The New York Giants (8-6-1) host the Indianapolis Colts (10-4-1) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey this Sunday afternoon.
Here are five things to know about the Week 17 matchup.
The series
The Giants and Colts may have faced off in The Greatest Game Ever Played — the 1958 NFL Championship Game — and the title game the following year, but the reality is, they really don’t have much of a history other than that.
This Sunday will mark just the 17th all-time regular season contest between the teams since the Colts entered the NFL in 1953 as the Baltimore Colts.
This will be only the ninth meeting between the clubs since the Colts moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. In fact, the Giants and Colts did not face one another in the 1980s.
The Colts lead the regular season series, 10-6, have won the last four, and have a 2-0 postseason advantage. In their last meeting, Indianapolis hosted the Giants in Week 16 of 2018 and won, 28-27.
What's at stake
The Giants can wrap up a postseason berth as a wild card with a victory in this game. They can also qualify if one of the below scenarios comes to fruition:
Giants tie, plus…
A Seattle loss or tie + Washington loss or tie or a SEA loss or tie + Detroit loss or tie or a WAS loss or tie + DET loss or tie + Green Bay loss or tie.
Got it?
Giants lose, and…
A SEA loss + WAS loss or a SEA loss + DET loss + GB loss or tie or a WAS loss + DET loss + GB loss.
Whew.
The Colts have been eliminated from postseason contention.
Colts have been chaotic
Indianapolis has lost five straight and eight of their last nine games. The season began with them trying to settle their quarterback position after the Carson Wentz experiment didn’t pan out the way they expected.
They brought in former Atlanta Falcons star Matt Ryan and that hasn’t gone their way, either. The net result is all of this trading stripped them of their first three draft picks this season and they still have no solution at quarterback. They will start veteran Nick Foles against the Giants this week.
Perhaps the bigger story was the firing of head coach Frank Reich after a 3-5-1 start and the hiring of former star center Jeff Saturday as Reich’s replacement. Saturday had no experience as a coach and was most recently working as a television analyst. The Colts have gone 1-4 under Saturday.
Giants have been skidding, too
After a 6-1 start, the Giants have gone 2-5-1 with their only non-losses coming against the Houston Texans and Washington Commanders.
The Giants are still in playoff contention as outlined above. They hold the tiebreaker over Washington and Green Bay but do not against Seattle and Detroit.
The Giants lost, 27-24, to the Minnesota Vikings on the road last week on a 61-yard field goal in the final seconds. This season, the Giants are averaging 20.7 yards per game. They have not scored more than 27 points in any single game and have scored between 20-27 points in 11 of their games and between 13-19 in their other four.
The Giants have allowed 29.0 points per game over their last three and are allowing 366.6 yards per game this season, sixth most in the NFL.
Some miscellaneous stats
It’s not all doom and gloom with the Giants right now. Hey, they’re a win away from the postseason and some players are actually having great seasons.
Pro Bowl defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence leads the Giants with 6.5 sacks this season, a career-high for the former first-round pick. He is one of nine players in the NFL this year with at least 60 tackles and 6.5 sacks.
Running Back Saquon Barkley, the Giants’ other Pro Bowl selection, is currently in the lead for Comeback Player of the Year. Barkley needs 54 rushing yards to set a new single-season career high, eclipsing the 1,307 yards he gained in his rookie year of 2018. Barkley’s 1,254 rushing yards are the fourth-most in the NFL this season.
Placekicker Graham Gano has been relatively quiet this season but has been reliable when called upon. He has kicked eight 50-yard field goals this season, setting a Giants’ single-season franchise record.
Quarterback Daniel Jones passed for 319 yards last week, only the second time this season he’s gone over the 300-yard mark. But Jones has been clutch with his legs this year. His 617 rushing yards this season are the most in a single season by a quarterback in Giants history and rank fifth among NFL quarterbacks this year.
