Giants vs. Patriots Preview: Can Giants play David to Pats’ Goliath, again?

The Pats’ defense limited Washington to 37 yards rushing and held Kirk Cousins to a 68.4 passer rating.

One week after yielding seven TD passes at New Orleans, the Giants’ defense did not give up a touchdown pass in defeating the Buccaneers in Tampa, 32-18. The total has gone UNDER in five of New England’s last six games against the Giants.

The younger of the Manning brothers, Eli may have less to work with, but with the personnel that he has, he has delivered. They have plowed forward through two scandals that have polarized the football-watching world, ignoring the scorn of so many NFL fans outside New England. But he doesn’t expect that to be the case after this week’s clash with Tom Brady and the Patriots. It has intercepted 13 passes and recovered eight fumbles. Manning has been sacked on only 3.4 percent of his pass plays, fifth lowest among qualifiers; in NYG’s five wins, he has been sacked only three times.

The Patriots are second in the league in offense and eighth overall on defense.

As much as the Giants would like to treat this as just another game, they’re well aware of the history, as well as what’s at stake. Rex Ryan and his defense were able to gut out an important Thursday Night Football victory over the NY Jets that had both personal and playoff benefits, but there’s no doubt that he’d also like to take a swipe at the Patriots, perhaps spoiling their flawless record if the Giants aren’t able to up-end them first. The obvious storyline of Eli Manning ruining another flawless Patriots season will certainly be discussed ad nauseam, but the likelihood of it occurring certainly isn’t in the Giants’ favor. New England has a higher than expected 27 defensive sacks. The Pats O-line is severely depleted by injuries, with rookie guard Tre’ Jackson also out today, but they’ve had a week to prepare for this inevitability, and Tom Brady’s quick-strike attack will be instrumental.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Wednesday that Pierre-Paul “proved that he’s a highly-conditioned athlete and was at his best probably when his best was needed at the end of the game”.

“Those games were a long time ago”, Belichick said.

Woody, now that he is removed from playing for Belichick, marveled at the unwavering focus of his teams in the face of constant adverse situations – from Deflategate to having to play with an offensive line that has had more combinations than a Rubik’s Cube this season because of injuries.

The Giants are trying to rebound after missing the postseason the past three years. In 2007 they went 1-1 against them but the one win was the Super Bowl. Then he conceded: “We just haven’t won as many of them as I would’ve liked to have won”. “Going 16-0 is so hard, because the closer you get to winning that 16th game, the bigger the target gets on your back, the more pressure you feel and the harder it is to block out the noise coming from the outside”.

Brady has lost four straight to an opponent once, against Denver between 2005-09.

This year’s version features the 8-0 Patriots versus the Giants, who are atop the muddled NFC East at 5-4.

“I’m sure that they’ll try to have a few stuff ready for me since I’m starting now and kind of ended the game as the bad guy the first time around”, Roby says. “I don’t see it”. If the Patriots can avoid mistakes, they should have no problem winning this weekend. Particularly upsetting were the end of Dion Lewis’s breakout season and Sebastian Vollmer’s possible concussion.

New England is converting a league-best 48.5 percent on third downs, and Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski are tied for second in the NFL with seven touchdown catches. Gronkowski leads all tight ends with 693 yards.

The Giants are not as strong as everyone believed they would be at the beginning of the season, and the Patriots are much more dominate than anyone would have ever thought. On the other side of the ball, NY is 24th in the league on the ground, averaging 96.7 rushing yards per game, while its 3.8 yards per carry is 25th in the NFL.