The Giants got a reminder of just how tenuous their playoff hopes are

PHILADELPHIA — The New York Giants defense early-on kept reaching for the Philadelphia Eagles but too often grabbed nothing but air. The Giants offense kept flinging passes that often sailed aimlessly through the air. It was a total whiff for the Giants in their bid to walk into the playoffs through the front door.

Philadelphia slammed that entry hard, 24-19, in a grimy game that didn’t seem that close.

Not with the Giants throwing a franchise-record 63 passes here on Thursday night in Lincoln Financial Field. Not with Eli Manning throwing three of them squarely into Eagles defenders’ hands. The Giants looked funky, dazed. They often look that way here. They just lost their third straight game in this place. They have lost five of their last six games overall to the Eagles. Since 2008 they have lost 14 of 19 Eagles matchups.

It’s a game of NFC East division matchups. The Giants swept the NFC East stud Dallas Cowboys this season. The Eagles entered this game winless (0-4) in the NFC East. Yet, they kicked the Giants aside for the Cowboys; this Giants loss ensured Dallas the NFC East crown and the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed.

The Giants somehow lost to the Eagles and the Cowboys all in one game, in one night.

There was a chill in the air among the Giants in their locker room afterward.

The Eagles, who had lost five straight games, took the credit.

“Was it perfect or pretty,” Eagles head coach Doug Pederson asked? “No. But just a great team effort and a great team win.”

The Giants slipped to 10-5. Philadelphia is out of the playoffs at 6-9.

Pederson was asked about winning a “meaningless” game.

“It’s not meaningless to us,” he said. “We needed to win and it was great for us to win and very meaningful.”

Eagles receiver Jordan Matthews said his team entered this game with a good feeling.

“It think it was obviously big,” Matthews said. “Obviously, it has no implications on postseason play (for us), so that’s something that we are still frustrated about, but you want to take out your frustration on other teams and win games. You don’t want to sit in it and end up being one of those teams that bow out at the end of the season. It’s good for our team, especially a team with young players.”

The Eagles started with a boom.

The Giants were rocked. They had no answer.

The Giants looked like they had spent more time spreading champagne on ice for a playoff party than they had readying for the Eagles.

Two teams at the start playing at two different speeds with different intensities. You could have sworn the Eagles were the 10-victory team, the Giants the playoff-out saps.

The game started with a Giants three-and-out punt. Then an Eagles 78-yard touchdown drive capped by running back Darren Sproles’ 25-yard running score. The Eagles throughout the first half killed the Giants defense on misdirection runs and on screen passes. Too many Giants grabbing air instead of Eagles.

Immediately after Sproles danced, the Giants next possession ended in Manning being intercepted by Eagles safety Malcom Jennings. He returned it 34 yards for a touchdown.

Bam! Philadelphia led, 14-0, with 8:20 left in the first quarter.

“They came out ready to play,” Giants receive Odell Beckham, Jr. said. “They did a good job controlling the game early. It was an uphill battle for us.”

Bechkham was targeted 20 times. He caught 11 for 150 yards. His longest catch was for 33 yards. The Eagles rotated coverage his way all night long. The Eagles safeties played deep and with desire. All three Manning interceptions were made by Eagles safeties. Jenkins made two. Terrance Brooks made the third on the last Manning pass of the night, the 63rd, a floater in the end zone meant for tight end Will Tye that the Giant waited for instead of fighting to grab.

The Giants defense held the Eagles scoreless in the third quarter and allowed only three points in the final quarter. The Giants defense recovered.

The question was what was with the Giants offensive approach? Why they threw 63 times and ran only 25 times? Especially when rookie running back Paul Perkins was enjoying success.

The answer is that the Giants panicked as they trailed 14-0 then 21-6 and panicked into the second half even as they pulled closer. The answer is that this offense is built to throw the ball to Beckham and the other receiving weapons and that is where the Giants look first when in trouble. The answer is the offense is built around Manning.

The problems in this game were the offensive line collapsed in pass protection too frequently, the other Giants receivers besides Beckham were not consistent enough, the Giants tight ends were lousy and Manning was far too flawed.

The answer is that even in comeback mode, the Giants should have ran Perkins more to balance those shots taken aimlessly through the air.

“We had a couple of two-minute drives in there that threw it out of whack,” Giants coach Ben McAdoo said about the 63 Manning passes.

No, McAdoo called them all and it was out of whack from the start. So was his team.

They can enter the playoffs through the back door. If Detroit, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, or Atlanta loses this weekend, the Giants become playoff bound.

They finish the regular season at Washington. They need cornerback Eli Apple to grow up fast because, without injured Janoris Jenkins, Apple was asked to do more and blew the coverage on a Philadelphia, first-half 40-yard touchdown pass. They need to stay with their running game for four quarters and get the ball to Perkins more, even in the passing game.

Their defense has been strong but it can’t be tricked and goaded like it was by the Eagles and expect future success this season. The defense corrected itself in the second half. The Giants offense tried, made some plays, but fell far short.

“We still have the same goals in mind,” Giants defensive end Olivier Vernon said. “We are still the team that has won 10 games. We just fell short here tonight. I think we’ll come back at Washington and attack. I think this Christmas break will do us some good. Do some Christmas shopping. Just get out with family and breathe. Grab some fresh air.”