The New York Giants will look to rebound from their first loss of the season when face the Chicago Bears Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
This will be the first time in his tenure as head coach that Brain Daboll will have to deal with adversity. His team has a short week to prepare, and they’ll be without their best receiver Sterling Shepard for the remainder of the year due to a torn ACL.
Sunday’s game should be a tough and physical contest between two of the most storied franchise in the NFL.
The Giants will need to excel in all three phases of the game if they’re going to get their third win of the season. In particular, they’re going to need these five players to step up on Sunday.
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Kayvon Thibodeaux
Being a top-five pick in the draft brings a ton of expectations. Many were expecting Thibodeaux to make a huge impact in his NFL debut against the Cowboys. But that didn’t happen as the rookie pass rusher registered just one tackle.
Perhaps expectations should have been tempered since Thibodeaux was making his return from spraining his MCL in the Giants’ preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals on August 21st. But this week he’ll go up against an offensive line that has already surrendered 10 sacks on the season.
Not only will fans be anticipating that he’ll register his first NFL sack on Justin Fields, but that he’ll be a disruptive force throughout the game in helping to shut down the Bears’ offense.
Evan Neal
The seventh overall pick has a promising future. But against Dallas, he was overwhelmed by DeMarcus Lawrence and gave up three sacks, and was beaten off the edge often.
The Bears have one of the top pass rushers in the league in Robert Quinn who had 18.5 sacks last season. Quinn typically lines up at right defensive end, but after the way Neal struggled on Monday, the Bears may line him up on the other side from time to time.
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It will be interesting to see if Neal can have a bounce-back performance against Quinn and the other Bears pass rushers such as Al-Quadin Muhammad and Trevis Gipson.
Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones was under constant duress all night long against the Cowboys but was effective as he could be under the circumstances completing 20 out of 37 passes for 196 yards, and one interception when David Sills fell running a route on the last offensive play of the game.
In the second half either by design or improvisation, Jones utilize his legs more, and it was apparent that Jones running with the ball was the Giants second-best option behind giving the ball to Saquon Barkley. Jones gained 79 yards on nine rushing attempts, and with the way the Giants offense has struggled in the first half, expect him to run more in the first half.
Richie James
Nobody would have expected Richie James to lead the team in receptions coming into the season. But after three games that’s where it stands with a team-high 14 receptions.
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He and Jones have developed a nice rapport early in the season, and Jones will have to rely on him even more in the absence of Shepard. James is a solid possession receiver who should be targeted often on Sunday, especially on third downs. It will be intriguing to see how he performs now that he’ll be thrust into an even bigger role.
Dexter Lawrence
Last week New York’s run defense was putrid as they allowed 178 rushing yards and a touchdown to Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. Much of the reason for New York’s struggles was due to the fact that it was playing without defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
Earlier this week Dexter Lawrence said the run defense performance was unacceptable from everyone on the defensive front seven.
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Bears running back David Montgomery is expected to miss Sunday’s contest due to a knee and ankle injury, but Khalil Herbert is more than a capable back. In fact, Herbert leads the Bears in rushing this season with 240 yards.
With Williams expecting to miss his second straight game, Big Blue will have to rely heavily on the 6-foot-4, 342 lb. Lawrence to shut down Herbert and the Bears’ ground game.