The New York Giants represent a formidable foe for the Detroit Lions in Week 11. The G-Men have been one of the NFL’s pleasant surprises at 7-2 and playing sharply under rookie head coach Brian Daboll.
To help get more intel on the Giants and how the Lions might match up on Sunday, I turned to my Giants Wire colleague Dan Benton for a few questions. Benton graciously provided more in-depth info on the Giants defense, Kenny Golladay, who wins and more.
Lions vs. Giants: Tale of the statistical tape for Week 11
The Giants have surpsied most everyone in starting 7-2. What have been the most critical reasons for the strong start?
There are a lot of things that have factored into the Giants’ surprising start but among the most critical is good coaching. The staff assembled by Brian Daboll are all high football IQ minds capable of making the most of what they’ve got. But Daniel Jones essentially eliminating turnovers, a healthy Saquon Barkley and some actual pass rush has certainly helped the process.
There’s just a different mood and a different expectation in East Rutherford this year, and the players have very much bought in.
Many Lions fans coveted Kayvon Thibodeaux in the draft. How has the rookie been so far?
The box score numbers aren’t going to blow anyone away, but he plays sound football. He’s extremely intelligent and is almost never out of position, and plays the run as well as he rushes the passes. He’s got a non-stop motor and gives it his all on every single play.
Thibs is a hard worker, a student of the game and his ceiling is way up there. Now if he could only get some of these blatant holding calls…
Kenny Golladay: What the heck is going on?
Phew. That is a loaded question. The entire Kenny Golladay experiment has failed and it may go down as one of the biggest bust free agent signings in Giants history. There is a lot of speculation that KG’s hip surgery essentially did him in, and you see it on film. There is no explosion off the line, no separation and defenders aren’t afraid of his straight-line speed. He can’t seem to run by anyone and on top of that, he now has the yips. He’s dropping passes left and right, and that comes despite very limited opportunities.
Kenny Golladay has been a huge swing and free agent miss for the Giants
The fact that the Giants are going with practice squad players picked up in recent weeks over the veteran speaks volumes.
What about the Lions scares you or surprises you from a Giants standpoint?
I think the Lions are a better team than they’re being given credit for. Their defense is leaky, but their offense is explosive, and that poses a very real threat to the Giants, who are not built for shootout games. Detroit is capable of making big plays down the field. That should be a concern for the Giants, who are without their centerfielder, Xavier McKinney. The big play has bitten the Giants often this season, so I expect to see the Lions take plenty of shots.
Biggest key to victory for the Giants?
Going back to what I said previously, the Giants must prevent the big play. Wink Martindale is going to have to get creative and find ways to keep Jared Goff off-balance and out of sync with his receivers. The front seven also has to prevent the Lions backs from reaching the third level.
They’ve been a bend but don’t break defense all year, often coming up big in the red zone, but that’s a strength of the Lions. The same sort of blueprint isn’t going to work on Sunday.
Who wins?
I initially had the Giants winning when USA TODAY Sports Weekly assignments were due but for the first time this season, I’ve changed my tune as the week went along. The more and more I looked into the Lions, the more I realized this is a bad matchup for Big Blue. I’m not sure what other pundits are looking at but the bad matchup coupled with mounting injuries…it could be an rough day for the Giants. They claw back late but ultimately fall short.
Lions 27, Giants 24
