It must be nice to be an overrated football player
The New York Giants (5-0) will be facing the New Orleans Saints (4-0) in a battle for NFC supremacy. New Orleans comes into this game after a big win against the previously undefeated New York Jets in Week 4 and are fully rested after the bye week. The Giants are clicking on all cylinders after last week’s domination of the Raiders. This will be THE game of the week and possibly the season. Let’s see how it breaks down:
MATCHUP BREAKDOWN:
The Saints and Giants are both undefeated and both have more or less dominated every opponent that they faced this year. The Saints are the new greatest show on turf and have weapons at every key offensive position. Unlike in years past, the Saints are not just a passing team anymore. The running game is 2nd in the league in yards per game. The Giants are doing what they are suppose to do so far this season, beating up on inferior teams. The Giants have not been tested since Week 2 against the Cowboys, but with Tom Coughlin and his staff the Giants will not be lackadaisical coming into this game. This should be fun!
GIANTS RUNNING GAME vs. SAINTS D
The one thing that has been missing from the Saints over the past couple of years is a defense that can stop somebody. Well that has changed as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams installed a new 4-3 defense that revolves around a whole lot of run blitzing and forcing turnovers. The Saints D is currently ranked 7th in the league against the run at 83.3 yards per game. The Giants counter the Saints with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Bradshaw has been absolutely unstoppable this season averaging about 7 yards per carry and is looking more and more consistent on a game to game basis. Jacobs on the other hand has struggled this year. His yards per carry have gone down by almost 2 yards from a gaudy 5 yards per carry last year to 3.2 this year. Also Jacobs is starting to let the talk of his downfall by the media get to him. I don’t see this as a bad thing, I expect Jacobs to make this game a statement game and return to his dominating self.
Edge: Giants Running Game
GIANTS PASSING GAME vs. SAINTS D
Eli and the passing game will have their hands full with the Saints D this week. The Saints rank 11th in the league in passing yards allowed at 212 per, but don’t let that number fool you. The Saints secondary is scary good this year. With 10 picks this year they are number one in the league. The key to this game for Eli is turnovers. Eli has been great this year at limiting the turnovers so if he can keep that up the Giants will have a good chance this week. Steve Smith is becoming one of the better wide outs in the game and seems to always be at the right place at the right time. Eli’s security blanket should have another stellar game.
Edge: Giants Passing Game
SAINTS RUNNING GAME vs. GIANTS D
The Saints come into this game with the 2nd best rushing attack in football. The Saints have a 3 headed monster of Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush, and Mike Bell that is very similar to the Giants Earth, Wind, and Fire of last year. Pierre is the starter and has a nice combination of size and speed that defenses have trouble with. Reggie Bush is a great pass catcher out of the backfield and is their 3rd down back and Mike Bell is their bruiser back who will be active for this game after suffering a sprained knee in Week 3. The Giants defense has been very good against the run since the Cowboys game, but they have faced some pretty bad running attacks over the last 3 games. The last time the Giants faced a running attack like the Saints they gave up over 200 yards on the ground. This will definitely be a test for the Giants D.
Edge: Saints Running Game
SAINTS PASSING GAME vs. GIANTS D
Drew Brees is arguably the best quarterback in the game. The Giants D will have their hands full this week. Brees has slowed down over the last couple of games, but I don’t see this being the case this week. The Giants are still banged up in the secondary and Brees knows how to exploit that. The Saints have the 11th ranked passing attack in football, but that is mostly due to the bye week and 2 average showings against the Jets and Bills. Don’t be fooled this passing attack could be the best in the league and they will show that this week in the Superdome.
Edge: Saints Passing Game
SPECIAL TEAMS:
I don’t see the special teams for either team making much of an impact on this game as both offenses are playing at a very high level. John Carney comes back to kick against his old team the Giants, but all in all Jeff Feagles is Christ reincarnated!
Edge: Jesus Christ
INTANGIBLES/COACHING:
Sean Payton’s offense versus Bill Sheridan’s defense will be the match up to watch all day as both will try to confuse each other into mistakes. Sean Payton has made a good name for himself since his days as the Giants offensive coordinator with an offense that has been at the top or near the top of the league since his arrival to the Saints. Tom Coughlin knows how to prepare his team week in and week out against their opponent better then 99% of the coaches in the NFL. This should be a great match up between two of the best coaches in the league, but I have to give the nod to the man that has done it longer and with more success.
Edge: Giants
BOTTOM LINE:
The Giants versus the Saints will be the game to watch this week. Both teams are playing great football so far this season on both sides of the ball. I believe that this game will be more about offense then defense as the game will be up and down all. This does play well for the Saints, but the Giants defense will make a stop late in the game that will determine the winner. I got a feeling that this will not be the last time the Giants see the Saints this year, the next time could very well be in January in the NFC Championship game.
Final Score: Giants 34 Saints 31
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