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Giants (3-5) vs Seahawks (5-3)
Last
Sunday in Seattle the Seahawks were riding a 24-3 lead over the Oakland Raiders
going into the second half. They couldn't relax though with the Raiders coming
up with two touchdowns in the third quarter. The Raiders limited the Seahawks
to two field goals and added another touchdown in the fourth, but that wasn't
enough to avoid a 30-24 loss to the defending Super Bowl Champions.
On Monday
night the Giants couldn't help being overwhelmed by the Indianapolis Colts 40-24.
Despite paying tribute to Michael Strahan with a halftime ceremony, they ended
up with another loss and a few injuries which will force them to rely on more
rookies and walk-ons as they hope to turn things around.
Giants - Colts Wrap-Up
Seattle Seahawks
Head coach Pete Carroll led the Seahawks to their first ever Super Bowl Championship.
It is extremely hard to beat this team at home where they've had a 17-1 record
in the last two seasons and are 7-0 in playoff games since 2004. The Seahawks
made some tough decisions in the offseason, losing six starters to free agency
and recently traded away wide receiver Percy Harvin to the Jets for minor draft
picks. The Seahawks started off the season looking sharp with a 36-16 opening
victory over Green Bay. Since then things have gotten a bit tougher, even sustaining
a rare home game loss to the Dallas Cowboys. With a two game win streak and 5-3
record they are currently second in their division to the 7-1 Arizona Cardinals. Seattle
Seahawks Offense
Russell
Wilson is one of those quarterbacks who can both throw and run the ball. His passing
numbers are about on par to last years and he is the teams second-leading rusher
with 393 yards. Running back Marshawn Lynch
leads the team with 549 and 5 touchdowns. Like his quarterback, Lynch has dual
talents and is the second leading receiver in catches with 22 and also leads them
with 3 receiving touchdowns.
Without wide receiver Golden Tate and now Percy
Harvin, the duties fall heavy on Doug Baldwin who leads the team with 34 catches
for 409 yards.
Harvin was their most targeted receiver after five games and
had (still has even though he's gone) the best rushing average, 8.4 yards a carry.
Wilson has less to work with now and injuries on the offensive line haven't helped.
Last week they were changing positions at the line because players weren't familiar
with some of the plays being called in. Getting back two starting offensive linemen
as projected for this week will help get them back on track. Seattle
Seahawks Defense
The
real strength of the Seattle team is the defensive unit and they've had some health
issues as well, but safety Kam Chancellor and cornerback Jeremy Lane are expected
to return after missing last week's game. Seattle finished as the top ranked passing
defense last season with 28 interceptions. After eight games, they have just 5
now with two of them coming off of a rookie quarterback last week. Don't let that
low number fool you though as they are ranked sixth overall in preventing opponents
passing yards, improving upwards over the last three games. Michael Bennett and
Bruce Irvin lead the team with 3.0 sacks each and Cliff Avril has 2. Irvin had
an interception last week and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown. Cornerback
Richard Sherman also pulled in his first interception of the season and he'll
likely switch sides at times to stay on Odell Beckham Jr.
This is a tough
defense and not a surprise to anyone that it's hard to run on this team. The Seahawks
are No. 4 in the NFL in run defense, allowing only 83 yards per game. Last week
they held Raiders running back Darren McFadden to a total of only 20 yards on
13 carries and he usually runs for about 4 yards a carry on average. Defensive
tackle Brandon Mebane controls the line of scrimmage, clogs up the middle and
forces running backs to the outside where speedy linebackers are waiting. Llinebacker
Malcolm Smith, the Super Bowl MVP, might make it back, but strong safety Kam Chancellor,
another good run stopper, looks to miss this game. Giants
offense
Eli Manning threw the ball 52 times
last week, and it wasn't just because they were trailing in points. There was
no running game to be had, and as expected, Rashad Jennings is not making this
trip to Seattle because of his knee injury. Once again it will be Andre Williams
giving it a go along with maybe some plans to feature Michael Cox and Peyton Hillis
who both had a bit more success on their runs in the Colts game. If offensive
line and tight ends could only block better maybe something could happen.
Manning
is still struggling in attempting to throw the ball deep. He didn't connect on
all seven attempts with his receivers when he threw the ball 20 or more yards
downfield. His receiving crew is inexperienced, but overall about 11 passes looked
to be overthrown. Odell Beckham is going to draw a lot of attention, leaving things
to Rueben Randle. Rookie Corey Washington looked
good coming into the game for the first time in the regular season with his four
catches and first career touchdown late in the game, but maybe his appearance
just caught the Colts by surprise and they were unprepared. Giants
defense
On Monday the unit started off
well against a tough Colts offense without getting much help from their own. This
week things shift from shutting down a quarterback with Andrew Luck's passing
abilities to stopping Russell Wilson and the running attack. Wilson is coming
off a bad outing against the Raiders, going 17 of 35 for 179 yards and his quarterback
rating has dropped in the past four games, assisted by the fact that his offensive
line keeps changing on him due to injuries. The Seahawks rank 30th in passing
yards and even contacted retired receiver Randy Moss about joining the team after
Harvin was traded away.
Their offensive line overhaul is one of the few factors
the Giants might be able to take advantage of in this game and hopefully Jason
Pierre-Paul will be up to full speed. It's
really tough to have lost cornerback Prince Amukamara who was strong in both run
support and pass coverage, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is still not everything
he can be at this point. Overall
Like
it or not, the Giants are in rebuilding mode facing a team trying to repeat as
champions while learning just how difficult that can be. In the last few games
the Seahawks sustained two losses before winning twice by just four and six points
respectively. Both teams are struggling with injuries, but the Seahawks seem to
be getting past theirs while the Giants just continue to struggle. With the Giants
coming off a restful bye week just to lose in a poor fashion as they did to the
Colts, and then have to travel on a short week to face the defending Super Bowl
team, expectations are low.
The Giants will have to do much more than just
play mistake free football. They need to actually recover the other team's fumbles
unlike last week where three of them went right back to the Colts and where interceptions
almost happened but didn't. Fans can hang on the fact that although
the Seahawks rarely lose at home, the Cowboys, another NFC East team, made that
happen last month. NFC East
At 1pm on Sunday, the Cowboys (6-3) play in Jacksonville
against the Jaguars (1-8). Later in the day at 4:25pm the Giants play their game
in Seattle against the Seahawks. On Monday night the Eagles (6-2) host the Panthers
(3-5) and the Redskins are on a bye week. The Cowboys and Eagles are favored to
win in their games.
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Notes.Giants
have not scored an opening-possession TD in 19 consecutive games, the NFL’s longest
streak. Giants have lost a turnover in
24 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NFL. Giants
three wins to date were all against teams with losing records. Giants
five losses this season were all against teams that currently have winning records. Seahawks,
with just 7 sacks over their first six games, picked up 4 in the last two. Seahawks
have a tough schedule following this game, including two against their division
leading Cardinals.
Next Games
Nov 16 - San Francisco at Giants.
Giants Tickets
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Nov 23 - Cowboys at Giants.
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