A familiar matchup is set for the divisional round of the playoffs, with a pair of NFC East rivals -- the top seeded Philadelphia Eagles and the No. 6 seeded New York Giants -- getting set to lock horns on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET. These teams already played each other twice this season, with the Eagles winning both.
The first game was on Dec. 11, with Philly winning 48-22 in the Week 14 matchup. They met again in Week 18 in a 22-16 victory by the Eagles.
Despite losing to them twice, Giants head coach Brian Daboll is not thinking about the past and is focusing on the challenge he has ahead of him.
When asked if the checks in the "L" column have any impact on the divisional game, Daboll said (via NFL.com), "None. It's how we go about our business this week, again, how we prepare, how we practice and then again how we play Sunday, or Saturday in this case."
As far as he sees it, this is a brand new slate and the games do not bleed together. Daboll says there are things to learn from the past matchups, but otherwise he is not putting any stake in those regular season struggles.
"Every game's a new game," he said. "Obviously, you have matchups that you've went against here over the last two times you played 'em. One week really has nothing to do with the next week, or one game has nothing with the next game, other than you take things from it, you learned from it, you try to grow from it. But it's going to be how we execute on Saturday and how we prepare throughout the week. That's our process -- it'll always be -- and that's what it'll be this week."
This Giants-Eagles games marks the 25th time in league history that a team has swept its division rival in the regular season and then played them again in the playoffs. The team that went 2-0 during the regular season went on to win the third game 15 out of 24 times. The odds are in the favor of the Eagles (who are also 7.5-point favorites via Caesars Sportsbook) but odds do not guarantee anything.
"It's a division game, so I think every division game is important," Daboll said. "We're obviously 0-2 against them this year, so we've got to do a good job this week of getting ready to play the best team in the league, the best in the NFC. ... Anytime you play a division game, it's a pretty good rivalry. Obviously, this is a pretty big one here, being so close to one another. They have a tremendous fan base, tremendous team, and I'm sure it'll be a big challenge for us."
Daboll emphasized how much work there is to do against the team and going from playing on a Sunday to a Saturday gives them one less day to prepare than in a normal week, while the Eagles were on a bye due to getting the No. 1 seed.
The Giants not only have the odds against them and two losses behind them, but they struggle when playing at Lincoln Financial Field, the stage for the divisional game. The last time the Giants won in Philadelphia was Week 8 of the 2013 season, when it was quarterbacks Eli Manning and Michael Vick leading the offenses.
