson also runs the ball most weeks; he’s run for 87 yards, including a touchdown on Sunday. Jalin Hyatt might someday develop into a feared deep threat. He’s shown some potential as a rookie, with 5 catches over 30 yards (including 2 in Taylor’s sparse playing time). But Hyatt has caught only 22 passes overall, and with no touchdowns – he’s not quite there yet. Isaiah Hodgins has caught 3 TDs, but all came with others at quarterback. He’s not playing much and has caught only 18 passes for 194 yards all year.
Darren Waller looks like a decent tight end prospect – not great, but decent. When Taylor passed for 279 yards against Washington, Waller had his best game as a Giant – 7 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown. Waller caught 5 passes for 51 yards on Sunday. You can do worse. But at the same time, he hasn’t even been the most productive tight end on his own team over the last two weeks. Daniel Bellinger has caught 4 passes in back-to-back games.
Mason Crosby missed a field goal and an extra point, making it reasonable to wonder if the Giants might replace him with somebody else before kickoff. But with the team sitting at 5-11, apparently they’re going to just let him ride it out.
The Giants Defense has scored on returns of interceptions and punts the last two weeks, and it scored 2 other touchdowns on interception returns earlier in the season. Only two defenses have more takeaways, which is odd, with New York tied for next-to-last in sacks. It makes for a streaky prospect, with the need to hit on a big play somewhere. In the earlier meeting, New York finished with only one sack but got a Pick Six in the second half.
This report is just a small snippet of the Week 18 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly, part of the In-Season Analyst package. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 20-plus pages of matchup previews, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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