New York Giants vs Washington Redskins What to Watch For

On Sunday the Washington Redskins travel to New Jersey to take on the New York Giants. The Giants are playing to keep their playoff hopes alive (and maybe Tom Coughlin’s job as well). The Washington Redskins have played hard for the last month and would love to knock the New York Giants out of the playoffs.

eh Giants are 1-5 in their last four games, but still alive for the playoffs thanks in large part to Jason Pierre Paul’s impressive performance last week against the Dallas Cowboys. The Redskins will have to combat Jason Pierre Paul without starting LT Trent Williams who has been suspended for the season.

Some interesting stats to note about the Giants before you watch the Giants-Redskins game.

Eli Manning has now gone three straight years passing for 4,000 yards and 20 touchdowns, a rare feat. Something that has not even been accomplished by Tom Brady or Brett Favre.

Victor Cruz now has 1150 yards recieving, which is just shy of the Giants single season receiving record. He should pass it by seasons end, but so too might Hakeem Nicks who has 1023 yards receiving this season.

This year Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs have combined for 970 yards rushing, which would make them only 8th best in the league and neither has rushed for 4.0 yards per carry this season. D.J. Ware is rushing for only 3.0 yards per carry.

Jake Ballard is third in the team in catches with 37, he also has 589 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns. Kevin Boss’ numbers last year: 35 catches for 531 yards and 5 touchdowns.

ZERO. The number of plays made by the entire Giants defense outside of Jason Pierre Paul last week. That has to change.

As always I’ll focus on the younger players.

Jason Pierre Paul vs Sean Locklear

Osi Umeinyora won’t be playing in this game barring a miracle. (he’s not playing, ruuled out), and Justin Tuck seems likely to give i at a go. So Sean Locklear is going to draw the assignment of Jason Pierre Paul with Trent Williams out. Locklear has a lot of playing and starting experience, but he’s always been more a decent right tackle than he is a left tackle, which could mean big problems for Rex Grossman all day. After Pierre Paul’s breakout performance last Sunday night, I’d expect to see a lot of Redskins chipping Pierre Paul whether that would be Roy Helu or their third tight end (Fred Davis is also out because of a suspension he has to serve because he violated the NFL drug policy.

I’d also expect the Redskins to try and run right at JPP as well.

Roy Helu against the Giants porous run defense

mike Shanhan has a reputation of being able to mold anyone into a 1,000 yard rush and Helu might be the latest beneficiary of that, but he probably started too late to get to a 1,000 yards. Roy Helu was the Redskins fourth round pick and is really having a nice season, he’s averaging 4.7 yards per carry and is also catching the football a ton. Helu is the Redskins third receiver with 44 receptions this year. The Giants run defense has been gashed routinely, he Redskins will probably look to run a lot to keep the Giants passing attack at bay and to avoid third and longs.

Ryan Kerrigan against kareem Mckenzie

Kareem McKenzie is having his worst season in a long time. Ryan Kerrigan made a huge play on Mackenzie in th efirst game where he avoided a chop block, tipped a manning pass, intercepted it, and returned it for 6 points. Kerrigan is really having a fine season. He has 4.5 sacks in his last six games. The Giants will probably focus their help on Brian Orakpo (lining up against David Diehl) so Mackenzie is going to have to play well if the Giants want to have time to throw the football.

Victor Cruuzzzzzz!

In the Giants first meeting Cruz was a non-factor. In fact he only had 2 receptions and 17 yards in his first two weeks. Since then Cruz has averaged over a 100 yards receiving a game. What will the Redskins do to negate the big play abilities of Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz? The Redskins don’t have great cornerbacks and this will be a big challenge for them.

Chris Neild vs the Giants OL

In week one Neild has 1.5 sacks and 3 tackles against the Giants. He’s had 7 tackle sand half a sack all season since then. How the heck did he dominate the Giants in week 1? Was it a fluke?

Do The Redskins have any wide receivers for the future?

I think Anthony Armstrong has been a decent wide receiver for the Redskins, but he’s running out of time to prove he’s a viable long-term option. Right now the Redskins wide receivers are Santana Moss, Jabar Gaffney, Terrance Austin, Brandon Banks, Donte Stallworth, and Leonard Hankerson (IR).Hankerson was a pretty high draft pick, but other than him there might not be a long term solution to the wide receiver position.

Prince Amukamara’s continued progression

Amukamara didn’t have his finest game last week. He got burned deep last week and struggled overall. How will he bounce back this week. Amukamara wasn’t available for the first game between these two clubs. I’m interested in seeing how Amukamara does in the run game as well, the Redskins run the ball outside a lot.

Jacquian Williams

There’s a theme you seeing here. Players who now have a major role on the Giants who weren’t even really playing when the two teams first met. The next one on the list is Giants linebacker Jacquian Williams is 5th on the team in tackles. Including 15 in the last two weeks. In the first game Williams only had two tackles. Greg Jones hasn’t played a lot the past few weeks after being the starting Middle linebacker in the first meeting.

Home/NFL Draft