Monday Night Football Preview: Giants vs Lions
Dec 22, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Giants kicker Josh Brown (3) kicks the game winning field goal in overtime to defeat the Detroit Lions 23-20 at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Giants vs Lions: MNF Preview
It’s almost here. Sure, it’s only War Giants Wednesday and the actual game isn’t for a few more days. However, Giants vs Lions is going to happen before we know it. At GMEN HQ, we figured it was time for a preview.
The first thing we did was ask the FanSided Detroit site — SideLionReport — if they wanted to collaborate:
Then we asked them for a reasonable score prediction:
The Lions response was predictable:
It’s never any fun in trash-talk when your opponent just inverts your words to their favor. Where’s the GIANT creativity in that. In the interest of being civil, we asked the Lions a legitimate question:
Thus far, there has been no reply to report. Which can only mean that Megatron, Suh and Stafford are the only worries on the Lions entire team, right?
Well, perhaps not… so information is needed. If you go the Lions site, they have up their team preview titled aptly, Detroit Lions 2014 Season Preview:
In their preview, you’ll find out they expect their team MVP to be Stafford, the rookie of the year to be Eric Ebron and the breakout star to be Darius Slay.
So basically, the Detroit Lions site feels like it’s going to have another strong offense. And, why wouldn’t they. Calvin Johnson is a monster, and on paper, Ebron, Tate, Bell and Bush all add playmaking ability to Stafford’s full slate of weapons on any given play.
Make no mistake, the Lions will move the ball and score points. For the G-Men, it’s up to them to stop them and keep them to field goals at best. With the addition of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the Giants have a weapon that can slow down Calvin Johnson, but really, no one in the NFL can stop him one-on-one. He’s one of the best players in the league right now. That said, the Giants also have Prince Amukamara and a returning Stevie Brown. Not to mention Antrel Rolle, whom is probably one of the most underrated safeties in the entire NFL.
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The point is, the Giants defense should be able to play with the Lions, but don’t be under the impression that the Lions won’t score points. Never that, this Lions offense is explosive and will find their way through the Giants defenses into the end zone or at the very least, field goal range, no matter how the Jints scheme to stop them.
Keeping that in mind, the New York Giants need to vastly improve on offense to have a chance in this game. Recently at GMEN HQ, we did a report on Jerry Rice giving Victor Cruz advice on the West Coast Offense in this post titled, Victor Cruz: Advice from Jerry Rice on the WCO.
That (MUST) read gives New York Giants fans some perspective on just what the WCO is and why the Giants might be struggling to get things going. Jerry Rice suggests that once players in WCO start to learn the system, know the playbook, and build trusting chemistry; something in a team just clicks. And all players have to do from that point on is go out there and play football focusing on dominating the other team.
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The New York Giants aren’t there yet. Sure, they went 5-0 in the preseason, but that was on the shoulders of the Giants depth. The first team offense wasn’t clicking much at all. On Monday Night Football, the team can’t use “Not Ready” as an excuse.
This organization had five preseason games to install a new offense and prepare for the explosive Detroit Lions. Next Monday Night, the Lions defense will be coming at Eli Manning relentlessly. This is a team that knows Eli Manning gets rattled, and so they’ll do everything they can to take his head off, every play.
Now — we realize at GMEN HQ that there are still plenty of days before the game and plenty of reviews to do. That said, we’ll leave you with five Giants questions about the Giants vs Lions:
- Can the Giants keep Eli Manning upright?
- Will the Giants find away to get Victor Cruz in the end zone?
- Can the Giants defense sack Matthew Stafford often and contain his production?
- Can the Giants create turnovers?
- How many turnovers will Eli Manning cause?
If the answer to that last question is more than zero, Monday Night Football could be a rough night. This is a MUST win game for the New York Giants in our estimation. What do you think, Giants Nation?