LDN - Sports

Week 5 GameScout: Giants at Packers

[October 08, 2016] The Sports Xchange

GAME SNAPSHOT

KICKOFF: Sunday, 8:30 p.m. ET, Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wis. TV -- NBC, Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya

SERIES HISTORY: 53rd regular-season meeting. Packers lead series, 27-23-2. Starting with a stunning 37-20 victory at heavily favored Green Bay in the divisional round of the playoffs during the 2011 season, the Giants have won the last three games. The two most recent matchups were played in New Jersey with the Giants' winning 38-10 in 2012 and 27-13 in 2013. The Packers won the last regular-season matchup at Lambeau Field by a score of 45-17 in 2010. The Giants have three of the last four games at Green Bay, including a 23-20 overtime thriller in the NFC Championship during the 2007 season.

GAMEDATE: 10/9/16

KEYS TO THE GAME: Giants QB Eli Manning hasn't thrown the ball well in his frequent matchups with the Packers.

His completion percentage was no higher than 57.5 percent in five of the seven games going back to 2007. Yet, Manning and the Giants won four of the seven games. A common denominator on those occasions when New York prevailed is the Packers failed to pressure the unflappable Manning into many mistakes. He threw zero interceptions in two of those triumphs and had only one in each of the other two wins. What's more, Green Bay sacked Manning a total of just eight times in the four games -- and half of them came when the teams last met in 2013. So, longtime defensive coordinator Dom Capers must find a way to get the 35-year-old Manning unhinged. Otherwise, it could be another long night for a porous Packers pass defense that must contend with a terrific trio of receivers in Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz and rookie Sterling Shepard. Manning was at the controls of three of the Giants' five 300-yard passing games against the Packers.

If Green Bay can't follow the rival Minnesota Vikings' lead in slowing New York's potent passing attack, Aaron Rodgers and his crew of receivers will have to be up to the task in a potential prime-time shootout. The Packers should be able to exploit a Giants secondary that is decimated by injury. Running the football figures to take a backseat for Green Bay, given that the Giants are allowing an average of only 84 yards per game on the ground.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

--Packers RT Bryan Bulaga and left tackle David Bakhtiari vs. Giants DLE Jason Pierre-Paul and DRE Olivier Vernon. The steady play of Bulaga and Bakhtiari in the early going has been integral to keeping quarterback Aaron Rodgers mostly clean. Interestingly, Pierre-Paul has zero sacks in five games against the Packers. However, Pierre-Paul cemented the Giants' 27-13 home win over Green Bay in the teams' most recent meeting in 2013 by intercepting a pass from backup quarterback Scott Tolzien and returning it 24 yards for a late touchdown. The Packers' lone encounter with Vernon resulted in 1 1/2 sacks of Rodgers when the new Giant was playing with the Miami Dolphins in 2014.

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--Packers secondary vs. Giants wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz and Sterling Shepard. The advantage goes to the Giants against a Green Bay defense that is among the worst in the league against the pass, allowing an average of more than 300 yards per game. What's more, Green Bay could be without top cornerback Sam Shields for a third straight game because of a concussion. Cruz has been a thorn in the Packers' side in the past with a pair of 100-yard games, including eight receptions for 110 yards in the teams' last meeting in 2013, a 27-13 Giants win in New Jersey.

INJURY REPORT: GIANTS -- Out: S Nat Berhe (concussion), TE Larry Donnell (concussion), T Marshall Newhouse (calf), S Darian Thompson (foot). Questionable: CB Eli Apple (hamstring), RB Rashad Jennings (thumb), CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (groin). PACKERS -- Out: TE Jared Cook (ankle), CB Sam Shields (concussion). Questionable: Damarious Randall (groin)

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: TE Richard Rodgers -- Rodgers gets another chance to be the primary tight end in the offense with Jared Cook (ankle) out indefinitely.

Cook, touted as a big-play target down the middle, has only six catches for 53 yards. Richard Rodgers made his first start of the season in that game. Yet, he hasn't been productive with only five receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown through three games. Just a season ago, Rodgers flourished with 58 catches for 510 yards and eight touchdowns

FAST FACTS: The Packers are 8-2 in their first game after the bye week on Mike McCarthy's watch since 2006, including six wins in the past seven post-bye games. ... There is a one-point differential between the Packers and the New York Giants in their 52 meetings during the regular season. The Giants have scored 924 points to Green Bay's 923.

PREDICTION: A shootout could be coming if the Packers can hold up their end of the bargain, and with all eyes on Odell Beckham Jr., the Giants should have space to operate in the middle of the field.

OUR PICK: Giants, 30-27

--Jeff Reynolds

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