James Bradberry

New York Giants: Julian Love likely to fill in at outside cornerback in Week 15

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New York Giants, Julian Love

The New York Giants‘ cornerback position is in a dire circumstance at the moment. Elite cornerback James Bradberry has been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list and will be out on Sunday night. Additionally, starting slot cornerback Darnay Holmes was out last week and is expected to be out again this week, as he has not practiced this week.

This leaves the Giants with few options at cornerback. Isaac Yiadom is healthy and will continue to start on the outside. But on the opposite side of Yiadom is a huge question mark. The Giants are likely to move rookie safety Xavier McKinney inside to play slot cornerback this week. However, the second outside cornerback position might also be played by a safety.

The Giants have a few talented safeties who could shift outside to cornerback this week. One intriguing option is second-year safety, Julian Love. The Giants drafted Julian Love in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft and he has been an excellent depth piece for them since last season.

Julian Love at outside cornerback

When the New York Giants drafted Julian Love last offseason, he was actually designated as a cornerback. Love played the cornerback position in college at Notre Dame. He occasionally played safety at the collegiate level but moved to the back end full-time once he was in the NFL.

Love is not the fastest guy by any means, which is why he is a better fit on the back end. But with few options outside this week, Julian Love could move back to his collegiate position against the Cleveland Browns.

Most of the beat reporters are predicting that Julian Love will play outside cornerback in Week 15. Upon being drafted, Julian Love had this to say about his alignment on the defense:

My skillset allows me to play outside or inside. Wherever they need me I’m going to compete. – Julian Love via the Giants on Twitter

According to Pro Football Focus, Julian Love played 8 total snaps at wide cornerback in his rookie season. This season, he has played only 6 snaps out wide. The majority of Julian’s snaps have come at free safety this season (453 snaps).

Lance Zierlein of NFL.com stated that “Love’s cover talent, intelligence, and ball skills give him a good shot at succeeding outside or from the slot,” prior to the NFL Draft. Finally, Giants fans might actually get to see Julian Love put those skills to use on the outside.

How will the New York Giants supplement the loss of James Bradberry against Cleveland?

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New York Giants, James Bradberry

As if playing with Daniel Jones wasn’t enough for the New York Giants, star quarterback James Bradberry came in close contact with a positive COVID case, forcing him to miss Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.

With the Giants losing to the Arizona Cardinals in week 14 and Washington walking away with two improbable wins to take control of the NFC East, every game is important for a Giants team that is fighting to make the playoffs.

If they’re forced to play without Jones and don’t have their best defender, arguably, it will test coordinator Patrick Graham’s abilities. He has been phenomenal supplementing losses this season, as injuries have influenced nearly every position. The question is, how can you replace the production of not only one of the best players on the Giants but in the entire NFL?

So far in 2020, Bradberry has a 78.3 overall grade, per PFF. He has allowed the ninth-worst passing rating for NFL quarterbacks against him this season at 70.4. Over the past five games, Bradberry hasn’t allowed over 23 yards in four of them. He also leads the league in pass breakups (17).

How are the New York Giants supplement the loss of James Bradberry against Cleveland?

Looking at the secondary, the cornerback position was already thin, and now the Giants are down their best player. I imagine they will take Logan Ryan, a former cornerback, and utilize him in the slot against Jarvis Landry predominantly. He is the most experienced of the bunch out of Julian Love and Xavier McKinney, so this matchup seems to be the most probable.

This would indicate that McKinney plays a much larger role against Cleveland, having played in 39 snaps last week against AZ. He was on the field for 12 run defense snaps and 22 coverage snaps, rushing the pass on five occasions. He allowed four receptions for 14 yards, totaling three tackles and two quarterback hurries.

Xavier enjoyed the most action he’s had all season since coming back from a fractured foot. I expect him to take the role of Ryan in centerfield, spying on the quarterback and maneuvering from the box to the secondary.

Since McKinney is expected to take over for Ryan, this will force Love to stay at free safety and Peppers to man up against tight ends and play the run. Peppers has been stellar this season, seeing an improvement in coverage grades and playing phenomenally against the run. All four of the Giants’ safeties will have to be on the field helping supplement the loss of Bradberry, but there simply is no replacement for him.

The Browns have a fantastic running game but also a high-octane passing attack as well. Stopping them will be incredibly difficult, so the Giants must waste time off the clock while on offense, running the ball frequently and relying on Wayne Gallman to do the dirty work.

