Giants and Eagles Business as Usual in Week 17

There’s a good reason why most fantasy football leagues hold their championship games in Week 16: Week 17 is the most bizarre, unpredictable week of the season, when players who’ve been driving fantasy players to drink all season (Eric Decker) channel the ghost of Don Hutson and catch 10 passes for 221 yards and a touchdown.

It was only Decker’s second 100-yard receiving game of the season, which paired with this Geno Smith stat line (358 yards passing, three touchdowns, 0 INTs) would have won you many a fantasy football championship -- if, you know, you somehow made it to the title game riding the vaunted Smith-Decker bus.

But wait, why am I talking about the Jets and their aberrant behavior? Because their MetLife Stadium bunkmates, the Giants, lost 34-26 to the Eagles in a New York-Philly matchup that could easily have taken place in Week 10, Week 5 or Week 1. Even though that would have meant Eagles’ fans would have been subjected to a full season of Mark Sanchez.

So let it be.

In a vacuum, this Giants-Philly game had pretty much everything we’ve come to expect from both teams. It was replete with an outstanding game from Odell Beckham Jr.; some mind-numbing interceptions by Mark Sanchez; bad special teams from the Giants; a special teams touchdown by the Eagles; a drop or two from a wide open Larry Donnell; a versatile game from Shady McCoy; and a backbreaking interception by Eli Manning (throwing off his back foot, no less) to essentially end the game.

This game would have felt right at home on Thanksgiving Day or, heck, Election Day or Labor Day.

If this was Tom Coughlin’s final game as head coach of the Giants, he can at least derive solace from a very Giants-like effort.

The Eagles, for their part, held a one-game lead in the NFC East with four games left to go. But after losses to Seattle, Dallas and Washington knocked them out of playoff contention, Sunday’s game against the Giants didn’t matter much. The victory got them to 10 victories, which matches last year’s total. Hurray for consistency. Philadelphia Eagles: Super Bowl-free for another year.

The Eagles are an easy target, because they’re the only NFC East team to never win a Super Bowl. Unlike the Giants, who have won their last two Super Bowls with underdog teams that got hot at the right time, the Eagles can never seem to put it all together late in the year.

Maybe next year, when they have a full season of Sanchez.

More likely the Eagles will trade up to draft Florida State lightning rod Jameis Winston.

-Winston could thrive in Philadelphia.

-They have a good team. All they need is a quarterback who is not Sanchez, Nick Foles or one the Detmers.

-Philadelphia helped Michael Vick resurrect his career, and he was eventually embraced in many quarters.

-Fans of the Giants, Washington and the Cowboys would LOVE to root against Winston.”

-When are the Giants going to get some cheerleaders?

-I wonder if my stomach could digest anymore chicken wreath.

Yes, those are the kind of thoughts that can preoccupy a fan when they’re watching the Giants play the Eagles in Week 5 or Week 17

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