Breaking down the Giants-Broncos game
Photo credit: MCT/David Pokress | New York Giants Eli Manning looks for an open receiver against the Atlanta Falcons. (November 22, 2009)
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Photos: Giants 34, Falcons 31 (OT)
What's at stake
If the Giants win, they keep pace with the Eagles and Packers, the other 6-4 teams they are fighting for playoff openings. The Packers play Thursday in Detroit, and if the Cowboys fall to the Raiders Thursday the Giants could even jump from third place in the NFC East to first.
If the Giants lose, their season will not be over. With six critical games remaining on the schedule, this is the least important one because it is against an AFC team. Still, a loss could put them two games back in the division and relegate them to wild-card contenders.
3 players the Giants must stop
Knowshon Moreno is the leading rookie rusher in the NFL with 600 yards. He's carried 142 times and has 16 runs of 10 or more yards, but he fumbled at the goal line against the Chargers last week and has scored only two TDs. He's also caught 14 passes for 77 yards.
Brandon Marshall, unhappy in Denver during the preseason and once considered the answer to the Giants' thin receiving corps (by speculative fans, at least), is having another Pro Bowl season with 52 receptions for 628 yards and six TDs. Half of those touchdowns have been for 40 or more yards.
LB Elvis Dumervil leads the NFL with 12 sacks, but he hasn't had more than 1.5 in any game since Oct. 15 and has a total of two in the last four games. Eli Manning has been sacked 11 times in the games the Giants lost, three times in the games they won. See the connection?
3 Giants who must play well
Manning is coming off the best passing game of his career and now, with a banged-up running game, he may have to be even better. It'll be more difficult against a veteran secondary that includes Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey and not Atlanta's inexperienced one.
Danny Ware will probably be asked to carry the ball more than he has in his entire career. Of course he has only career carries, so that's not saying much. But with Ahmad Bradshaw out and Brandon Jacobs playing with a sore knee, the Giants will need Ware to help fill the void. The Giants like passing to Ware, too, so keep an eye out for that.
Michael Boley is the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week for a statistically impressive performance against his former team, but he was also beaten in coverage on the game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. It's the second time in two games he's been beaten on a key pass on the final drive in regulation.
The wild card
The Giants have used kicking styles and coverage to do a good job of neutralizing some of the most dangerous returners in the league like Darren Sproles and DeSean Jackson. Now they face another one in Eddie Royal. He had a punt and a kickoff return for a TD a few weeks ago against the Chargers. The Giants have not allowed a special-teams touchdown since Oct. 7, 2007 and haven't given up a punt-return TD since 2005.
Why the Giants win
Teams handle losing in different ways. The Giants went through their four-game skid frustrated and angry, but they never lost their confidence or their cool. That filtered down from the head coach. Denver, however, has a young (some say immature) coach in Josh McDaniels who is into calling out opposing players during the pregame while his guys get into shoving matches on the sideline. The Broncos have lost four straight but have a fragile psyche and if the Giants can get ahead early, don't expect much of a comeback fight from the Broncos.
Why the Giants lose
Kyle Orton isn't the most mobile quarterback to begin with, but with his sore ankle he's even more cemented in the pocket. It's up to the Giants' defensive linemen to get to him before he can deliver the ball to dangerous weapons because they'll need their linebackers in coverage. If they need to start sending blitzes, that could open up some big plays for the Broncos. The Giants have lost only one fumble all year from a running back or receiver. Ware will be getting the ball a lot. He'd better hang onto it.
