Giants @ Seahawks Preview
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The big story lines heading into this game include:
• Matt Hasselbeck is out Sunday with a slight concussion, Charlie Whitehurst is in for his first start as an NFL QB. I would not want to be that guy facing the Giants defense who have dropped 5 starting QB’s from action this season.
• Seattle DE Red Bryant is also out with a knee injury
• The Seahawks are coming off a devastating loss to the Oakland Raiders where they were outscored by 30 points and held without a touchdown. The Raiders ran and threw at will on a porous Seahawks defense, something that the Giants will certainly look to exploit this week.
• Meanwhile, the Giants are the #1 overall ranked defense in the league by the Defensive Hog Index, across the board they are at worst ranked #3 as a unit.
• The Giants are coming to town with a 4 game win streak, most recently with a win over their rival Dallas Cowboys on the road. They have just enjoyed a bye week for their players to rest up and heal some injuries as well.
• Former Seahawk Deon Grant will be facing his former team for the first time. Meanwhile the Giants completely dominated the Seahawks in their last meeting in 2008 by a score of 44-6.
• The Giants had 5 turnovers against the Cowboys, almost gave the game away to them in fact. 3 INTs and 2 fumbles, that more than anything needs to be cleaned up this week on the road in a hostile environment.
• Lastly, the Seahawks’ Stadium Qwest Field has been honored as the biggest home field advantage this year, it is the loudest forum to play in and of course being Seattle, is supposed to rain Sunday as well.
Below are the NFL visual breakdowns of these teams’ strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the ball. Let’s start with OFFENSE:
Obviously this is pretty lopsided — the Giants are dominating each of these statistics by a very healthy margin. The only one that isn’t an obvious blowout is the 3rd down conversion statistic. C’est le vie… because if the Giants cannot get back to the same results that led them past their 4 prior opponents I don’t know what the problem might be other than mailing it in.
A well-balanced attack is what the Giants have shown this year, and what a complete offense it is. Unlike any other year the Giants have had since Eli Manning took over as starting QB… this team is multi-dimensional. Their red zone conversion has been fantastic during this win streak, they boast one of the best running AND passing games in the league, the Giants have perhaps the best offensive line available right now both in terms of run blocking and pass protection, and they have one of the most underrated TE groups in the league. The Giants are the genuine article in 2010 — a complete offensive powerhouse that is very, very hard to keep in check due to its many facets. Kevin Gilbride and Eli Manning have done an amazing job the last few weeks at maintaining that deceptive balance, managing their game plans and they consistently stay aggressive, keep the defenses off balance, and they produce results by putting points on the board in the end. The offense has been a strength as much as the defense.
To their credit, the Seahawks haven’t allowed a ton of rush yards or points, but the Giants have ousted every ranked defense so far from within their alleged strengths. The Giants ran well on every team they faced so far, even top rushing defenses in the NFC, without issue. Why would the Seahawks be any different? I don’t think points will be an issue either so long as the Giants hold onto the ball through the endzone and don’t cough it up in scoring position like they do from time to time.
This may be a good opportunity to see what Ramses Barden and Duke Calhoun can do in the red zone as well, particularly if the Seahawks defense at home needs to see something new from the Giants for them to be successful around the goal line.
In any case… if the Giants offense minimizes their mistakes, they win this facet handily. On to DEFENSE:
The Giants again dominate most everything, except for points per game allowed. Let’s face it, the Giants should certainly win this contest on paper and in person — assuming they show up. So where will the focus be for the Giants defense this game?
The focus, as always, will be to shut down Seattles run game first, and then get them in a situation where they are behind and work on getting pressure on the QB from heavy passing situations. Since the most dangerous veterans are in the running game for the Seahawks, and since their starting QB will be out with a concussion this Seattle team is suddenly getting rather one-dimensional. I say play Giants DT Linval Joseph this week to see what he’s got at plugging the running lanes and getting that central push. Can he collapse the pocket? Can he get off his blocks? Let’s see it.
So… back to the Seattle offense – can the Seahawks run the ball? They have Justin Forsett, Marshawn Lynch, and Leon Washington at their disposal… yet they’ve amassed only 600 total yards rushing and under 4 yards per effort. Their defense has allowed 700 total yards on the ground… more than they’ve put up themselves. Passing yardage is even worse… as indicators go these are not good numbers for the ‘Hawks.
The Giants by contrast are already over 1,000 total yards rushing, just shy of 5 yards per carry between Bradshaw and Jacobs, and have allowed less than 600 yards from their opponents on the ground. They’ve out-passed their opponents by 400+ yards, and they’ve out-sacked their opponents in a 2:1 fashion – 24 sacks to an allowed 12. Impressive to say the least.
So after taking this all in, the matchup for me is two fold:
1) Giants red zone offense vs Seahawks red zone defense
If the Giants can put points on the board and stay balanced, while the defense shuts down the Seahawks run attack and is able to get pressure on the QB through the later stages in the game… I think they win this ball game handily. To do it they have to continue their stellar showing around the goal line, 75% or above please. Staying deceptive is all part of that, the Giants scored 4 of 5 TD throwing the ball even from within single receiver sets with 3 TE’s. Keep up the good work Gmen.
2) Giants vs themselves (mistakes)
Can the Giants take a page out of their 2007 playoff playbook and minimize mistakes? No fumbles, no INTs — NO TURNOVERS OR STUPID PENALTIES!!
Final Prediction:
34 – 10 Giants