The Philadelphia Eagles got a much needed week of rest as the one seed in the NFC during the Wild Card round. But with the Divisional Round now on the horizon, the Eagles will have to begin preparing for their upcoming matchup with the New York Giants. Philly cannot afford to take New York lightly after their impressive upset victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card round.

The Eagles beat the Giants in both of their meetings this season, although their victory in Week 18 came when the Giants were resting most of their starters. Prior meetings play a big role in playoff matchups (just look at how close some of the Wild Card games were) and New York certainly has a lot of tape on Philadelphia that they will be looking to use in this game.

Regardless, the Eagles are going to be favorites to win this game, and rightfully so based on how good they looked throughout the regular season. But if Philly want to beat the New York, they could use a big game from this surprise X-Factor, so let's pick out who that player is and see why they could end up having such a big impact on this game.

Eagles X-Factor vs. Giants: T.J. Edwards

The Giants are coming off a game in which they managed to get a sterling effort out of quarterback Daniel Jones in the air. Jones carved up a weak Vikings secondary all game long, and without his strong outing, the Giants would not have been able to pick up their upset victory over Minnesota.

Against the Eagles, it's going to be a lot tougher for Jones to have as good of a game in the air. Philly has a strong secondary and one of the deepest pass rushes in the game. Jones has been an improved passer this season, but the Giants are going to have to lean on their primary strength on offense, which is their rushing attack.

The Giants have one of the best running backs in the game in Saquon Barkley, and they are becoming more and more comfortable using Jones as a rusher, which was on full display against Minnesota on Sunday. The Eagles run defense is middle of the pack, so it's pretty obvious what New York is going to try to do in this game.

For that reason, T.J. Edwards becomes an extremely important piece of the Eagles game plan on defense. Edwards put together the best season of his career at the center of the Eagles defense as a middle linebacker, racking up a team-high 159 tackles, ten of which went for a loss, two sacks, five quarterback hits, seven passes defended, and a fumble recovery.

Playing in the middle of the Eagles defense, Edwards is going to play a massive role in whether or not the Giants have a successful day on offense. Edwards is a tackling machine, making him a strong player in Philadelphia's run defense. While Philly has a lot of good pass rushers, they don't have nearly as many strong run defenders, which makes Edwards even more important.

Edwards is also going to have to keep track of Jones for much of this game as well. The threat of Jones' running is real, and Edwards is physical enough and fast enough to not just stay with Jones, but also bring him down when he gets loose. Improvised plays are where Jones can wreak some real havoc, and it's likely going to be up to Edwards to spy on him on a decent portion of passing plays.

The Eagles will probably have a good shot at beating New York even if they manage to string together some successful drives on offense, but Edwards can really tilt the scales in Philadelphia's favor. He has the ability to limit both Barkley and Jones on the ground, and in a game where the Eagles secondary is likely to pounce on Jones, that makes Edwards all the more important.

Edwards wasn't at his best in either of the Eagles two games against the Giants this season, but Jones and Barkley didn't play in Week 18, and in Week 14, Philadelphia's offense was getting whatever it wanted, so it didn't matter. But the playoffs in the NFL are a completely different animal, and you can bet the Giants aren't going to make things easy for Philadelphia in this game.

New York executed their offensive game plan to perfection against the Vikings, and while it will be a lot tougher to accomplish their game plan against the Eagles, you can bet head coach Brian Daboll is going to have a few tricks up his sleeve. Edwards is going to be crucial to at least limiting the Giants ability to get into a rhythm on offense, and if he can keep them quiet on the ground, this game could end up becoming a blowout for the Eagles.