The Giants were knocked around in Philadelphia on Sunday, losing the game, their hopes of staying alive in the NFC East, and their rookie running back.
The Eagles delivered a 38-20 beatdown in a revenge game for New York’s blowout win over Philly in primetime two weeks earlier, while Cam Skattebo was carted off the field in the first half with a brutal ankle injury that led to him being sent to a local hospital for further evaluation.
The Giants announced the injury as a dislocated ankle for Skattebo, and they also lost Cor’Dale Flott to a concussion in a rough injury day at The Linc.
It was a nightmarish start for the Giants, who watched Saquon Barkley break off a 65-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game. It was the longest run of the former Giant’s season, and it gave the Eagles an immediate 1-0 lead.
It was just the second play from scrimmage to set the tone in Philly.
Big Blue evened things up late in the first on a six play, 52-yard drive capped off by an 18-yard reception from Skattebo, his second receiving touchdown of the season. Dart, who extended the drive with a scramble on 3rd-and-long, found a wide open Skattebo with less than three minutes to go in the opening period.
Philly quickly regained the lead with an extended 11-play drive that once again ended in a Barkley touchdown, this time a 9-yard reception from Jalen Hurts for an easy score, as Barkley leapt into the end zone for the go-ahead TD. Barkley ended the half with 107 rushing yards, averaging nearly 11 yards per carry.
New York cut into the lead with a Graham Gano 47-yard field goal, but the Eagles found the end zone again in the closing seconds of the half, with Hurts and Dallas Goedert connecting on a short slant to extend the lead to 21-10 at the half.
Worse than the score, Skattebo was carted off the field after suffering what looked like a gruesome lower leg injury. The rookie running back went up for a catch on second and long during the first half of Sunday’s game against the Eagles, and after the pass fell incomplete, the Eagles defender fell on Skattebo’s ankle, and Skattebo immediately looked to be in serious pain as the training staff ran out to check on him.
Jaxson Dart and other Giants members were clearly impacted by the injury as Skattebo was tended to and ultimately carted off the field, saluting the cheering crowd and his teammates as he was taken down the tunnel.
Hurts tossed two more touchdown passes in the fourth as the Eagles began to run away with the win. After finding Goedert again, Hurts hit Jahan Dotson for a 40-yard home run to put the game - and potentially the season for Big Blue - out of reach.
The loss kept New York from its first season sweep of the Birds since 2007.