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Eagles-Giants: With or without his top receivers, Carson Wentz is on a roll | Paul Domowitch

Saquon Barkley ran all over the Eagles last year as a rookie. But they did a good job on him three weeks ago in a come-from-behind overtime win. Can their third-ranked run defense contain him again Sunday and help the Eagles get into the playoffs? A look at the numbers.

Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz will try to avoid being a sitting ducks to the Giants on Sunday.
Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz will try to avoid being a sitting ducks to the Giants on Sunday.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

Carson Wentz is hot. How hot? Glad you asked. A look at the Eagles quarterback’s numbers and other pertinent data heading into Sunday’s big game against the Giants:

Wentz update

— Wentz has a 104.5 passer rating in the last three games. That includes a 70.6 completion percentage, six touchdown passes and no interceptions.

— Wentz hasn’t thrown an interception in 133 pass attempts. He hasn’t thrown one in 10 of his 15 starts and has thrown multiple interceptions in a game just twice — two v. the Falcons in Week 2 and two v. the Seahawks in Week 12.

— Wentz has the league’s eighth best interception percentage (1.2). That’s the best of his career. He’s thrown just seven picks in 567 pass attempts. He has lost seven fumbles, however. That’s tied for the second most in the league behind Giants rookie Daniel Jones’ 10.

— Wentz has a plus-19 touchdowns-to-interceptions differential. That’s the seventh best in the league behind only Lamar Jackson (+30), Russell Wilson (+24), Aaron Rodgers (+22), Patrick Mahomes (+21) and Drew Brees (+20).

— Eleven of Wentz’s 25 touchdown passes and just one of his seven interceptions have been thrown on third down. Wentz is 10th in third-down passing (97.1).

— He’s thrown just two red zone interceptions in 266 career pass attempts inside the 20. Both were against Washington — one last season in a Week 11 win and another in 2016, his rookie season. Both picks were by the same player: Josh Norman. He’s attempted 68 passes inside the 20 this season without an interception.

— Wentz has a 58.8 red-zone completion percentage. That’s his lowest since his rookie season (48.8). But it’s still tied for the seventh highest in the league among quarterbacks with at least 40 red-zone pass attempts. The six in front of him: Brees (71.7), Jared Goff (66.1), Jimmy Garoppolo (64.3), Jackson (63.3), Derek Carr (60.7) and Aaron Rodgers (60.5).

— Wentz has a 133.4 fourth-quarter passer rating in the last three games, including an 81.0 completion percentage. In his first 12 starts this season, he had a 70.9 fourth-quarter/overtime passer rating (58.4 completion percentage).

The Saquon challenge

— Slowed by an ankle injury that sidelined him for three games and had him playing on one foot for several others, Giants running back Saquon Barkley hasn’t put up the kind of extraordinary numbers he did as a rookie when he rushed for 1,307 yards and led the league in yards from scrimmage (2,028). But he’s looked like the old Saquon the last two weeks in wins over Miami and Washington. He had 422 yards from scrimmage in the two games, averaging 6.5 yards per carry and 7.8 yards per touch. Sixteen of his 54 touches (carries and receptions) in those two games gained eight yards or more.

— The Eagles held him to 66 rushing yards on 17 carries and one yard on three receptions in Week 14. That was considerably better than last year when Barkley torched the Eagles for 371 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns in two games. Barkley averaged 8.9 yards per carry and 8.8 yards per touch in those two games.

— The Eagles are third in run defense (88.0 yards per game) and seventh in opponent rush average (4.0). They have given up 100 or more rushing yards in a game just four times this season — 122 v. Vikings, 189 in the first Dallas game, 174 v. Seahawks and 101 two weeks ago to Washington. They lost three of those four games. Last year, they gave up 100 or more rushing yards in a game seven times. They won just three of those games.

— They’ve allowed two 100-yard rushers this season — to the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott (22-111) in Week 7 and the Seahawks’ Rashaad Penny (14-129) in Week 12.

— Barkley is averaging 4.6 yards per carry overall this season, but just 3.43 on first down. In the last two games, however, he has averaged 4.73 yards per carry on first down. The Eagles are tied for 12th in first down opponent rush average (4.1). But in the last four games, they’ve held opponents to 2.8 yards per carry on first down.

At the half

— The Eagles have led at the half in just seven of 15 games this season. They’ve won five of those seven. The only games they’ve lost when they were ahead at the half were against the Patriots and Dolphins. They had a 10-9 halftime lead against the Patriots, failed to score in the second half and lost 17-10. They led the Dolphins at the half, 21-14, and lost 37-31.

— They’ve won just three of the eight games in which they’ve trailed at the half. One of them was their 23-17 overtime win over the Giants in Week 14. They gave up 17 points, 226 yards and nine first downs in the first half. In the second half: zero points, 29 yards and two first downs.

— The Eagles have given up 198 points in the first half. That’s the 10th most in the NFL. None of the nine teams that have given up more have more than six wins. Five have four wins or less. None are going to the playoffs. The combined record of those nine teams: 37-96-2.

— After giving up first-possession points to their opponents in six of the first seven games, the Eagles haven’t allowed any in the last eight games. Jim Schwartz’s defense has given up just four first downs and held opponents to 2.0 yards per play on their first possession.

— Wentz has an 87.6 passer rating in the first half this season (61.8 completion percentage, 12 TDs, 3 INTs). He has a 98.9 passer rating in the second half (66.8 completion percentage, 14 TDs, 4 INTs.

— The Eagles have averaged 4.1 yards per carry in the first half and 4.5 in the second half.

This and that

— The Eagles have been running more plays from under center lately. In their last three games, 35.1 percent of their plays (78 of 222) have been from under center, compared to 26.1 percent (210 of 803) in their first 12 games. They’re also throwing more from under center. Forty of their 78 plays from under center in the last three games (51.3 percent) have been pass plays. In their first 12 games, just 57 of 210 under-center plays (27.1 percent) were pass plays.

— The Eagles’ defense hasn’t played nearly as well on the road this season as it has at home. The Eagles have given up an average of 12.3 more points per game on the road (29.0) than they have at home (16.7). Their home average is the best in the league. Their road average is the fourth worst. They’ve given up 388.7 yards per game on the road compared to just 273.7 at home. They’ve allowed opponents to convert just 29.0 percent of their third downs at the Linc, but 41.5 percent on the road.

Personnel matters

— In the last three games, the Eagles have used 12- (1RB, 2TE, 2WR) and 13-personnel (1RB, 3TE, 1WR) on 182 of 229 plays (79.5 percent). For the season, the Eagles have used 12- and 13-personnel on 54.4 percent of their offensive plays. That’s far and away the most of the Doug Pederson era.

— Wentz has a 104.6 passer rating in the last four games with 12-personnel, including a 69.2 completion percentage, 7.2 yards per attempts, five touchdown passes and no interceptions in 114 attempts.

— The Eagles have used two-running back personnel groupings 21 times in the last three games. They used them a total of nine times in the first 12 games.