The Giants.com crew reacts to the 28-3 loss to the Eagles in Week 7:

John Schmeelk: A couple weeks ago in this same space, I wrote how the Giants appeared to have solved many of their problems in the trenches with the moves they made this offseason. They took a step backward on Sunday.

Without Andrew Thomas, the Giants allowed eight sacks after giving up only nine sacks in their previous five games. The line also failed to get the rushing attack going, gaining only 76 rushing yards on 18 carries. Running backs accounted for only 41 of those yards on 11 carries, which comes to under four yards per carry.

On the other side, 134 of Saquon Barkley's 176 yards came on only three rushes. On Barkley's 14 other carries, he ran for only 42 yards. Those three game-changing plays led to three of the Eagles' four touchdowns. They lost the game for the Giants. Big plays lead to touchdowns, and touchdowns win games.

The Steelers are the Giants' next opponent and they play one of the most physical brands of football in the NFL. The Giants will have to be better up front stopping a team that wants to run the ball, and slow down a pass rush led by one of the best individual pass-rushers in the NFL in T.J. Watt. If they don't, the result on Monday night wont be much different than it was against the Eagles.

Dan Salomone: "You can't replace an Andrew Thomas." Brian Daboll said that on Wednesday, when news broke that the left tackle was done for the season after undergoing foot surgery. Up until that point, the original starting offensive line had played 100 percent of the snaps together. The Giants turned to Joshua Ezeudu, who made his eighth career start, sixth at left tackle, while keeping the rest of the linemen in their same positions. Daboll was asked Monday morning if that will be the case when the giants return to action on Monday night in Pittsburgh.

"We'll have that discussion here," Daboll said. "We've watched the tape. We're not there yet. I thought that early on there was a couple plays in there. One off of a jam and another one that could have been better. I think he settled in. It was his first time playing. So, there's some things he did better as the game went on and made some improvements. And we'll see where we're at here."

With that said, a 28-3 loss is never because of just one issue or player.

"We had one person in that that hasn't been in," Daboll said. "I'd say the communication process was good. They (the Eagles) didn't do a whole lot defensively. But the techniques and things like that, it wasn't just one person or two people. It was kind of spread out and everybody had their hand in it. There were some good things. At the end of the day, our job is to score points. We've got to work to continue to do that."

Matt Citak: After limiting the Bengals' high-flying offense to just 17 points and 13 first downs last week, the Giants struggled to contain the Eagles' talented rushing attack. The Eagles' 269 rushing yards Sunday were 54 yards more than the previous season-high allowed by the Giants and over 150 yards more than the average total the unit had allowed on the ground through the first six games. Saquon Barkley averaged over 10 yards per carry as he totaled 176 yards and a touchdown, Kenneth Gainwell got into the action with 56 yards, and Jalen Hurts got into the end zone twice. The Eagles finished the day with an average of 6.0 yards per carry, which pushed the Giants' season average to 5.4 yards allowed per carry, the highest mark in the NFL. The Eagles' dominance on the ground led to them winning the time of possession battle by a wide margin, 35:20 to 24:40. And while Hurts threw for just 114 yards, he completed 10 of 14 pass attempts with a touchdown to still finish with a 119.3 passer rating. Unlike in the first six games, the Giants' defense was unable to keep the Eagles' offense from finding the end zone once they got inside the 20-yard line, as Hurts led them to touchdowns on all three trips inside the red zone.

Philadelphia converted on just one of 13 third down attempts, which ended up leading to eight punts (although the Eagles did convert all three of their fourth down attempts). The defense has now allowed a first down on 30.1 percent of opponents' third downs, ranking as the third-best rate in the league. Additionally, the pass rush once again proved to be the strength of the defense as they racked up five sacks. Dexter Lawrence continued his torrid start with another two sacks, giving him a league-leading nine through seven games. Brian Burns and Azeez Ojulari each added a sack apiece for the second consecutive game, as well. The trio combined for 13 total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, while combining for five quarterback hits. Hurts had just 14 pass attempts and 21 dropbacks on the day, and yet PFF had the Giants down for 21 total pressures. The Giants' 31 sacks on the season are three more than the next highest team.