3 causes for concern in Week 18

The New York Giants will end their extremely disappointing season on Sunday when they travel to face the Philadelphia Eagles.

With little to play for, the Eagles are expected to rest their starters against Big Blue on Sunday, including former Giant and the NFL’s leading rusher Saquon Barkley.

The Giants are coming off their first win in months after beating the Indianapolis Colts at home this past Sunday. The result resulted in a mixed reaction from fans given the fall in draft stock that the win cost Big Blue.

Earlier this week, the Giants opened up as 3.5-point road underdogs for their trip to Philadelphia.

Here are three causes for concern ahead of the Giants’ Week 18 matchup against the Eagles.

Luke Hales/Getty Images

Battle of backups

Generally speaking, the Giants have been playing the bulk of the season with their backups. On Sunday, they will face off against a different version of the Eagles than they saw earlier in the season. They will be without many of their starters including Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts.

However, Hurts didn’t play last week and Philadelphia still put up 40-plus points while holding the Dallas Cowboys to just seven.

The Giants may have two of the best players in the game, Malik Nabers and Tyrone Tracy Jr., who will suit up on Sunday. But, collectively as a unit, the Eagles’ backups are a much stronger team than what the Giants have marched out on the field since the bye week.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Hostile environment

The Giants have had little success against the Eagles in recent memory and even less when playing on the road in the hostile environment in Philadelphia. Given the Giants’ record, the game down the New Jersey turnpike will have even fewer Giants fans in the stands than usual.

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Giants’ offensive ineptitude

Certainly, the Giants showed an explosive performance on offense this past Sunday. However, given the 10-game losing streak that came before that, it’s hard to imagine them putting back-to-back positive offensive performances together.

The Giants have been one of the worst teams in football on offense before Week 17 and it’s going to be hard for the Giants to replicate it again against the Eagles with Drew Lock under center.