The Eagles are winning, but not how you thought they would

PHILADELPHIA -- Splat!!!!

Uh-oh, there goes another Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman slapping, mauling another Giants offensive lineman. Eagles in the Giants backfield. Eagles in the pocket. Eagles throttling the running backs. Eagles battering the quarterback.

The Giants scored seven points on the game’s opening drive. For the final 55 minutes and 23 seconds, the Giants scored zilch.

The Eagles scored 27 points consecutively.

Actually, both offenses stunk, the Giants defense drooped and the special teams for both were middling. This Eagles’ 27-7 spanking on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field was all about the Eagles defensive front, how it dominated everything and how the rest of the Eagles defense followed.

The Eagles created a pick-six. They limited the Giants to 81 rushing yards and three rushing first downs, intercepted Eli Manning twice and limited his longest completion to 17 yards. They sacked Manning three times and twice bullied him into hopeless intentional grounding tosses. The Giants lost a fumble and committed 12 penalties.

It was as ugly for the Giants as it sounds.

It was defensive beauty for the Eagles. Especially for defensive ends Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thornton and nose tackle Bennie Logan. End Vinny Curry jumped in, too. A combination of three of these linemen primarily formed the base of the Eagles’ 3-4 defense. Usually the Eagles rushed one more with the trio -- often either linebacker Connor Barwin or linebacker Brandon Graham. This consistently proved a foursome that snapped the Giants offensive line.

Both teams are 3-3, but the win gives Philadelphia the NFC East lead.

“We just made up our minds to destroy the guys in front of us,” Logan said.

Thornton explained: “We beg for man blocking. The Giants tried to do that to us. They tried to base block us for most of the game. That is definitely not going to happen.”

The Eagles’ defensive linemen brought red-hot heat and made the Giants offense too frequently look hapless. Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis and his linemen gave credit to their line coach/assistant head coach Jerry Azzinaro. He taught them, pushed them, challenged them.

“When you only have to blitz four to get pressure, you can do so many other things elsewhere, and we did,” Davis said. “I wanted to call more blitzes. There just wasn’t any need. Jerry has done a great job with our line. We believe we strike with our hands faster and quicker and better than anybody. It’s all about technique and everybody showing up with it. We did.”

Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford was 24-of-38 passing for 280 passing yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. This is all you need to know about Bradford’s performance: His team won by 20 points yet his quarterback rating (61.3) was worse than Manning’s (62.3).

Short ones, long ones, quick ones ... you name a throw and Bradford struggled with it. He looks nothing like a championship quarterback six games into the season. He knows it.

When asked if he was happy with the way he played, Bradford answered: “No, no. It’s not even a question. It was just inconsistent, missing throws. There was some good, there was some bad. But I know for us to be where we want to be, I have to play much better.”

Unless this Eagles defensive line, this Eagles defense, can play like this, keep it up, run roughshod through the season.

Linebacker DeMeco Ryans exemplifies their spirit. With 5:18 left in the first quarter and the Giants driving to build on their 7-0 lead, Ryans at the Philadelphia 22-yard line took the ball away from Giants tight end Larry Donnell. The pass was short and to the left side, Donnell appeared to have it in hand and Ryans just took it out of his hands and kept it. This play changed the complexion of the game. This play set the aura of the Eagles’ defensive domination to come. It was a hostile takeaway. It was embarrassing for Donnell.

“I was really trying to cut in front of him and catch it,” Ryans said. “But then I did the next best thing and just kept my hands on it and took it. Sometimes that’s just how it works. Our defense was able to get takeaways and hit Eli. Our team is in a good place right now.”

The Giants thought they were. They had won three straight games. They started this game fast with quick throws and a quick touchdown but then went away from that. They inexplicably went to too many long-developing pass plays. That gave the Eagles’ defensive line chances to feast.

It looks like the Eagles know that in Bradford they do not have the quarterback to win the NFC East and sprint into the playoffs. With Tony Romo still out in Dallas and with Kirk Cousins floundering in Washington, Manning is still the class quarterback of the division.

The Eagles want to create a way to level the field. Actually, mow it down with their potentially dominant defensive front. This group must be dealt with, must be solved en route to the divisional crown. It is a mangling front-line defensive formula every team in the NFC East -- especially the Giants -- knows well.

The Eagles want their front crew to claim this time, this season.

“You have to have the will do what we did tonight,” Ryans said.

The gut-checking punch up front, too.

SB Nation presents: The most impressive teams in Week 6