PHILADELPHIA – Notes and statistics from the Giants' 22-16 loss to the Eagles in Lincoln Financial Field:
*The Giants finished their regular season with a 9-7-1 record, good for third place in the NFC East and the sixth seed in the conference playoffs. They will visit the Minnesota Vikings next week in an NFC Wild Card Game, date and time to be announced. The Giants lost in Minneapolis on Christmas Eve, 27-24, on a last-play field goal.
*The Giants' nine victories are their highest total since they won 11 games in 2016, the last season they qualified for the playoffs. They won just four games in 2021; their five-game improvement is their largest in one season since they jumped from six victories in 2015 to 11 in 2016.
*The Giants finished 4-4 on the road, their best record away from MetLife Stadium since they were 4-4 in 2016.
*The Giants finished 1-4-1 in NFC East games, defeating Washington on Dec. 18. They are the first team to make the playoffs with no more than one division victory since the 1989 Pittsburgh Steelers, who were a wild card team at 9-7 despite going 1-5 in the AFC Central.
*The Eagles swept the season series from the Giants for the first time since 2019.
*The Giants' inactive list included several of the team's most valuable players, includeing running back Saquon Barkley, left tackle Andrew Thomas, defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence and safety Julian Love, plus three players with injuries, defensive lineman Leonard Williams (neck), linebacker Azeez Ojulari (ankle), and cornerback Adoree' Jackson (knee). Jackson missed the final seven games.
In addition to the inactive players, the regulars who were in uniform but did not play were quarterback Daniel Jones, wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins, tight end Daniel Bellinger, offensive linemen Jon Feliciano and Mark Glowinski, linebackers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Jaylon Smith, and defensive backs Fabian Moreau, Darnay Holmes and Xavier McKinney. Backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor also did not play.
*The starting offense included quarterback Davis Webb, running back Matt Breida, wide receivers Kenny Golladay and Marcus Johnson, tight ends Nick Vannett and Lawrence Cager, and tackles Tyre Phillips (left) and Evan Neal, guards Ben Bredeson and Jack Anderson and center Nick Gates. Neal was the only offensive line starter to open the game in his customary position. Matt Peart replaced Neal in the second half.
*Defensively, the Giants started the game with linemen Justin Ellis and Ryder Anderson, linebackers Landon Collins, Oshane Ximines, Jarrad Davis and Tomon Fox, and defensive backs Nick McCloud, Rodarius Williams, Cor'Dale Flott and Jason Pinnock.
Bredeson, Gates and McCloud had each started seven previous games, the highest total among those 22 players. Pinnock and Belton were next with four starts apiece, followed by Golladay, Ximines and Ellis with three.
View rare photos of the Giants' history playing on Wild Card Weekend in the NFL Playoffs.
*Webb, elevated off the practice squad on Saturday, played the entire game at quarterback in his first extensive NFL action. He entered the NFL as the Giants' third-round draft choice in 2017 and has spent most of his career on the practice squads of the Giants, Jets and Bills. Webb had played in just one previous game – he had four snaps on Nov. 14, 2021, for the Bills against the Jets. The 40 passes he threw were his first in the NFL.
*Webb completed 23 of those throws for 168 yards, a 25-yard touchdown to Kenny Golladay and no interceptions for a passer rating of 75.8. He also rushed for 41 yards on six carries, including a 14-yard touchdown.
*Webb wasn't sacked, but in a statistical oddity, tight end Lawrence Cager and holder Jamie Gillan were.
*The Giants tried a tight end option pass in the third quarter, but Cager was sacked for a two-yard loss by Kyzir White. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cager is the first Giants tight end ever sacked.
*The Giants' first fake field goal attempt in more than two years did not end well. On the final play of the first quarter, Graham Gano ostensibly lined up to try a 47-yard field goal. But after receiving the snap, holder Gillan jumped up to attempt a pass. But he was quickly sacked by cornerback Zech McPhearson for an 11-yard loss.
It was the Giants' first attempt to gain yardage on a fake field goal since Dec. 20, 2020, vs. Cleveland. On a fourth-and-five from the Browns' eight-yard line on the game's first series, the field goal team lined up and then shifted - Gano and one lineman went right, while the other linemen went left. The ball was snapped to who threw an incompletion into the end zone that was intended for Gates, who was triple covered.
*Breida made his first start for the Giants and his first since Nov. 29, 2020, for Miami against the Jets in MetLife Stadium. He ran for 28 yards on four carries and caught a career-high seven passes for 12 yards.
*Gary Brightwell led the Giants with career-high totals of 60 yards on 11 carries, including a career-long 25-yarder.
*Cager, who entered the game with career totals of seven receptions for 84 yards, led the Giants with eight receptions for 69 yards.
*Golladay started for the first time since the victory against Houston on Nov. 13. He caught his first passes since Nov. 20 against Detroit. He scored on a one-handed catch on a 25-yard throw from Webb with 1:38 remaining in the game. It was his first touchdown in 26 games with the Giants and first since Oct. 4, 2020, for Detroit vs. New Orleans, on a 15-yard pass from Matthew Stafford.
*Golladay tied his season high with two receptions, for 29 yards.
*Gates made his second start of the season at center. He also played there on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas. It was his 19th career start there. Gates played left guard in the previous five games.
*Jack Anderson started his second game for the Giants and the second of his career at right guard. He started at left guard at Dallas on Thanksgiving. His previous start at right guard was for the Eagles, against the Cowboys on Jan. 8, 2022.
*When Bredeson moved to center in the second half, Wyatt Davis, who was signed on Dec. 28, made his Giants debut at left guard.
*The Giants started no regulars on defense.
*Belton had the game's only takeaway, an interception of a Jalen Hurts pass in the end zone on the first series of the third quarter.
*McCloud was credited with his first 1.5 career sacks and had five tackles (three solo).
*Jarrad Davis started in his Giants debut and had 10 tackles (six solo), including a half-sack.
*Rookie linebacker Micah McFadden had seven tackles (six solo), including his second sack of the season and first since Oct. 30 in Seattle.
*Rodarius Williams, a second-year corner, and Fox, a rookie free agent linebacker, made their first career starts. Williams led the Giants with 10 tackles, all unassisted, and Fox had four solo stops, including one for a loss.
*Third-year linebackers Cam Brown and Carter Coughlin, who had zero and three defensive snaps, respectively entering the game, saw action on defense.
*Defensive tackle Jack Heflin made his Giants debut, a day after he was elevated from the practice squad. It was Heflin's fifth NFL game and first since Dec. 25, 2021, when he played for Green Bay vs. Cleveland.
*The Giants trailed at halftime, 16-0. It was their second-largest deficit after two quarters this season. In the teams' first meeting on Dec. 11, the Giants were down at the half, 24-7.
*The Giants were scoreless at halftime for the first time since their season opener in Tennessee, where they trailed, 13-0, before rallying for a 21-20 victory. They did not score a touchdown in the opening half for the first time since Sept. 26, vs. Dallas, when they were behind, 6-3, and lost, 23-16.
View rare photos from the all-time series between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings