Giants (0-1) Buffalo (1-0)
The Buffalo Bills got off to a good start last
week with a come from behind road win over the Jets. The final score was 17-16.
The Bills will be back at MetLife Stadium again this week to face the Giants.
The Giants lost in their first game to the Dallas Cowboys 35-17. The offense
showed some sparks, but it was their defense that went up in flames. Buffalo
Bills The Bills are in a tough division
that includes the New England Patriots. They need every win they can get, and
are off to a good start winning last week over the Jets. They finished 6-10 last
year, and were next to last with their passing game as they broke in new quarterback
Josh Allen. Their ground game was much better, and it was actually with Allen
leading the way, averaging 7 yards a carry while scoring 8 rushing touchdowns. Allen
is the only player in NFL history to throw for 200+ yards and run for 100+ yards
in consecutive games. General manager Brandon Beane has said he is concerned about
the injury aspect of relying on his strong-armed quarterback running with the
ball. With LeSean McCoy having the worst season of his career, The Bills signed
Frank Gore to help in that area, and they drafted running back Devin Singletary
in the third round of the draft. Buffalo
Bills Offense Last week the Bills turned
the ball over four times in the first half. One was a pick six, and they also
gave the Jets a safety for two points. When they did finally score for the first
time, it was just a field goal late in the third quarter, but that got them going.
Their next two possessions resulted in touchdowns, and the Bills managed to beat
the Jets on the road. The Bills really want to see Josh Allen throwing the ball.
It should be noted that the Bills opened the game against the Jets with 18 straight
pass plays. As for the running game, the
Bills had released LeSean McCoy when they trimmed their roster down to 53 players.
Frank Gore averaged only 1.8 yards a carry in the game, and rookie Devin Singletary
was off to a good start in his first game, running four times for 70 yards, and
catching 5 of 6 for 28 yards. John Brown was the leading receiver with 123 yards
and 1 touchdown. The Giants didn't have to deal with Cole Beasley on the field
last week with the Cowboys, but will on Sunday, as he's now with the Bills.
Buffalo Bills
Defense While waiting for their offense
to actually score points instead of give them away, the defense showed why they
were the top passing defense in the league last year. They kept the pressure on
Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, with four sacks and ten quarterback hurries. They
also did well last week dealing with new Jets running back Le'veon Bell, holding
him to 60 yards on 17 carries. The Bills defense looked sharp, holding Darnold
to 175 passing yards, averaging just 4.3 yards a pass, but Darnold wasn't in the
best of health. Who knew at the time that Darnold was suffering from Mononucleosis
instead of a strep throat? It won't be as easy against Eli Manning, who manages
to get completions to whatever receiver he has on hand (more on that later). Likewise,
Saquon Barkley will be tougher to handle then Bell was. As good a running back
as Bell is, it was his first game back after not playing for a year. Giants
Offense Where are the points? Did someone
forget to put them up on the board? Last week tight end Evan Engram led the team
with 11 receptions, and finished with 116 yards (10.5-yard avg.), and a touchdown.
Saquon Barkley totaled 120 rushing yards on just 11 carries, and had four receptions
for 19 yards in the passing game. Eli Manning finished the game with over 300
yards passing, and had a 68 percent completion rate. Going 2 of 11 on third down
conversions (1 of 3 on fourth) did not help, and all those yards - 470 total,
translated to only 17 points. Manning will be at a disadvantage this week.
Sterling Shepard is out, and Cody Latimer is listed as questionable. They had
accounted for nine of Manning's 30 completions. Golden Tate is still on suspension,
leaving Russell Shepard, Benny Fowler, and T.J. Jones, who was brought back this
week after being cut at the end of the preseason. Some felt the play calling should
have involved Barkley and Wayne Gallman more, considering how well the running
game was working. The Giants can't make that mistake again. Giants
Defense They kept the Dallas offense in
check for the most part on the ground. The Cowboys averaged 3 yards a carry and
just one touchdown with their rushing attack. It was the pass defense that was
all over the place. We mean take that literally in the secondary, where it seemed
they had no idea what they were doing. They weren't helped up front. That would
be linebackers Markus Golden, Lorenzo Carter, and rookies Oshane Ximines, and
Dexter Lawrence providing no pass rush pressure on Dak Prescott, who sustained
just two quarterback hits. Thanks to blown coverages, mistakes, and missed
tackles, the defense gave up an overall 494 yards and 35 points to the Cowboys.
The only good news is that the Bills are not the Cowboys when it comes to their
offensive weapons. The Giants did acquire linebacker Tuzar Skipper off waivers
from the Steelers, who expected to sign him to their practice squad. Skipper had
five sacks in the Steelers in the preseason. Let's hope this young defense, both
up front and in the secondary, learns fast from their mistakes. Overall
Last year the Giants had the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, and they used that
on Saquon Barkley. They could have chosen Josh Allen. The Bills chose Allen as
the seventh overall pick, and the team will be fired up to show the Giants that
they made a big mistake. Allen will try to pick the Giants secondary apart
(that could happen), and the Bills defense will try to stuff Barkley (that won't
happen). If they do, they'll have a 2-0 record, and bragging rights that they
own MetLife Stadium with back to back road trip wins. We feel the Giants will
do better than last week by scoring more points, and making less mistakes on defense,
just enough to upset the Bills in this game. NFC
East Games Sunday at 1:00pm Bills (1-0)
at Giants (0-1). Sunday at 1:00pm Cowboys (1-0) at Redskins (0-1) Sunday
at 8:20pm Eagles (1-0) at Falcons (0-1). The Cowboys and Eagles are the only
NFC East teams favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter. Notes.
Giants
last week gave up 7 pass plays of at least 20 yards, tying for the most with three
other teams. Bills Josh Allen has over
200 yards passing in 6 straight games, matching Drew Bledsoe's record in 2002.
Next Games Sept 22 Giants at Tampa Bay.
Giants Tickets - Buy
or Sell
Sept 29 Redskins at Giants. Giants Tickets
- Buy
or Sell
|