New York Giants CB James Bradberry placed on reserve/COVID-19 list, OUT Sunday

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New York Giants, James Bradberry

The New York Giants have now lost two key pieces to the COVID-19/reserve list today. News broke this morning of offensive coordinator Jason Garrett testing positive for COVID-19. He will not be available for the Giants on Sunday and instead, tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens will serve as the offensive coordinator/play-caller in this week’s game.

Now, the Giants have lost another member of their team to the COVID-19 list, this time a player. Elite cornerback James Bradberry has been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list today, per Ian Rapoport. According to Mike Garafolo, this is unrelated to Jason Garrett’s positive test. Garafolo also reports that Bradberry is a “high-risk close contact” because he was exposed to someone away from the Giants’ facility who has tested positive for COVID-19.

What this means for the Giants on Sunday

James Bradberry has been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL this season. He leads the NFL in passes defended with 17. James has been reliable for New York’s defense, shutting down nearly every wide receiver he has been tasked with covering. Now, entering Week 15, the Giants are thin at the cornerback position and Bradberry’s absence will be felt.

With Darnay Holmes already injured, the Giants do not have many options left at cornerback. Isaac Yiadom will now be CB1 on the Giants’ depth chart this week. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will have to get extra creative as he pieces together a jigsaw secondary. Expect to see an expanded role for rookie safety Xavier McKinney against Cleveland, as well as some other safeties playing out of position.

As a final remark, everyone at Empire Sports Media and I wish Jason Garrett and James Bradberry speedy and full recoveries.

New York Giants: Giants should “Enter the Wu” and draft Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

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Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, New York Giants

Drafting Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah would take the New York Giants defense from being a very good defense to being an elite defense.

I know what you are probably saying to yourself, “Why are we already talking about who the New York Giants should draft in the 2021 NFL Draft when there are four weeks remaining in the season, and the team is in first place in their division?”. I totally understand the confusion. In recent years, writers were forced to look ahead to NFL Draft prospects for the Giants by this time of year because the season was already over for Big Blue, and there was nothing else to look forward to.

Obviously, this year is different. If the season were to end today, the New York Giants would qualify for the playoffs, despite currently having a losing record of 5-8. The Giants are coming off a four-game win streak that has propelled them to the top of a weak NFC East. Despite their record, the team has looked exponentially better this season and looks like they could represent a difficult matchup should their current trajectory hold up and they make the playoffs.

Much of their success has been a direct result of a massive improvement on the defensive side of the ball. New defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham, has the Giants’ defense playing at a level that we have not seen in recent years. Currently, New York is ranked eighth overall in the NFL after stifling a very potent Seattle Seahawks offense that came into last week as the third-highest scoring offense in the league.

The Giants’ defense has a very solid young core that should allow them to wreak havoc on the National Football League for years to come. Their defensive line is lead by Leonard Williams (26), Dalvin Tomlinson (26), Dexter Lawrence (23), and B.J. Hill (25). The linebacking corps consists of Blake Martinez (26), Oshane Ximines (24), Lorenzo Carter (25), Devante Downs (25), Carter Coughlin (23), Cam Brown (22), David Mayo (27), and Tae Crowder (23). The secondary is made up of James Bradberry (27), Jabrill Peppers (25), Julian Love (22), Logan Ryan (29), Darnay Holmes (22), Xavier McKinney (22), and Isaac Yiadom (24). To say that this talented defense is young would be a massive understatement, with no major contributor over the age of 30 and most aged 26-years-old or younger.

The Giants will need to address the expiring contracts of Leonard Williams, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Logan Ryan, who have all played a major part in the success of this defense. According to spotrac.com, they currently are slated to have just over $18 million in remaining cap space heading into 2021, which doesn’t bode well for keeping the trio. However, moving on from Nate Solder, Kevin Zeitler, and Golden Tate would free up another $21.5 million in cap space, which may allow them to keep all three.

However, if this scenario does play out and the Giants are able to keep all three free agent defenders, they will have limited cap space remaining and will unlikely to be able to sign any additional big named free agent players. That means that the defense will have to add any additional significant improvements to the defensive unit via the NFL Draft.

While a case could be made to draft a big-play wide receiver for Daniel Jones or another young piece along the offensive line in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, a case could be made to take an impact defensive player who can take an already excellent defense to elite status for years to come. After all, we all know that great defenses win championships.

