Thursday Night Football Week 6: New York Giants vs. Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears have a great chance to get back on track against the dubious New York Giants. I don’t see the Giants putting up much of a fight past halftime as a short week already puts them behind in terms of preparation.
Look for Cutler, Forte, Jeffrey and Marshall all to have nice fantasy days!
1. Eli Manning
Eli doesn’t get all the blame for the Giants’ early woes. However, he hasn’t looked like the “ELITE” Eli that has been the source of the Giants’ offensive production. The “winds of change” are swirling around the Giants and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride could be the scapegoat.
Eli and Gilbride could either make a complete turnaround or just fall deeper into the weeds. Be interesting to see which it will be. Do the rumors motivate or decapitate the offense.
2. Jay Cutler
Cutler hasn’t been sharp as of late. He’s got great weapons on offense and they are suffering from his bad decisions. This is a great opportunity at home to get some momentum going forward against a confused Giants defense.
If the Giants can get to Cutler early with a pass rush and get a few shots on him they’ll have a shot in this game.
3. Giants’ Pass Defense
Bears’ WR’s Alshon Jeffrey and Brandon Marshall are two amazing weapons. The Giants will not be able to double both so how do they contain or limit them? And even if they do limit these two guys Matt Forte has been a reception machine out of the backfield.
Again…it all comes down to Cutler’s decision making. The Giants just don’t have the personnel to stop this offense if they can’t get pressure.
4. Giants’ Running Game
The Giants’ backfield consists of David Wilson and Brandon Jacobs. Not scary in the least. The Bears have a pretty solid run defense so if the Giants get down early and are forced to be a one-dimensional passing offense to play catchup then advantage Bears. If they can somehow muster a running game, keeping the Bears offense off the field, that’s their only shot.
5. Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz
The Giants’ big-play star wide receivers have had a few big plays but not enough to make a difference. Rather than trying to go deep for big plays I’d look for the Giants to get these guys the ball on three step drops and let them do the work after the catch. If the Giants can start the offense off like this they may be able to find these two deep later in the game on some “sluggo” (slant and go) routes. This is how Cruz and Nicks can help this offense.
