The New York Giants are 16.5-point underdogs against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in Foxborough on Thursday night and are expected to lose miserably to Bill Belichick’s undefeated bunch.
The Giants will be playing without they three top offensive playmakers (Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard) as well as backup running back Wayne Gallman. Their defense is a poor match for the GOAT himself, Tom Brady, and the Giants’ coaches are certain to be out-prepared and outmaneuvered by the Patriots’ shrewd staff.
But football is not played on paper. The players must take the field, and when that happens, anything is possible. So, is there chance that the Giants can hang with the big dogs in this game? They can, but it won’t be easy.
There’s also the inclement weather to deal with, which could help the Giants. How? A wet football can bounce their way a few times, but you can’t count on that.
Here’s my keys to keep America watching on Thursday night.
Get to Brady’s feet
The old formula the Giants used to win two Super Bowls over Brady in the past. Brady hates a messy pocket and needs to plant his feet to throw with accuracy. The Giants have an up and coming star at nose tackle in Dexter Lawrence who will be facing off against Patriots’ backup center Ted Karras. If Lawrence can get pressure up the middle perhaps they can disrupt Brady to the point where they can force a few additional punts.
Turn the defense loose
The Giants have been playing an usually passive style of defense that has fans and experts scratching their heads. The corners are lining up light-years off the line of scrimmage and allowing receivers to get a head of steam to get into their routes. Big Blue must tighten this up at some point and begin attacking offenses and there is no time like the present. There is nothing to lose by going for broke here with blitzes and being aggressive.
The offense has to open up, too
Yes, the Giants have a rookie quarterback in Daniel Jones playing without his main weapons against a defense that is on a pace to set records. If the Giants don’t want to be a statistic and become another notch on the Pats’ belt, they’ll do everything possible to keep that defense off balance. This won’t be an easy task with all the absences but the Giants must put Jones in situations to succeed and if that means using trickery then by all means they must.
Patriots have injuries of their own
The Pats will be without their most fleet receiver in Philip Dorsett, who was ruled out with a hamstring injury. In addition, Julian Edelman (chest) and Josh Gordon (knee) are not 100 percent. Running back Rex Burkhead (foot) is also questionable. On defense, starting safety Patrick Chung and special teams ace Nate Ebner are questionable as well. With these injuries in mind, the Giants must capitalize and exploit any mismatches.
