Matchups to Watch Revisited: Week 17 @Giants

First and foremost, I wanted to take a moment to keep Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin in our thoughts and prayers, hoping that he manages to pull through the scary incident suffered last night in MNF.

Gus Bradley vs. Mike Kafka

Safe to say that Mike Kafka won this one, as Daniel Jones did whatever he wanted with the Colts’ defense, posting a near 80% completion rate with 4 total touchdowns (two through the air, two on the ground). Once the Giants got a healthy lead in the second quarter, the defense was just playing from behind all game long, and they could never catch up to a Giants’ offense that is well tailored to hold big leads.

Kwity Paye vs. Andrew Thomas / Evan Neal

Another disappointing disappearing act from edge rusher Kwity Paye, who recorded just a single pressure on 26 pass rushing snaps. The performance from him has been abysmal the past five games, with just 5 total pressures on 104 snaps. Keep in mind that for example fellow edge rusher Dayo Odeyingbo has 7 total pressures on just 73 pass rushing snaps, and he was considered to be more of a development prospect than Paye.

Alec Pierce vs. Fabian Moreau

Another pedestrian game by Pierce, who finished the game with three catches for 15 yards. I would not judge him yet as he is probably playing in the most unfavourable situation a rookie can have, with three rotating quarterbacks, a head coaching change in the middle of the year, and playing on the worst offense in the NFL. I like his traits and still think he will be fine, but it would certainly be encouraging watching some sort of production from him.

Grover Stewart vs. Saquon Barkley

Stewart finished the game with just two combined tackles, as the Giants managed to impose their will on the ground using not only Barkley, who rushed 12 times for 58 yards, but also Breida (9 carries for 59) and quarterback Daniel Jones (11 carries for 91 yards). In the end, the Giants finished with 37 carries for over 200 yards. Inexcusable.

Bernard Raimann vs. Kayvon Thibodeaux

The play that highlights Raimann’s game on Sunday will be the miscommunication on the left side of the line that gave edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux a clean shot at Nick Foles, resulting in the quarterback leaving the game with an injury. I don’t know for sure if that was Raimann’s or Kelly’s fault, but other than that the rookie left tackle had another impeccable game.