If the Giants continue to have success to close out the 2020 season and do, in fact, make the playoffs, elite defensive talents such as Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, edge rushers Gregory Rousseau of Miami and Carlos Basham of Wake Forest, and TCU safety Ar’Darius Washington will likely be gone when New York makes their pick. However, the best fit for the GMEN on defense will likely still be on the board when they step up to the podium. That player is Notre Dame outside linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.

The 6’1″ and 215-pound Owusu-Koramoah, or “JOK” or “Wu,” as Irish fans affectionately know him as is a bit undersized at the linebacker position. However, Owusu-Koramoah makes up for his lack of size with incredible athletic ability. JOK has thrived as the leader of a stout Notre Dame defense the past two seasons. He has been exceptional as the rover linebacker for the Irish, recording 127 total tackles, 10 sacks, five forced fumbles, one interception, seven pass deflections, and a fumble return for a touchdown over that span.

Anyone who watches Notre Dame football is likely to notice #6 flying all over the field, seemingly making big plays at will. While Owusu-Koramoah wasn’t a big-time prospect coming out of college, rating only as a 3-star recruit out of Hampton, Virginia, his ability to make plays has catapulted him to become one of the elite defensive players in college football.

Owusu-Koramoah was recently named as a semi-finalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, awarded to the player who was the best defensive player with the best character in college football. Additionally, he was named as a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (national defensive player of the year), Butkus Award (best linebacker), and Bednarik Award (best defensive player). A strong showing against Clemson in the ACC Championship game next weekend would go a long way in helping to secure those awards.

Owusu-Koramoah appears to be the perfect fit for the New York Giants in the upcoming draft. One of the few weaknesses remaining on the Giants defense is at outside linebacker. While the GMEN have arguably one of the best middle linebackers in the game in Blake Martinez, they are lacking production at the outside linebacker position. Some of this is due to losing both Oshane Ximines and Lorenzo Carter to season-ending injuries. Both Carter and Ximines have shown flashes of becoming solid pass-rushing options at the outside linebacker position, but neither is a sure thing, especially coming off of major injuries.

Adding a playmaker of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’s caliber to play alongside Martinez would represent a major improvement on an already impressive Giants defense. “Wu” would give Patrick Graham’s defense a player who is excellent as a pass rusher, who can provide solid coverage in the passing game, and who has a propensity to come up with huge plays at critical times. If either or both of the tandem of Carter and Ximines return and reach their potential, the linebacking group of Martinez, Owusu-Koramoah, Ximines, Carter, and the young late-round picks from last year’s draft give the Giants a very young, talented, and deep linebacking corps to go along with their young, talented, and deep defensive line and secondary.

If the New York Giants are able to secure this best-case scenario and resign the trio of Williams, Ryan, and Tomlinson and then are able to add a player of Owusu-Koramoah’s ability in the draft, this defense looks poised to be among the best in the National Football League for years to come. Having a strong defense takes a lot of pressure off of Daniel Jones and the offense. If they can pull off these moves in the offseason AND add a few offensive weapons for Jones, this team will be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

New York Giants: 3 keys to beating the Seattle Seahawks

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New York Giants, James Bradberry

The New York Giants are gearing up for a tough contest against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, and without quarterback Daniel Jones under center, extracting a win from this game is going to be difficult. Nonetheless, the Giants have the 10th ranked defense in points allowed per game, with one of the best run-stopping interior lines in the NFL. However, their pass defense is ranked 19th, indicating they have some problems in the secondary, but they have taken massive strides the past few weeks against some lackluster competition.

Seahawks’ Russell Wilson represents an entirely different beast, considering he’s a future Hall of Famer and is currently in the running for MVP this year. His primary threat is second-year wide receiver DK Metcalf, a player who transcends average size and represents one of the most physical and daunting pass catchers in the league.

For the Giants to win this game, it will take all three phases, but their defense is the one unit that needs to step up big time if they want to stay competitive.

Three keys for the New York Giants to beat Seattle:

1.) Don’t allow any big plays downfield

The one major factor in this game is mitigating plays downfield. As Giants’ cornerback James Bradberry stated, Metcalf is primarily a ‘go-route’ receiver. So far this year, he has four touchdowns from 20+ yards downfield, including over 500 yards. At 6-foot-3 and 229 pounds, he is a physical specimen that is capable of dominating any corner in the league. However, against Jalen Ramsey in week 10, he was limited to just 28 yards.

