New York Giants: Evan Engram Returning To A Favorable Matchup

The New York Giants offense was short-handed in their week six matchup with the New England Patriots. The Giants traveled to Foxborough without Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard, Wayne Gallman, and Evan Engram. This week, it looks like the Giants will be getting a couple of their stars back.

Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram have been full participants in practice and are said to be ready to go for Sunday’s week seven matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. Fortunately for New York, their tight end will be returning against a team that has been getting torched by tight ends this season.

Tight Ends Have Been Torching The Cardinals

Through the first six weeks of the season, the Arizona Cardinals have struggled to defend tight ends. Week in and week out, the Cardinals’ opposing tight end has gotten the better of them.

Opposing tight ends have been having a statistical field day against the Cardinals averaging 8 receptions and 99.5 yards per game. They have totaled 46 receptions, 597 yards, and 7 touchdowns, too. Here is a game-by-game statistical breakdown of what tight ends have done to the Cardinals in 2019:

Lions: 7 receptions 146 yards 1 TD
Ravens: 10 receptions 127 yards 2 TD
Panthers: 6 receptions 75 yards 2 TD
Seahawks: 8 receptions 83 yards 1 TD
Bengals: 4 receptions 28 yards
Falcons: 10 receptions 138 yards 1 TD

According to Pro Football Focus, here is how the tight end production that the Cardinals have surrendered so far: 56 targets (fourth-most), 46 catches (most), 82% catch rate (second), 599 yards (102 more than anyone else), and seven touchdowns (three more than anyone else).

Evan Engram is coming back against the right opponent. He has a very favorable matchup against the Cardinals and should see a fair share of targets on Sunday, especially considering how well he and Daniel Jones have been connecting this season.

The Strong Daniel Jones To Evan Engram Connection

Since Daniel Jones took over as the starter for the New York Giants, Evan Engram has seen 7 or more targets in each game he has played in. In these three games, Engram has accumulated 16 receptions for 209 yards and 1 touchdown. Engram looked to be in for a career year prior to his injury that kept him out of last week’s game.

Engram was out last week, but he will be back this Sunday and looking to get his career-year back on track with a favorable matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. Evan Engram has a tremendous big-play ability for his position. Here is an example of Evan’s big-play ability against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week three (Daniel Jones’s first career touchdown pass):