Giants' Eli Manning has system down

EVERY PLAYER on both teams either remembers or has heard that the Eagles beat the Giants, 27-0, in a prime-time game, exactly one year and one week ago, at Lincoln Financial Field.

The crushing defeat had huge consequences for the Giants. They lost wideout Victor Cruz to a horrible knee injury - Cruz hasn't played since, and won't play Monday night - and the beating sent them on a swoon that ballooned into losing seven games in a row. A team that had looked like a contender, winning three in a row by an average of 18 points coming into that night, finished up 6-10.

What did the big win mean for the 2014 Eagles? Pretty much absolutely nothing, as it turned out. It's odd to look back and remember that the only shutout of the Chip Kelly-Bill Davis era - the Eagles' first shutout since 1996 - tied the Birds for the best record in the NFL that week, at 5-1, with Dallas and San Diego. It's odd to look back and remember that the 2014 Eagles' defense was actually capable of shutting out anyone, at any time.

But Eli Manning, still learning new coordinator Ben McAdoo's system, was under pressure all night, sacked six times, with no running game to help him. (Rushing yards were 203-86 in the Eagles' favor.)

A year later, even without Cruz, Manning looks like a different QB.

"He's getting the ball out of his hand quickly," Chip Kelly said last week, after noting that this is the second year for Manning with McAdoo. "He can recognize how people are defending their team; if the coverage rolls one way, he's throwing the football the other way. He doesn't stay on a receiver and say, 'Hey, I've got to throw the ball to this guy, so I'm going to wait for him to get open.' He's really going rapidly through his progressions . . . I really think his comfort level is very, very good in that offense right now."

McAdoo told reporters last week that he thinks Manning is "a lot more confident in what he's being asked to do. I think things are coming to him a lot more naturally."

Corner Byron Maxwell said he expects to be very busy; Manning set a franchise record with 41 completions against the 49ers last week. He led the NFL with 197 pass attempts heading into this week's games.

"You know he's going to throw the ball. It's one of those days, as a DB, you look forward to it," Maxwell said. He might look forward to it more if the hamstring injury that has Odell Beckham Jr. officially "questionable" keeps Beckham sidelined, or limits him.

Outside linebacker Brandon Graham seemed to sense last week that a half-dozen sacks of Manning might not be possible Monday night.

"We just can't get frustrated," Graham said. "We've just got to make sure, that when the opportunity does come, and he doesn't get it out fast, that we be there . . . make sure you keep going," Graham said.

Listening to Kelly and to McAdoo, the thought occurred - wonder if Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford, in addition to needing time to get used to playing again, following two years lost to ACL tears, also might need another year in Kelly's offense to be everything the Eagles hoped? A sneaking suspicion has long lurked that this is really a two-year plan, though no one will say so; such speculation surfaced when Kelly traded away Brandon Boykin for a draft pick just before training camp.

"He's in a system, it takes a lot for people in systems to get used to it," Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said of Bradford last week, after praising Bradford's accuracy. Spagnuolo was the Rams' coach when they drafted Bradford first overall in 2010.

Bradford is here at least in part because Kelly lost faith in Nick Foles to be the difference-making quarterback he needs to win a Super Bowl. Maybe there was a hint of foreshadowing on that Oct. 12 night against the Giants, when Foles, with a 20-0 lead, threw two interceptions in three possessions, the last a terrible early third-quarter pick that gave the Giants the ball at the Eagles' 21.

The Giants seemed to have scored to get back into the game, but had the touchdown nullified by a penalty. Then, fourth-and-goal from the Eagles' 3, Manning had Cruz in the back of the end zone, but as Cruz extended over Boykin, he ruptured his right patellar tendon, and the ball flew out of his grasp, Cruz collapsing in pain.

"He dropped the ball because he was hurt. He was grabbing his knee before he even hit the ground," Boykin said.

Cruz rode a cart down the tunnel, the Eagles then drove 97 yards for the game's final touchdown, and that was that.

A bye week and two games later, Foles and inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans would go down for the season during a victory at Houston. On Dec. 7, the 9-3 Eagles would watch Seattle come into the Linc and do to them what the Eagles had done to the Giants - show them vividly how not-very-good they were, previous results notwithstanding. Dispirited losses to Dallas and Washington followed, the defensive backfield dissolving into chaos. A season-ending shootout win at the Giants, both teams already eliminated from postseason consideration, was even more meaningless than the earlier victory had been.

Graham, an Eagle since 2010, was asked if he has a favorite moment or game from the rivalry. "When we shut 'em out last year," he replied.

"Whenever you can keep that zero up, any week in the NFL, man you've worked your butt off," Graham said. "I just remember us on the sideline, having fun from the get-go."

An informal survey of players who have been here a while - and there aren't that many - revealed only two choices for favorite Giants memory: last year's shutout, or the miracle comeback of Dec. 19, 2010, at the Meadowlands, when the Eagles emerged from a 31-10 deficit midway through the fourth quarter to win, 38-31, on DeSean Jackson's walkoff punt return.

"I remember sitting on the sidelines saying, 'I can't believe we're losing like this,' " recalled tight end Brent Celek, who caught a 65-yard touchdown pass from Michael Vick to begin the journey. "Obviously, we thought the game was going to be tied going into overtime, but then DeSean took it back for a touchdown. It was crazy."

That happy memory has one thing in common with last year's shutout of the Giants: It turned out to mean absolutely zilch. The 2010 Eagles lost their final two regular-season games, and their playoff encounter with the Packers.

Maybe the moral here is to live in the moment Monday night, and not get too caught up in what it all might mean.

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian