Jordan Howard replaced Langford at running back, and he has shown flashes of brilliance, including a 153-yard effort against the Green Bay Packers.
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The Giants, who have won four in a row, have faced a lot of trap questions this week leading up to Sunday’s game against the Bears.
Gould admits it’s not necessarily a bad thing to play for a team that is 6-3 rather than 2-7. He gets to the line, assesses the defense and makes adjustments as necessary. The first-year running back has quickly established himself as the offensive building block moving forward, and he’ll be Chicago’s best defense against Beckham; if he gets rolling, the Bears can run the clock and keep the ball away from the Giants’ offense.
The Giants will be without a pair of offensive linemen for the game Sunday, as guards Brett Jones (calf) and Justin Pugh (knee) were both ruled out for the game vs. the Bears with injuries.
Losing Howard would be a brutal blow to the Bears, who seem to have found something in their fifth-round rookie. Brandon Marshall scored two TDs. The Giants kept pace by defeating the Bengals in another less than flawless performance. The Bears are not good, and the Giants are at home. So what’s happened? Big Blue has slipped to 21st in offense, in large part to a non-existent run game, while averaging only 20 points per game. Their offense has been called for 49 penalties for 510 yards this year, ranking them 20th in the league. Meanwhile, rookie edge rusher Leonard Floyd has five sacks, while the man on the opposite side of the line, Willie Young, leads the team with 6.5 sacks this season.
Their passing attack, on the other hand, is unsafe. Eli Manning still threw two ugly interceptions and had numerous passes bounce off receivers hands.
For those unfamiliar with the term, tanking is a controversial method of operation where teams intentionally lose games in order to acquire higher draft choices. The Giants used tight ends Will Tye and Jerell Adams as fullbacks on a handful of snaps with mixed results. The Giants have allowed 180 first downs this year which ranks them 9th in the NFL. CBs Janoris Jenkins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie each have 11 passes defended, tied for second in NFC. If the Giants are truly a playoff-caliber team, they will roll at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Then later in the draft I would look to fill the big needs at quarterback and tackle and just hope they turned out well. They are also tough against the run, allowing only 98.4 yards per game.
“He was very in-tuned with everything”, said Bears receiver Josh Bellamy, a special teams leader. They have to contain the WR or risk getting burned early and often.
But who will catch Cutler’s passes – assuming they are on target?
Work some screens in and some of the play action stuff too. They have scored only 46 points over the last month.
On defense it’s going to be key for the front seven to continue their assault on opposing QBs. Lined up in the slot, Shepard was matched up against a helpless linebacker and he got open for the game-winning touchdown.
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The Giants are 5-3 when Beckham catches at least two TDs. It is not a stretch to say that Ben McAdoo will be judged heavily based on how the Giants finish this season.
