New York Giants safety Antoine Bethea would love to “play spoiler” and ruin the Eagles’ postseason chances this Sunday.
The regular season is almost over for the New York Giants. Their final game will take place this Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, concluding what’s been a third consecutive losing season.
New York essentially has nothing to play for when it comes to the standings. If they win, they end the year at 5-11, the same as 2018. If they lose, they end up at 4-12. They’re finishing in third place in the division either way. So the motivation is non-existent, right?
Absolutely wrong. This Sunday, if the Giants defeat the Eagles and the Cowboys defeat the Redskins, it eliminates Philly from postseason contention. Big Blue’s players are aware of this and would love to make something like that happen.
“We want to play spoiler,” safety Antoine Bethea said, per Garrett Stepien of SNY. “We want to send them home. We’re not going to the playoffs, so we definitely want to get this dub and knock them out.”
The Giants previously lost to the Eagles in their first meeting back in Week 14. Despite being up 17-3 at halftime, Philly outscored them 20-0 after the break and won 23-17 in overtime.
One player that’s yet to play against the Eagles this year (or in his career, for that matter) is quarterback Daniel Jones. The rookie sat with a high ankle sprain in the first meeting. Overall, the first-year player is motivated to perform against the division rival for the inaugural time and ultimately end the season with a victory.
“Any division game like this — the last game of the season — we have a chance to end it on a high note,” he said. “And yeah, it’s a big game for a lot of reasons. But we have an opportunity for us to finish strong and put a few wins together here at the end of the season. So we’re excited and I think we’ll be looking forward to getting out there Sunday.”
The Giants and Eagles will kick off at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday.
