The New York Giants hold star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and running back Saquon Barkley dear, while the New Orleans Saints prioritize Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas on the offensive side of the ball. The duos present two of the league’s most dynamic and effective play-makers, while allowing their teammates to benefit from their distraction.
While the Saints have leaned heavily on Thomas to run their passing attack, the Giants haven’t fully worked Beckham back into his normal, electrifying role. In fact, Beckham himself stated that he’s been a bit worried to unleash his full potential, saying, “when it rains, it pours.”
Thomas has faced off against some solid cornerbacks in Vernon Hargreaves, T.J. Carrie, and Brian Poole. None are in the same realm as Giants’ Janoris Jenkins, and we should expect to see the veteran corner shadow Thomas throughout the game on Sunday.
Being that defensive coordinator James Bettcher will look to lock up Drew Brees’ targets, we should expect to see a healthy dosage of Kamara. There’s no physical way to ‘stop’ the Saints’ bell-cow back, but rather contain him. We should anticipate Bettcher allocating additional resources to stopping Kamara, having Ray-Ray Armstrong, a converted safety to linebacker, spy on him for a majority of passing plays. Kamara is most dangerous in the flat, and ensuring that the defense swarms when he’s targeted is paramount.
How can the Giants truly limit the Saints’ offense?
Saquon Barkley will play a massive role in Sunday’s game. The plan will likely be to keep Brees and his offense off the field as much as possible. This requires the Giants to run the ball consistently to waste time off the clock. Barkley will need to grind out extra yardage to put Eli Manning in a position to succeed on third-down.
With the absence of WR Cody Latimer, the Giants will look towards Russell Shepard to fill in as the third wide-out. His performance in the passing game isn’t as important as his influence as a blocker. Latimer was brought in to provide blocking on the outside, as Barkley likes to bounce the ball toward the boundary to pick up extra yardage.
The bottom line, whichever team can win the time of possession and turnover battle will ultimately come out victorious in this matchup.