Moving close to the fifth game of the season, the Giants are 4-0. With four convincing wins, the Giants answered a lot of questions which were looming in the air since January. However, the storyline of the week is Eli Manning’s injury.
The Raiders, on the other hand, were penciled to be a better team than they were last year. With additions in the offensive line, the drafting of Heyward-Bey, and with Darren McFadden being more mature, the Raiders were not supposed to be this bad.
Continuing with the weekly preview, the Giants come back home this Sunday after three straight road games, and this is what lies ahead.
New York Giants vs. Oakland Raiders—October 11
Eli Manning hurt is not something you hear a lot. In his five year career, he is yet to miss a game. Eli is an incredibly tough guy, even though he looks like a geeky teenager.
This quality of Eli has his team, and especially his linemen, all confident that he will be able to play. Even so, Eli playing or not might not even matter, as David Carr is a quality backup, able to lead the team to victory if called upon, and, mostly, for the opposition.
The Oakland Raiders are, to say the least, a team in distress. Tom Cable has been questioned, and their franchise quarterback, JaMarcus Russell—the 2007 No. 1 Draft pick—is currently the lowest rated quarterback in the league.
The JaMarcus Russell case is actually an intermittent one. Ever since the beginning of the Raiders OTAs there have been reports of Russell being over weight, playing poorly, and not making the proper effort to improve himself.
This situation seems to extend to the running game, as the Raiders have averaged only 208.5 yards on total offense—good for 32nd in the league—in the first four games, and they only scored 19 points in the last three games.
The offense is not the only problem, though, as the Raiders’ defense, although not as bad as their offense is ranked 26th in rushing yards. Oakland’s pass defense is a lot better, ranked as 11th in the NFL.
The player who stands out in the Oakland secondary is cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who is considered by many as the best CB in the NFL. This brings us to our Task One: Keep away from the Monster.
All teams playing the Raiders have adopted the strategy of not throwing to Asomugha’s side, and there is good reason for that. I really don’t see why the Giants should act any differently.
Interceptions can change the history of a game, and being upset by the lowly Raiders at home is not something any team wants. There is also another aspect of this task that could benefit the G-men, and that is Steve Smith.
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