The Green Bay Packers travel across the pond to take on the New York Giants in London this week. The Packers moved to 3-1 last week after edging the Bailey Zappe-led New England Patriots, but they still have been a bit underwhelming compared to the recent past. They have yet to put together a complete performance since their first win of the year against the Chicago Bears.
The Giants are also 3-1, but they aren’t the same caliber team as the Packers. New York will also be short-handed at wide receiver, with Sterling Shepard, Wan’Dale Robinson, Kadarius Toney, and Kenny Golladay out.
While the Packers should easily take care of the Giants, funny things tend to happen when teams go across the pond for a game.
Here are 3 things the New York Giants do well.
Run the Ball
The old Saquon Barkley looks like he is back. Two years removed from his torn ACL, Barkley is on track to have the best season since his rookie year. Barkley is leading the NFL with 463 yards in four weeks. This number is even more impressive when you consider that Barkley averaged 5.5 yards per carry, 4.07 of which come after contact.
Barkley has shown the burst that he possessed since entering the league, as 12 of his 84 carries have gone for more than 10 yards. Barkley is also a threat to catch the ball. He has 15 catches totaling 107 yards so far.
However, Barkley isn’t the only threat to run the ball. Daniel Jones has already run for 193 yards this season. While the moniker of Vanilla Vick started as a meme, Jones has proven himself a more than capable threat to take off when the pocket collapses.
Brian Daboll has already started to call designed runs for Jones. Last week, he scored twice off designed bootleg runs.
Protect the Blind Side
The Giants offensive line hasn’t been great recently. It is constantly considered one of the worst in the NFL despite the capital they continue to invest in it. Rookie Evan Neal has struggled far at right tackle, but Andrew Thomas has inserted himself into the conversation as one of the NFL’s premier left tackles.
Thomas initially struggled a little bit in his rookie year, showing glimpses during some of his wildly inconsistent performances. Although the rest of the Giants’ offensive line struggled this season, Thomas has stood out as one of the few bright spots.
Thomas has posted a PFF grade of 92.1 this season, making him the highest-graded player in football thus far. He has allowed only six pressures despite being lined across from players like Micah Parsons and Brian Burns. The Packers’ defense will have better success if they look to target other members of the offensive line.
Rush the Passer
New York’s defensive line is coming off of a monster game, where they sacked Justin Fields six times. That might be more of an indictment on the Bears’ offensive line rather than New York’s ability to get pressure. Still, six sacks are impressive, regardless.
The Giants have recently invested an immense amount of capital on their defensive line in the past few years, drafting Dexter Lawrence, Azeez Ojulari, and Kayvon Thibodeaux. While Ojulari has been left back in New York, Thibodeaux and Lawerence could be huge factors in the game.
With Elgton Jenkins and David Bakhtiari not at full speed just yet, Thibodeaux and Oshane Ximines will be looking to take advantage of this while getting around the edge. Lawrence has been a monster on the interior this season, racking up 15 pressures as he feasts on interior offensive lines. With the Packers’ interior line being the weakest spot on the unit, Lawerence will undoubtedly be planning to collapse Aaron Rodgers‘s pocket from the inside.