If Bradberry can take away the deep route, he can force Metcalf to settle for underneath routes, something he is not proficient at. However, on the other side of the field, the Giants have to deal with Tyler Lockett, who has eight touchdowns this year, normally preferring to settle in the short/intermediate portion of the field.

Holding down these two talented receivers is going to be problematic, but the Giants have shown they can compete with any team in the league, performing well against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their trio of pass-catchers.

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New York Giants defense has tall task of covering DK Metcalf on Sunday

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The New York Giants will face off with one of the best teams in the NFL on Sunday. New York is traveling to Seattle to play the 8-3 Seahawks, led by MVP candidate Russell Wilson. The Giants’ defense has been stellar in 2020, but this will be their toughest task yet. Russell Wilson and the Seahawks offense has been phenomenal this season.

The Seahawks are used to getting elite quarterback play from Russell Wilson. Year in and year out, Wilson is one of the best signal-callers in the NFL. But this year, the Seahawks have benefited from the emergence of superstar wide receiver DK Metcalf. In his second professional season, Metcalf has had a breakout year, establishing himself as a true superstar in the NFL. Metcalf has dominated cornerbacks this season, giving the Giants the tall task of covering him while also accounting for the likes of Tyler Lockett and Chris Carson on Sunday.

DK Metcalf Stats and Highlights

If the Giants want to contain DK Metcalf, they better double cover him. Metcalf has dominated single coverage this season. According to Pro Football Focus, Metcalf leads the NFL in total receiving yards against single coverage with 768 yards. The second-highest total is 568 yards by Davante Adams, a full 200 yards less than DK. Metcalf has also totaled 8 touchdowns versus single coverage this season.

Russell Wilson is one of the best, most accurate deep ball throwers in the NFL. He has taken complete advantage of DK Metcalf’s speed and deep receiving abilities this season. Metcalf has 12 catches 20+ yards downfield this season, tied for the most in the NFL. He also leads the NFL in 30+ yard receptions with 12. The next closest is a tie between Justin Jefferson and DJ Moore with only eight 30+ yard receptions.

Metcalf is the most improved player in the NFL this season. While he was electric as a rookie, Metcalf has hit another level this season. Last year, DK recorded 58 receptions for 900 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns on 100 targets. He has already recorded the same or higher totals in every category this season. Metcalf has 58 receptions for 1,039 yards and 9 touchdowns on 90 targets this season.

Last season, DK Metcalf had two games in which he recorded 90 or more receiving yards. This season, Metcalf already has eight games with 90 or more receiving yards (PFF). And, as dominant as Metcalf is going deep, he is also a true threat with the ball in his hands. Metcalf has forced 15 receiving missed tackles this season, tied with Cooper Kupp for the highest total in the NFL this season amongst wide receivers.

DK Metcalf is also coming off of his best game as a pro. In Seattle’s Week 12 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, DK Metcalf dominated Darius Slay and the Eagles’ secondary. Metcalf totaled 10 receptions on 13 targets for 177 receiving yards. He could not be contained and set Seattle’s offense up in scoring position numerous times.

Thankfully for the New York Giants, they have one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks in James Bradberry. Bradberry has been phenomenal this season, locking down nearly every wide receiver he has faced off against. But this will be his toughest task yet, lining up against the 6-4, 229-pound animal that leads the NFL in receiving, DK Metcalf.

New York Giants: 3 players on defense who have surprised in 2020

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New York Giants, Blake Martinez, James Bradberry

The New York Giants are entering their bye week with back to back wins against division opponents. The Giants are sitting at a 3-7 record, that might not sound the best, but the Giants are just a half-game back from first place in the division. In the last few weeks, the Giants have made some drastic improvements.

There is a lot to like about the Giants this season. The coaching for the G-MEN has been impressive, to say the least. We can give all the credit to the coaches, the players are going on the field and playing every week.

Three New York Giants players who have played above their weight-class:

James Bradberry

James Bradberry has been a solid cornerback throughout his career but would not consider him elite until his first season with the New York Giants.

With his first season with the Giants, Bradberry just isn’t one of the best cornerbacks in the NFC East, he is one of the best cornerbacks in the entire NFL. Through 10 weeks, Bradberry leads the NFL with 14 passes defended and three interceptions.

Dave Gettleman was the former general manager of the Carolina Panthers. Gettleman drafted Bradberry back in 2016 in the second round. Once Bradberry hit free agency this past offseason, Gettleman jumped all over him. Bradberry received a three-year deal, worth $43.5 million. What a massive signing by Gettleman this past offseason.

