Four Matchups That Matter
James Bradberry vs. Odell Beckham, Jr.
Another week, another stud wide receiver for James Bradberry to cover; Bradberry has held his own against Julio Jones – five catches for 64 yards – and was even better against AJ Green. Green had only a single catch for 12 yards when he was lined up against Bradberry – how ‘JB’ does in his final test of his three-week gauntlet will likely determine how close this game is. With Beckham fourth in the NFL thus far in receptions but without a score for the first time in his career through four games, the lack of a deep passing game is palpable in New York; Eli Manning is averaging less than seven yards per completion and their longest pass over four games has gone for 37 yards – while Manning has a high completion percentage, he’s not going downfield often.
“Sometimes, obviously, they’re playing soft zones and taking away some of the deeper stuff,” Eli Manning told the team website. “If there’s shallow routes, sometimes, obviously, you don’t want to have them on third and long in those situations where they’re doing that, but sometimes you got to take the best you can get, [which] is six yards.”
“It’s not all about just throwing it deep every play, that’s not the answer to our solution. I know that’s what everybody wants to do, it’s an easy thing to say, ‘Yeah, we’ll throw it deep.’ and all of our problems will be fixed. It’s still about finding completions, and when you do throw it down the field, completing it.”
Giants O-Line vs. Panthers D-Line
This….is not a great matchup for the Giants. They’ve had trouble blocking around the edge all season and have given up a league-high 35 negative plays over the course of four games – that’s including 15 sacks – they made the New Orleans defense, which came into their Week 4 matchup ranked 30th in the league, look like terrors up front. While rookie left guard Will Hernandez was one of the few bright spots up front last week against New Orleans, if Kawann Short is able to push him around up front, it will make it that much harder for Saquon Barkley to effectively hit his running lanes.
The defensive linemen have spoken all week about setting the edge and playing disciplined and they’ll have to be careful not to overpursue and allow for cutback lanes to open up; Giants coordinator Mike Shula is very familiar with the Panthers defense and knows that if they get too far upfield, Barkley can punish them.
Cam Newton vs. Giants Linebackers
The Giants have struggled mightily with stopping quarterbacks on zone-read plays – they allowed Blake Bortles to average over ten yards per carry in Week 1 against them – and the zone-read has become the bread and butter of the Panthers offense. In Week 3, the Bengals were determined not to let Newton run on them and he certainly didn’t, with only 36 yards on less than four yards per carry – albeit with two touchdowns – but the attention paid to Newton ultimately allowed room for Christian McCaffrey to run wild.
Newton doesn’t need to necessarily pick up yardage on the zone-reads, merely the threat of his ability might be enough to open up holes for McCaffrey to run or for Newton to throw short passes in the middle of the field. The Giants rank dead last at defending the short middle, allowing an astonishing 95.65% completion percentage in that area of the field.
Donte Jackson vs. Sterling Shepard
While Jackson’s turnover and tackle numbers have been eye-popping, the numbers on the other side for secondary wide receivers has been rather alarming – Calvin Ridley goes for 64 and a score as Julio Jones is buttoned up and Tyler Boyd has 132 yards while AJ Green is relatively quiet – Ron Rivera says that taking care of business against all the weapons is something that will be important this weekend.
“Sure, we have to know where Odell is and we have to be aware of those types of things,” said Rivera. “But you can’t forget those other guys – quite honestly, you’re seeing it big time in Atlanta. Calvin Ridley’s doing a heck of a job right now; he’s really stepped to the forefront because people spend so much time on Julio and on Sanu, that Calvin is kind of making a name for himself. It just shows what having those threats can create for your guys.”
While Bradberry takes care of Beckham, Jackson will need to hold his own against Shepard, who has had at least six catches, 77 yards and a score in each of the last two contests – stopping Beckham and Barkley will not be enough to contain this offense – Shepard will need attention as well.
Up Next: Three Fun Facts, Two Stats That Matter and One Bold Prediction
