Eagles' special teams throw block party vs. Giants

Dec 18, 2017 - 2:18 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Philadelphia Eagles already wrapped up a playoff berth before adding a first-round bye with their 34-29 win over the New York Giants on Sunday.

However, that doesn't mean that Eagles head coach Doug Pederson is happy with everything he saw from his team at MetLife Stadium. He saw the lead change six times Sunday.

"You can't play like this and win in the postseason, obviously," he said. "You can't play like this and expect to win every week. You have to come prepared. When I say 'prepared,' I think from a mental standpoint, that emotion -- that sense of urgency and that dominating swagger that you want to see your team come out of the dressing room with, that was the message today."

One area where Pederson will no doubt be pleased to watch when he turns on the game tape will be the performance by his special teams. The Eagles came up with a blocked extra point, a blocked punt and a blocked field goal against the Giants, three significant plays that resulted in a 12-point swing in what ended up a five-point game.

"It was big," Eagles defensive end Chris Long said. "Historically, we've been one of the best units in the league, and they deserve credit. A lot of people forget about that aspect of the game, and it can be just as big as offense and defense."

Two of the Philadelphia blocks came from the right side of the formation.

"Well, (special teams coordinator Dave) Fipp studies the protections and throws a couple different wrinkles in there," Pederson said when asked if the Eagles saw anything on tape that prompted them to attack that side of the formation.

"(Derek) Barnett has blocked a couple already this season. He got one, Malcolm (Jenkins) got one, and then just the rush on the punt was a thing of beauty. It was executed well, the scheme. Like I said, Fipp does a good job of understanding protection and designing some rushes to do that."

For the Giants, not even the fact that they were able to stay toe-to-toe with the best team with the NFL's best record was of much comfort.

"Any game you lose hurts," interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "I thought we let them get back in it by mistakes that we made, and to their credit, they kept playing and battled their way back and then, yeah, the special teams miscues put our backs to the wall.

"The margin for error is very small for us right now with all the injuries, and what we're going through and to be making it easy on an opponent, that hurts."

Spagnuolo said that Eli Manning, who finished 37 of 57 for 434 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, will be the starter next week when the Giants visit the Arizona Cardinals.