Week 6 Game Preview: Giants Face Tough Sledding Against Patriots
Watching this Thursday night game is not going to be easy. The Patriots defense leads the league in every meaningful defensive category, and the Giants are banged up on offense. This match-up is cringe-worthy.
Watching Daniel Jones play quarterback is usually fun, but likely not so much this week.
The good news is that Jones played well against last week’s Top-10 Vikings defense. This will be a greater challenge and one that Jones will certainly be up for.
The bad news is Jones will be without Sterling Shepard, Wayne Gallman, Saquon Barkley, and Evan Engram.
Is it as hopeless as it appears to be? And is there anything the coaches do to help Jones survive this toughest of tests?
We'd start by lining up fullback Elijhaa Penny at running back. As we noted in last week's Inside Football newsletter, Penny had one of his best games as a Giant, which included a lot of physical lead-blocking and blitz pickups, and some solid production.
Penny's numbers (15 yards on 3 carries) weren't eye-popping by any stretch of the imagination, but he also had a 13-yard outside run wiped off the scoresheet thanks to a penalty.
We would also give offensive lineman and jumbo tight end Nick Gates a more than a handful of snaps, throw in a few quarterbacks sneaks, slide the pocket, and max-protect for Jones when he does drop back.
With all that, the offense needs to treat every first down as a victory. Play two-yards-and-a-cloud-of-crumb-rubber football, play turnover-free and do not, repeat DO NOT fight for that extra yard.
Speaking of extra yards, the strength of this Giants team is its punting unit. It will be important for them to win the field position battle as often as possible.
This probably won't be a very entertaining game, but it can be competitive, we think, which we would take. And what we really want to see the only sight we by the time this game ends is Daniel Jones standing at the end of the game, having somehow survived a Patriots pass rush that leads the league with a whopping 24 sacks.
The Giants defensive side of the ball has a slightly better matchup, comparatively speaking.
The defense is the team’s weakest unit, but it is getting healthier this week.
Inside linebackers Alec Ogletree and Tae Davis will be back. The bad news is that neither linebackers, which is a plus. However, the bad news is neither will probably be the solution for defending the Patriots short, quick-passing game.
The Patriots offensive line, which includes old friend Marshall Newhouse, is the team’s one weak link, as it's had trouble keeping Tom Brady on his feet.
If the Giants are to compete in this game, the defense will have to take some chances upfront.
Pressure cannot come via the blitz as Brady has made beating blites into an art form. The pressure must come from the defensive front.
The Giants edge rushers might have to sell out for the pass and get in Brady’s face a few times.
The coaches should try and scheme away Brady’s first reads, force him to hold onto the ball and give the pass rush a chance to get home.
Brady has become a bit of a statue in the pocket. The defense must find him and hit him, as per Pro Football Focus, Brady has completed 31.9% of his pass attempts when pressured, putting him last among 13 quarterbacks who have taken at least 190 dropbacks.
Brady’s receiving corps lacks big playmakers, but they sure do move the sticks. Julian Edelman and James White are Brady’s primary targets.
The Patriots really haven’t run the ball all that well. We suspect they will put a greater emphasis on getting back to that this week. If so, it could help keep the score down.
Once again, if the Giants are to be competitive in this game, it has to be a low-scoring affair.
The Patriots are undefeated because their defense is very good and their schedule, surprisingly, has been very soft.
Their four blowout wins have come against three winless plus a one-win opponent at the time of the meeting. Buffalo (4-1) took the Pats down to the wire in a 16-10 game, which the Patriots essentially won on defense.
If the Giants defense can somehow keep Brady and company out of the end zone early, they can keep it close.
It will then be up to Jones to keep from imploding out there.
We see the Patriots defense dominating and forcing turnovers, as their secondary is probably the best in the league.
Whichever way this game goes, the good news is that it will be another learning experience for Jones--and isn’t that what 2019 is all about?
