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Philadelphia Eagles fans are anxious for their showdown with their division rival New York Giants on Sunday night. The Giants are coming off of a 36-7 beatdown of the Carolina Panthers, their best showing of the year. The Giants have looked solid and are off to a 2-1 record thus far, leaving them tied with the Eagles atop the NFC East.
To take a closer look at the hated division rivals we have asked Simon Garron-Caine of Giants101.com to shed some light onto what to expect from the G-men this Sunday night.
Is Andre Brown the real deal? What will the the RB situation be this week against the Eagles, Brown or Bradshaw?
"Brown is a physical north and south runner with adequate patience and vision. He's shown the ability to break arm tackles and make the first defender miss, and he has above-average-but-not-quite-breakaway speed. He's looked like the complete package of tools, although he doesn't have elite talent and no one should ever mistake him, athletically, for guys like Adrian Peterson, Arian Foster or, ya know, LeSean McCoy."
Tom Coughlin said Wednesday that Ahmad Bradshaw will be the "starter" on Sunday in Philly, but he added the team "reserves the right" to go with the hot hand and any Giants fan will bet you 100-to-1 that the hot hand is Brown. Bradshaw might be on the field for the first drive or two, but we'd be surprised if Brown didn't have at least as many, if not more, touches than Bradshaw. Put another way: I'm starting Brown, not Bradshaw, in my fantasy league.
Simon also credited much of the ground success to an improved offensive line. The Eagles front seven should have their hands full with this duo and revamped offensive line.
Who is the go to receiver for Eli Manning?
"As for Eli's favorite receiver, we'll go with Victor Cruz for a few reasons: A) on 3rd-and-6, if I had to bet before the snap where the ball is going, I'd bet Cruz every time, B) he sees the most targets because he runs a lot of short and intermediate routes, and C) he sees a lot less double teams than Hakeem Nicks. But the last point is probably the most important. Eli really does live up to the cliche of "throw to the open receiver,"
Cruz is the favorite receiver, but do not sleep on Giants new tight end, Martellus Bennett. Simon expects Bennett's success to continue as he grows more and more comfortable with Eli.
How good is the Giants defense? They blanketed Carolina, but gave up 34 to the Bucs and 24 to the Cowboys. How healthy is the secondary?
"We don't know. They started off looking really bad (in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys), then were up-and-down (against Tampa Bay), and last week looked fantastic (against Cam Newton and the Panthers). But don't go reading too quickly into that upward trend, because some of us wonder if the Panthers beatdown had more to do with the Panthers coming out flat than with the Giants fixing problems.
The cornerbacks seem to be taking turns getting hurt, with Prince Amukamara spraining an ankle, and Michael Coe and Jayron Hosley tweaking hamstrings after Terrell Thomas and Brian Witherspoon hit injured reserve before the season started. Faithful starter Corey Webster's rough season got rougher when he broke a hand last week, but he is expected to play with a cast. The group is actually very talented, and Webster, Amukamara and Coe should be good to go this week. Keep an eye on Thursday and Friday's practice reports regarding Hosley. He's the one whose status is up in the air and whose presence on Sunday should not be underestimated. He's a physical, aggressive kid who has already flashed. He's also much, much better than the next guy up, Justin Tryon, who will likely be an instant target of Vick's if he is on the field.
Simon also commented that the "vaunted defensive line" has largely been quiet with the exception of Jason Pierre-Paul (JPP).
Will the Giants respond in a rowdy Eagles stadium under the Sunday Night Lights?
We actually wrote a piece earlier this week saying this game had all the ingredients of a trap game for Big Blue: A) Big victory the week before? Check. B) Angry opponent that got kicked in the mouth last week? Check. C) Divisional rival that usually owns us? Check. We've seen Tom Coughlin's teams fall into a trap too many times to say it won't happen. That said, it's pretty easy for us to just trust in Eli at this point, regardless of when or where.
Eagles nation hopes Simon's trap game criteria comes to fruition.
The Giants win if…?
Because Vick's been so turnover-prone the last few weeks, we're tempted say "win the turnover battle," but that seems like a copout since that's always a pretty good key to victory.The Giants will win if they can contain LeSean McCoy and Michael Vick on the ground in the second half. It's hard to quantify, but you know what I mean: those backbreaking drives where you can't seem to stop them on 3rd-and-2, or make the big tackle. A big part of the Giants Week 1 loss to Dallas was the inability to contain Demarco Murray and get the Cowboys offense off the field in the fourth quarter when we desperately needed the ball back. The Giants have to feel pretty comfortable with the ball in Eli's hands in the fourth quarter. Sustaining long drives with McCoy and Vick is the best way to keep the ball out of his hands.
Vick has been so good at keeping those late game drives alive this season and he will have to keep it going to beat the Giants. Two days till kickoff!!
Thanks again to Simon Garron-Caire and giants101.com for their help in bringing you this insider piece. Look for more to come from other *team*101.com writers as the season progresses.
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