Blake Martinez

Blake Martinez was a tackling machine in Green Bay for years but never brought much else to the table. The Packers couldn’t have been more wrong.

Martinez is tied for the most tackles in the NFL through 10 weeks, but he has done much more for the Giants than that. Martinez has provided a rock in the middle of the defense and being the vocal leader of this Giants’ defense. This is what the Giants needed on the defensive side of the ball.

Dave Gettleman again made another great signing this past offseason. Gettleman signed Martinez to a three-year deal, just like he did to Bradberry. Martinez’s deal is worth $30 million over three-years. This Giants defense has found their leader for years to come.

Leonard Williams

Leonard Williams was a Pro Bowler his rookie season in the NFL but after that season never played up to his expectations. Why would Dave Gettleman give up a third-round and fifth-round pick for an average defensive lineman?

Williams was the final piece to the puzzle for this Giants defensive line. The Giants now have Williams, Dexter Lawerance, and Dalvin Tomlinson are the starters, with B.J. Hill getting solid playing time coming off the bench.

The Giants were not able to sign Williams to a long-term extension and were forced to give him the franchise tag. Williams’ franchise tag is worth $16.1 million.

Whatever your feelings about the trade for Williams, you can not deny that he has been one of the best players on this entire Giants team. Williams is playing as he did back in his rookie season. He is finally becoming that all-around playmaker Gettleman traded for in 2019. Williams currently is leading the Giants in sacks with five, tackles for loss with eight, and quarterback hits with 17.

New York Giants: One pair of defenders is excelling in PFF statistics

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New York Giants, Dexter Lawrence

While the season has been a mixed bag so far for the New York Giants, some players on defense have definitely flourished under new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. Some of these players were on the roster last season but have stepped their game up with a different system and better coaching. Others are new arrivals who have made an instant impact and helped the Giants turn it around over the past couple of weeks.

Two players in specific are worth praising as they’ve made themselves stand out on the field and in the statistics columns.

Dexter Lawrence

Dexter Lawrence came into the league at the same time as Daniel Jones and is already on his second defensive coordinator in the second year of his career. But it looks like Graham is bringing out better things in him than James Bettcher. He’s already set to surpass his statistics from his rookie season. He had 38 combined tackles after playing in every game last year. This year, after only playing in 10 games so far, he already has 33.

Lawrence already has more tackles for a loss than he had last year, and only three less quarterback hits. And when it comes to PFF grade, which accounts for a number of factors, Lawrence is currently one of the highest rated sophomore defenders.

The Giants picked up Lawrence in the draft not long after moving on from Damon Harrison and it looks like they made the right choice. Harrison had the worst statistical season of his career after leaving the Giants, and has already changed teams to the Seahawks. Lawrence, on the other hand, still looks like he has room to move up.

James Bradberry

The signing of James Bradberry was met with varying reactions from interest to skepticism, after the Giants brought in the former Carolina corner to replace Janoris Jenkins. The Giants have missed at evaluating cornerbacks a number of times in recent memory. If you want proof of that, just look at their results after drafting Eli Apple and DeAndre Baker in the first round. Even when they brought in Janoris Jenkins, the Giants found a corner that was effective but would ultimately talk himself off the team with his attitude.

But those situations haven’t repeated themselves with James Bradberry. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite. Bradberry looks like the most likely player on the Giants defense to make the Pro Bowl or All-Pro team and has been worth the money so far. He has 3 interceptions so far, tying his career record, and also has 14 passes defended.

According to PFF, he leads the league this season when it comes to forced incompletions.

With six games left in the season still, there’s room for both Bradberry and Lawrence to further improve in their statistics. And it looks like both players are on pace for career highs in some of the most important areas. The Giants haven’t hit every time they’ve taken a swing at acquiring players. But this season, it does seem they have more hits than usual. Especially on defense, where the rebuilding process is finally showing some result.

New York Giants’ dominant third-down defense was the key to victory in Week 10

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The New York Giants finally beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday for the first time since 2016. At 3-7, the Giants have entered the race to win the NFC, which has collectively struggled all season long. But the Giants are improving at a key moment in the season, playing behind and excellent defense that has kept New York in games.

All season long, Patrick Graham and the Giants’ defense has performed above its weight class. Entering the season, the defensive personnel looked like it could be a problem in 2020. But so far, there have been some serious bright spots and standout performers on the defensive side of the ball.

