Site expert Charles “Chuck” Vitolo gives you his week four New York Giants prediction in this edition of ‘Chuck’s corner’.
Well, it’s going to be very hard for me to top last week’s edition of Chuck’s corner – I’ll do my best, anyway. I came within a handful of points of predicting the exact score, while also nailing my ‘X-factor’ of the week and guessing that he would be in the middle of the first New York Giant’s turnover (I hate tooting my own horn, as you can see…).
The Giants have somehow managed to changed the entire perception around this team in just a week’s time. If they can pull off a win today, you can expect the team and it’s fans to start talking playoffs. While that still may seem crazy to some (including me), you simply cannot discount the level of performance Daniel Jones had in his first career start.
Getting to 2-2, even with tough weeks five and six matchups on the horizon, will give this team a legitimate shot to play meaningful games down the stretch – as Giant fans that haven’t seen much of that over the past seven years, that’s all we can ask for.
The Washington Redskins limp into Metlife Stadium on Sunday – both literally and physically. This group is banged up and beaten down already after only three week’s of play. The biggest storyline is undoubtedly the return of Landon Collins to Giants stadium (yeah, I’m still gonna call it Giants stadium), as the slighted-safety will look to prove to the Big Blue brass that they made a foolish decision to let him go (I don’t agree with him there).
Former Giant draft bust (pun intended) Ereck Flowers also makes his return to his former home, and he likely can expert a chorus of boos. When you add in Josh Norman and his feelings towards Giants’ GM Dave Gettleman, you start to see that this figures to be an emotional matchup.
Big Blue will be wise to stay out of any of that stuff and stick to it’s gameplan. Objectively, the Giants are a better team than the Redskins right now (particularly on offense, even without Saquon Barkley), and are only doing their rivals a favor by stepping into the mud.
The Giant defense had put together two (and a half) of the worst performances you could ever hope to see before completely turning things around in the second half against Tampa Bay. The biggest reason for that was the defenses ability to figure out a way to finally get to the quarterback. You can expect that trend to continue today, especially if Brandon Scherff or Chase Rouiller end up missing the game (two of the Redskins’ key offensive lineman).
The Redskins feature a very solid defense overall, although they seem to lack anyone that will be able to stick with Evan Engram or Sterling Shepard in coverage. It’s going to be nice to be on the other side of Landon Collins’ blown coverages and Ereck Flowers’ missed blocking assignments (or penalties), I’ll tell you that.
Redskins quarterback Case Keenum is coming off of an awful performance this past Monday night in which he turned the ball over five times to the Chicago Bears (and lost another fumble that his team recovered). If the Big Blue ‘D’ can figure out a way to get even two turnovers, this could end up being a rout.
All eyes will be of course on Daniel Jones as he makes his second career start, but it will be interesting to see how Wayne Gallman holds up as the feature back against a stout front seven. Gallman has shown himself to be a capable runner, but he’s never had to carry the load before. Despite the Saquon Barkley injury, the Giant offense is almost back at full strength, as Danny Dimes will have numerous options to throw the ball to today (Golden Tate returns next week, too).
Chuck’s ‘X-factor’ of the week
If you hadn’t heard (insert eye roll), I nailed Ryan Connelly as my ‘X-factor’ last week. This week, I’m going with another young linebacker in Lorenzo Carter. Carter came into this year with a load of hype, with many figuring for him to be the primary pass-rusher for Big Blue. The second-year pro has failed to build on his impressive rookie season and heads into this matchup with only half-a-sack so far in 2019.
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Markus Golden has been impressive in a bounce-back year for the Giants, but he can’t do everything. It’s time for Carter to step up and deliver some pressure, and I think he will. He gets what might be his easiest matchup of the entire year with a depleted Redskins offensive line.
I’m predicting that Carter will have over 1.5 sacks today, while possibly even forcing a fumble.
Prediction
If you could’t tell yet, I’m predicting that the Giants pull off this win to get back to 2-2, by a score of 27-17. The spread for this game is only three (via Fanduel Sportsbook), which is low in my opinion (and worries me to some extent). The Redskins are completely banged up, and I don’t expect them to have much to offer the Giants today.
I could surely be getting overconfident after just one solid game, as the Giant defense has given almost no reasons to be respected yet. Again though, the Redskins were never going to be a good team in 2019 to begin with, and now they are missing numerous key players.
If breakout rookie wide-receiver Terry McLaurin does end up playing, that’s going to change things. The former Ohio State Buckeye as looked fantastic so far this year, and he could certainly burn this secondary if he finds a way to play.
YTD prediction record: 2-1 (66%)