Eli Manning must keep an eye on pass rusher Julius Peppers

In three games since joining Chicago as a free agent, defensive end Julius Peppers has only one sack and one tackle for a loss, but he's such a dominating pass-rush force that teams still must gameplan around him. The Giants will be no different when they face the unbeaten Bears Sunday night at New Meadowlands Stadium.

"They flip him from side to side," coach Tom Coughlin said of the Bears' scheme. "You have to recognize where he is – he’s going to line up on the right side, on the left side, he’s going to line up to the open side, he’s going to line up to the tight end side – and you’ve got to make some adjustments with your schemes. He’s obviously doing that for a reason. You have to basically adjust right along with him."

Quarterback Eli Manning saw plenty of Peppers last year in Carolina's one-sided rout of the Giants in their final game at Giants Stadium. "We know what he's capable of doing," Manning said. "We've got to be aware of where he is on a number of plays, and we have to account for him. We have to be able to block him."

Without a doubt, Peppers' presence can force a quarterback to look for the short, quick pass rather than deeper routes that take time to develop. That feeds into the Bears' defensive philosophy.

"They don't like to give up the big plays," Manning said. "They're going to play a lot of two-high safety and drop their linebackers deep and make you throw underneath quickly, and they're going to come up and tackle you. They say, 'You can't do that all day.' They want to make you have these 12- and 14-play drives, and you're going to have to be able to do that. They do a good job of mixing coverages, mixing blitzes. They're very sound, and they play very fast."