How the Eagles are preparing for Dexter Lawrence, a ‘very large human’ who dominates on the Giants’ D-line

Dexter Lawrence typically lines up and shades the opposing center. But on Christmas Day last year, when the Eagles hosted the Giants, Lawrence took a defensive snap on a third-and-4 play late in the second quarter from essentially the middle linebacker spot. Jalen Hurts gained enough yards for a first down on a drive that ended with an Eagles field goal before halftime.

It was a rather innocuous play, but it stuck in Landon Dickerson’s mind.

“It’s a look you don’t really forget,” Dickerson said Thursday.

Lawrence is a player you don’t forget. He is among the best individual players the Eagles will face this season. At 6-foot-4 and 340 pounds, he is a powerful force in the middle of the Giants’ defensive line and, at seven sacks, he’s half a sack behind Aidan Hutchinson’s league-leading 7½. No other interior lineman has more than four.

“He’s a very large human being,” Dickerson said. “He’s very quick and powerful.”

One week after the Cleveland Browns clamped down on Saquon Barkley and the Eagles’ ability to run the ball, it’s Lawrence who stands in the middle of what could be a repeat scenario. The Eagles are bringing a third different offensive line combination with them to MetLife Stadium in three games. The Giants lead the NFL in sacks at 26, four clear of Denver at the top. They will test Fred Johnson, who looks poised to start at left tackle in place of Jordan Mailata. They will pressure the Eagles’ interior, which features Dickerson, center Cam Jurgens, and right guard Mekhi Becton — a trio that has had an up-and-down start to the 2024 season.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Saquon Barkley still has friends on the Giants, but ‘Sunday is war’ when he returns to MetLife Stadium

“When you play against teams that have good players across the board that can impact a lot of game-planning stuff, you just have to work around it,” Dickerson said.

When it comes to Lawrence, Becton said the Eagles will try to come up with different things in their scheme to try to get him out of position. They will likely throw double teams his way as they have in the past.

“It’s really hard to do, but you just got to stick to your technique and know what you got to do and just do it,” Becton said.

Lawrence and former Eagles center Jason Kelce had some fierce battles since Lawrence was drafted 17th overall in 2019. Lawrence said he had some familiarity with Jurgens, Kelce’s replacement, from when Jurgens played right guard last season.

“It’s a man in front of me that has to play the same game as me,” Lawrence said Wednesday.

While the Eagles were able to squeak by the Browns on Sunday, it didn’t come easily. Cleveland had success putting bodies all around the line of scrimmage. The Browns held the Eagles to a season-low 3.2 yards per carry. The Giants have a slightly better run defense in terms of yards allowed per game than Cleveland, but it’s still in the middle of the pack. The big differentiator is the Giants’ ability to get after the quarterback, so one could expect New York to similarly crowd the line of scrimmage and apply pressure to Hurts.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Saquon Barkley says he doesn’t have anything to prove vs. Giants and focuses on a rivalry win

But Dickerson said there was no reason to guess what the Giants were going to show on Sunday.

“We see a lot of new stuff every time we play other teams,” Dickerson said. “You can sit around and guess off of what teams and coordinators have done in the past, but until you get out there on the first drive and show a specific look, you don’t know what you’re going to get.”

Jurgens said it was “a combination of a lot of different stuff” that troubled the Eagles offense up front last week. Dickerson pointed to a lack of execution and adjustments.

“Everything is fixable,” Jurgens said. “You can always get better. That’s the good thing about this game.”

Lawrence and his Giants teammates will surely put those fixes to the test.

The Eagles added two names to their injury report Thursday, and one of them would be a key loss if he can’t go Sunday: Jalen Carter.

The defensive tackle missed practice with a shoulder injury. He practiced Wednesday and was not on the injury report. Reserve cornerback Eli Ricks was also listed out Thursday with a groin injury.

Five Eagles on the active roster did not participate Thursday. The other three: Mailata (hamstring); tight end Dallas Goedert (hamstring); and cornerback Darius Slay (knee).

» READ MORE: Like Jordan Mailata, Dallas Goedert misses Eagles practice with a hamstring injury. He could be out a while.

Linebacker Oren Burks (groin), defensive tackle Milton Williams (ankle), and defensive tackle Byron Young (hamstring) were listed as limited participants. Williams did not practice Wednesday.

Edge rusher Jalyx Hunt (ankle) was limited on Wednesday but was a full participant Thursday.

Friday’s injury report after practice will include game status designations for the Giants game.

The Eagles play in Week 7 against the New York Giants. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from MetLife Stadium.