Chuck’s Corner: NY Giants Week One prediction vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
In this week’s edition of ‘Chuck’s Corner’, site expert Charles Vitolo gives you his weekly NY Giants prediction as the team takes on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s been a while, but we’re back with ‘Chuck’s Corner’ as I try my best to predict what will transpire when the NY Giants take on the Pittsburgh Steelers as heavy underdogs in their opening game of the 2020 season at Metlife Stadium on Monday Night Football.
The G-Men figure to be at a major disadvantage this season as the franchise has chosen to not allow any fans to attend their home games, a decision that about half the league has made. However, teams like the Kansas City Chiefs are allowing some 15k-20k fans and that will give them a distinct advantage.
While it’s surely going to be eerie to witness an empty Metlife Stadium, it won’t be all that different from the fourth quarters of most recent home games as the NY Giants have lost more football games over the last three years than any team in the NFL.
However, the Joe Judge era officially begins tonight and the rookie head coach has lit a fire under this organization with his old school and energetic approach. Former head coach Pat Shurmur was in way over his head from the beginning and was about as hands-off as a head coach could ever be — that will not be Judge’s style.
Judge has made it clear from day one that he is setting sky-high expectations and that mental mistakes will not be tolerated no matter who it is making them — the same thing goes for any lack of effort.
The NY Giants are amongst the handful of youngest football teams in the entire league with a brand new coaching staff all around, as it really is an exciting time to be a Big Blue football fan.
Not many people are expecting too much out of the 2020 Giants (don’t tell Joe Judge that unless you want to take a lap), as the Action Network currently lists the team’s over/under win total at six which is ‘good’ for the fifth-lowest total in the league.
The Pittsburgh Steelers roll into town coming off a very weird 2019 season that saw Big Ben Roethlisberger go down with a season-ending elbow injury in Week Two that pretty much nixed any chance of them making any real noise.
Yet, long-time head coach Mike Tomlin was able to go back to his roots and put together a top-five defense in the NFL that is returning just about every one of its starters.
Without any further ado, let’s start off with my X-Factor player of the week.