Giants vs. Lions: What you need to know

DTs Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams have been a strength of the Giants defense and will be pivotal in slowing down the Lions’ high-scoring offense. “I’ve never seen a combo of tackles in my career like these two, both those guys,” coordinator Wink Martindale said. “Dex has played all over the place and people don’t even know it. Just because he’s listed as a nose (tackle), they think he's playing nose. There’s sometimes he’s played (middle) linebacker on third down. How he studies, how smart he is, what a great dude he is, and Leo’s the same way.”

Said Lawrence, “It was like an instant bond. I heard he was getting traded here (from the Jets in 2019), I DM’d him, told him, ‘Welcome,’ and this and that. After that, it was just an automatic click.”

Lawrence, 25, laughed when he recalled watching Williams, 28, when Lawrence was in high school and Williams in the NFL in 2015. “It was cool to see him, come play with him,” Lawrence said. “It’s good for me; it’s good for him.”

The much-maligned FieldTurf at MetLife Stadium is down to its last few weeks of games. Some players had hoped for a conversion to grass, but they will have to settle for a new artificial surface, perhaps one with a different technology.

“We evaluate our field each season and historically have replaced our playing surface every 3-4 years,” MetLife Stadium said in a statement after Giants safety Julian Love revealed the pending change to NJ.com.

“We have made the decision to replace the field in 2023 and are currently reviewing proposals from multiple vendors for a new synthetic surface.”

By Neil Best

Special to Newsday@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.