Adding a Wrinkle, the Giants and Eagles Look Spry

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Giants will play the Philadelphia Eagles for the 163rd time Sunday night. Only the Washington Redskins have lined up more against the Giants - 165 times.

Since 1933, Giants-Eagles games have produced all kinds of results, from 56-0 to 7-6. The teams have split four playoff games. There have been seven overtime games, 16 shutouts and two ties. From 1938 to 1942, the Giants won nine consecutive times. From 1975 to 1981, the Eagles won 12 successive games. But in all those matchups - the Giants hold an 84-76-2 edge - it is unlikely that the Giants and the Eagles have entered a game with each team sporting similar up-tempo offenses that race from play to play and feature spread-it-out, pass-happy formations.

The Giants and the Eagles, two pillars of the N.F.C. East and its famed, grind-it-out style of play, could play for two quarters with neither team bothering to pause for even one huddle between plays.

What in the name of Sam Huff and Chuck Bednarik - or Phil Simms and Ron Jaworski - has happened to the Giants-Eagles rivalry?

Some people are blaming Eagles Coach Chip Kelly for it all: He made a big splash last season with an offense operating at breakneck speed. But Kelly insists he did not introduce the hyperactive pace overtaking the N.F.L.

'I didn't bring that to the N.F.L.,' Kelly said Wednesday. 'They were doing that long before I was here. The Buffalo Bills did it back in the '90s, Sam Wyche is probably the first guy that did it way back with the Bengals back in the day. I didn't bring anything to the league; I didn't have a conference and tell guys what they should be doing and shouldn't be doing.'

Even as an old-school team like the Giants goes to an up-tempo offense, Kelly sees no connection.

'I don't think it has anything to do with what we're doing,' he said.

Maybe, but during the last off-season, the Giants went out and signed as many cornerbacks and safeties as they could afford - perhaps as a way to defend against the fleet corps of receivers on the roster of the Eagles, who were the N.F.C. East champions last season. The Giants also hired an offensive coordinator (Ben McAdoo), whose offense is unquestionably in the new age, West Coast wing of philosophical offensive scheming.

The Giants (3-2) turned a page. And they did it quickly, winning three straight games, and without a long huddle to discuss what to do.

Eli Manning has gotten passes off at a startlingly swift pace - an average of 2.25 seconds per attempt (from snap of the ball to the ball leaving his hand), according to Pro Football Focus. That is the second best in the league, trailing only his brother, Peyton, who averages 2.15 seconds.

The Giants run their fast-moving offense so often that a huddle between plays occurs roughly 30 percent of the time - and many are late in a game when the Giants have taken a lead and are nursing the game clock.

'We've shaken some things up and that's probably a good thing,' Manning said. 'We've had good receivers over the years and have had good runners, but I think we probably get to more sets now where we do have four receivers on the field and a tight end.

'That puts some pressure on the defense,' he added. 'You kind of put all your weapons out there at the same time. We do that more now.'

As they did last year, the Eagles have a similar approach. And while they have a 4-1 record, their points total has benefited from several special-teams touchdowns and scores created by defensive turnovers.

But LeSean McCoy, who led the N.F.L. in rushing in 2013 with 1,607 yards, is averaging only 2.9 yards per carry and has only 273 rushing yards. Overall the Eagles are averaging under 100 rushing yards per game.

'They've had some injuries in the offensive line, let's face it, they have,' said Giants Coach Tom Coughlin. 'But I still see the production. They've gotten the job done. They could be 5-0.'

Proving that there is no love lost between these old, and close, rivals, Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said on Thursday that the Eagles were 4-1 but, 'could have easily been 0-4.'

'The games were close,' Pierre-Paul said.

McCoy, speaking on a conference call with New York reporters this week, tried to preach calm.

'We're getting some guys healthy,' McCoy said. 'I think in a couple of games we'll be back to normal.'

Criticism for the Eagles' offensive woes has spread to last season's breakout star, quarterback Nick Foles, who has eight touchdown passes and five interceptions after throwing 27 touchdown passes and just two interceptions last season.

'People will criticize anywhere or anybody,' McCoy said. 'I think Nick is playing fine. At the end of the day, he is our starting quarterback and is making plays and he is continuing to lead this team to victories.'

And it goes without saying that the Eagles have not abandoned their hurry-up offense.

'I don't think they're much different,' Coughlin said, adding with a smile: 'They don't sit still.'

The Giants defense might be more acclimated to a fast-paced offense as it has been practicing against such an attack since May when they began to install McAdoo's offense.

'That will help some,' Giants safety Antrel Rolle said. 'But I think we had a handle on them last time we played didn't we?'

When the teams last met, on Oct. 27, 2013, in Philadelphia, the Giants won, 15-7, and the Eagles gained only 200 yards offensively.

'There it is,' Rolle said.

Left unmentioned was the game three weeks earlier, when Philadelphia won by 36-21 and the Eagles exploded for 439 total yards. 'It's a great rivalry,' Pierre-Paul said. 'I don't care how fast both offenses are playing. I don't care about any of that. The big thing is that we're going at it again. What's it been, like a 100 times.'

Told that it would actually be the 163rd meeting, Pierre-Paul looked surprised.

'Whoa,' he said.

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