James Bradberry has been excellent all season long and continued his phenomenal season against Philadelphia on Sunday. Over the last two weeks, Bradberry has allowed just three receptions for 21 total yards. Bradberry has been dominant in his first season with Big Blue.

But the biggest surprise for the Giants defense, and the most rewarding treasure that New York found this offseason, is defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. Graham has been clever all season with disguised blitzes and coverages. He has also managed to get the absolute most out of each and every single one of his playres and positions, despite having an obvious lacking of talent in certain areas. Patrick Graham’s excellence was shown in full effect on Sunday, as the New York Giants shut Philadelphia down on third downs.

The Giants’ Third Down Defense in Week 10

The New York Giants’ defense was dominant on third down in Week 10. Philadelphia was 0-9 on their third down attempts this Sunday. The Giants’ defense made clutch stop after clutch stop to clip the wings of the dirty birds.

This has been a consistent theme in recent weeks for the Giants. In the last four games the Giants’ opponents are converting 26 percent of their third downs. This is serious improvement from 54 percent rate in the first 6 games (via Dan Duggan).

The Giants have shown improvement week to week this season on both sides of the football. Last week, New York forced five total turnovers. This week they allowed zero third down conversions. It is hard to lose football games when the defense is playing at that high of a level. The Giants will need to continue to perform at this level over the final stretch of the season if they want to seriously push for a playoff spot.

Three reasons the New York Giants can get win number three on Sunday

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New York Giants, Wayne Gallman

The New York Giants take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, and they have a chance to win back to back games for the first time this season. The team followed up their first win of the season with close back to back losses to Philadelphia and Tampa – now, they’ll have a chance to change that track record and get revenge for their bad loss in Philly.

But why should we be confident the Giants will pull this one out?

Daniel Jones cutting down on turnovers

The most recent game for the Giants was the first one this season where Daniel Jones had one or more touchdowns and no interceptions. He also didn’t lose a fumble, getting him out of the game with no turnovers. Turnovers have been a big problem for Jones this season and have earned him plenty of criticism from fans.

During the team’s back to back losses picked up following their first win of the season, Jones threw three interceptions and lost one fumble. Taking more care of the ball is a different trend from the rest of the season, as Jones already has nine interceptions right now. If he can keep up the safer decision making, the Giants have a better chance of winning this one.

The Giants came close last time

The Giants should have won their first meeting with the Eagles. That’s not a biased statement, but the truth. The Giants only had to run the clock out and they would have walked away with a victory. However, the now infamous drop from Evan Engram cost the team a first down and the game ended as an unexpected loss.

These types of weird situations usually don’t happen twice. No one in the NFC East is a very good team this year and the Eagles should still be a beatable team. The Giants did alright the first time around when they played the Eagles. They made plays on offense just at the right time, and would have produced just enough to come away with a win if it wasn’t for the late drop that gave the Eagles another possession.

This time, the Giants might know better than sending the ball Evan Engram’s way if the team is in trouble late in the game.

High performance defense

Several defensive players for the Giants have stepped it up this season. One of them, linebacker Blake Martinez, is leading the league in tackles right now. Martinez has 92 tackles right now, an impressive accomplishment for a player that was considered a castoff from Green Bay and who faced skepticism after signing his deal with the Giants. Martinez had a big contribution to the Giants’ second win, with 10 tackles as well as an interception.

Another player stepping it up is Leonard Williams. He’s had sacks in back to back games and has had five so far this season. That’s a pretty big step up from his poor statistics last season after joining the Giants, and Williams has justified the team’s decision to keep him around for another year.

James Bradberry has taken up the top cornerback mantle from Janoris Jenkins and done good things in the role. He has 3 interceptions so far which ties him for 5th in the league and will likely be a factor in Giants wins going forward.

Can the Giants pull it off?

The Eagles barely managed a win in the first meeting between these two teams. That was with a home crowd at their backs and the advantage of facing a first time head coach with a new administration. This time, the Giants have a bit more familiarity with their opponent and experience crafting a game plan to face the Eagles. Daniel Jones also did better last time out avoiding turnovers and the top performers on defense haven’t let up in their performances.

There’s no guarantee that anyone will win any game in the NFC East this year, but it’s safe to say the Giants at least have a good chance to beat the Eagles and pick up their third win of the season on Sunday.