GAME Overview ::
By HILOW >>
- Giants C John Michael Schmitz (ankle) and RT Evan Neal (rib/hip) did not practice Wednesday.
- Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (concussion/finger) did not practice Wednesday, although it is all but certain the primary skill-position players in Philadelphia do not suit up as the Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
- Although Saquon Barkley is chasing history and needs just 101 yards to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, Eagles HC Nick Sirianni said, “We’re gonna rest some guys. There are gonna be some guys in a reserve role.” On Barkley, Sirianni said, “He’ll probably be someone that rests.”
- Watching the tape from the Giants last week, I was absolutely blown away at the runout this team had to destroy the most important DFS slate of the year. Their offense is poorly structured, vanilla, and mundane, they just got extremely lucky that the Colts are so inept.
HOW NEW YORK WILL TRY TO WIN ::
Before last week’s offensive eruption against the Colts, the Giants had thrown for two touchdowns since the release of Daniel Jones. – one by Tim Boyle in the second half of the team’s Week 15 loss to the Ravens and one by Drew Lock in the team’s Week 16 loss to the Falcons. Lock’s first touchdown of the game against the Colts came on a screen pass to Malik Nabers on third-and-14, which he housed from 31 yards out. His second touchdown came on a screen pass to Darius Slayton on third-and-8, which he housed from 32 yards out. His third touchdown came from five yards out on a scramble drill to Wan’Dale Robinson following a ridiculous long catch from Malik Nabers to get them into the red zone, which was on a severely underthrown ball by Lock. The Giants would then return the second-half kickoff for a touchdown. His fourth touchdown came on a quick out to Nabers in double coverage, who broke multiple tackles and scored from 59 yards out. He then tacked on the late rushing score from five yards out.
All of that to say, this team’s performance in Week 17 was more a nod to the ineptitudes of the Indianapolis defense than it was some sweeping changes made to the structure of the New York offense, an offense that continued to appear vanilla and face-up on tape. The offense was rooted in short-area passing through slants, outs, and seam work, with nobody on the team outside of Nabers capable of making any meaningful plays. That spells trouble against a good Eagles defense, regardless of how many starters are rested this week.
The most recent three-game stretch has seen Devin Singletary more involved than he had been in Week 13 and Week 14, something that has confined lead back Tyrone Tracy’s snap rate to between 63% and 68% in each game. It was also Singletary that scored the backfield’s lone rushing score, now making it eight straight contests in which Tracy has failed to hit 20 DK points. The Eagles rank fourth in yards allowed before contact per attempt while the Giants have blocked to the 11th-fewest yards before contact per attempt, making this a matchup to largely stay away from.
Nabers broke the slate in Week 17, returning the most DK points of any player on the slate. As was covered above, one of his touchdowns came on a screen and the other on an out in double coverage, while his only catch that traveled more than 15 air yards downfield was badly underthrown by Lock. Nabers made an adjustment on the football while the corner in coverage never turned around to find the football. Just absolutely insane runout to ruin the slate last week, but that also highlights how poorly structured this offense is. Said another way, it is highly unlikely that Nabers sniffs anything close to the fantasy production he put up last week against an extremely well-coached team in the Eagles. Darius Slayton and tight end Daniel Bellinger continue to be the only other two pass catchers to play near every-down roles for the Giants in most weeks, with Robinson’s slot role dependent on personnel groupings.
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