5 New York Giants Players to Watch vs. the Detroit Lions

It’s time for the return of our in-season “Five Players to Watch” feature.

Each week, I’ll pick out five Giants players (or in some cases a unit) who, for one reason or another, could be the key in the upcoming game.

Feel free to share your five, and/or debate whom I have on my list in the comments section.

QB Eli Manning

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All eyes are going to be the Giants passing offense, which of course struggled in the preseason when led by starting quarterback Eli Manning.

To recap, Manning finished 20 of 41 for 188 yards and one touchdown in five games. He was also sacked five times for minus-57 yards behind an ever-changing offensive line, and he didn't always appear to be on the same page with his receivers, much like was the case in 2013.

Manning, who threw a career-high 27 interceptions last season, is looking for redemption. 

"I definitely want to play better than I did last year, that’s for sure," he told reporters on Thursday. "I am just trying to go out there and do my job and each game is going to be different. Plays are going to have a challenge in it and try to go out there, enjoy the challenge, and enjoy playing football."

Both Manning and offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo told reporters that they don't put much stock in the numbers generated during the preseason.  

"There are certain things you like to work on each week, but preseason is more about evaluation. Sure you would like to go out and be more productive," he said.

"We realized that we weren’t as productive as we wanted to be with our first group, but we are not looking in the rearview mirror now. We are looking forward, taking care of today, preparing for tomorrow. The preseason is over and we have two quality days of work this week and we need to carry that over to Monday night." 

LB Jon Beason

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Linebacker Jon Beason, one of the Giants’ newly minted team co-captains, practiced on a limited basis this week, his first real football work since breaking the sesamoid bone in his foot on June 12.

Barring any setbacks between today and Monday night, he’s expected to be in the lineup. The question, though is how much will he actually do?

It’s probably too soon for Beason to take a full workload, as the trainers have been all about building him back up gradually so as to not have him experience a setback.

Beason will probably be listed as a starter, but an early guess is he’ll be limited just to run support and to no more than maybe 25-30 snaps in the game, though he hopes that won't be the case.

"They haven’t (given him a snap count) at all," Beason told reporters on Friday. "That’s a good thing that they haven’t because if it was up to me, I’d play every down. I’d play offense, too, if I could."

The reality is that it probably doesn’t make sense just yet to unleash the “Beast” and have him fly around the field, as defensive coordinator Perry Fewell noted.

"Mentally, he is very sharp. That is not a problem," Fewell told reporters today.

"Just him seeing the plays over and over with the speed he plays at and the tempo he plays at—. We have to get him to calm down a little bit from that standpoint so he can see the play and digest the play and make sure he is executing what we need for him to execute."

Fortunately for the Giants, they have quality depth at the position in rookie Devon Kennard, who could potentially continue in his role of playing the strong-side linebacker while incumbent Jameel McClain moves to the middle.

"[The middle linebacker] doesn’t have to be a full-go and be out there all the time," Fewell said. "We have a plan. Tom [Coughlin] has a plan. We will reveal that a little bit later. We have worked both guys at the position." 

The more likely scenario is that the Giants will run their nickel package for most of the game with Beason coming off the field on passing downs.

LG Weston Richburg

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In the NFL, there are no easy assignments, especially for an offensive lineman, but for Weston Richburg, who is projected to line up at left guard on Monday night, he’s about to get a real orientation real fast when he goes against Detroit Lions defensive tackle Nick Fairley.

Welcome to the NFL rookie!

Fairley was the NFL’s 15th-best defensive tackle, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He logged 35 tackles in 15 games, and had a career high 6.0 sacks to go along with 35 pressures/hits and 22 tackles for zero or negative yardage.

"Obviously, it's a big challenge," Giants coach Tom Coughlin told the media when asked about that Lions defensive front.

"They're an outstanding defensive team and an outstanding defensive front with exceptional players. That having been said, we're well aware of that, we're preparing ourselves the best we can, and I'm sure that our players will get ready and will be highly competitive.”

Richburg's biggest challenge could be matching up physically with the Lions front. The rookie is listed as 6'3", 298 pounds. Fairley is listed as 6'4", 308 pounds.

"You’re going to have to be physical; you’re going to have to be able to block a really good football player, no matter if it’s the first two or even the substitutions," Coughlin said of what Richburg will need to do to be successful.

"From a mental standpoint, there’s no doubt that there will be some things that will happen in the game that he’s going to have to, as a young guy, adapt to right away. I think he will."

RG John Jerry

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

If you think Weston Richburg has a tough assignment, then how about projected starting right guard John Jerry's assignment for the season opener?

That would be none other than Ndamukong Suh, the Lions' behemoth three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle, who was Pro Football Focus' second-best interior defensive lineman last season and who is one of the nastiest players in the NFL.

If there are any concerns about the matchup on Jerry's part, he's not letting on. 

"Guys have that perception of him. But I just think he's a guy that plays hard and it's his way of playing," Jerry told Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. "I mean, people feel that he takes it too far, but it's just football."

Jerry has faced the Lions only one time before in his career, that in Week 16 of the 2010 season, Suh's rookie year. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Jerry held his own against Suh in that game, finishing with a 1.1 pass-block grade despite allowing just one quarterback sack to the rookie defensive tackle. 

The key for the Giants might be helping Jerry by sending an occasional double-team on Suh, as Carl Banks, the former Giants linebacker and current team radio analyst, demonstrates in his breakdown of the Lions-New York matchup.

Banks stresses that if the Giants plan to double-team Suh, the execution must be flawless, which of course depends on solid communication between the guard (Jerry) and the center (J.D. Walton).

If Suh is allowed to split the double-team block, that won't bode well for quarterback Eli Manning.

The Giants Cornerbacks

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Instead of an individual player, I'm going with a position group, specifically the cornerbacks—Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Prince Amukamara and Walter Thurmond—all of whom will at some point likely face Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson. 

Rodgers-Cromartie told Art Stapleton of The Record that the defensive plan is to not assign a specific cornerback to shadow Johnson, as was the case last year when Amukamara drew the assignment: 

"

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said he expects to stay on the left side + not shadow Calvin Johnson with Prince Amukamara on the right. #NYG

— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) September 4, 2014"

On Friday, Fewell told reporters that leaving the cornerbacks to play sides could give the Giants defense an advantage in their quest to limit the damage done by Megatron.

“I think that plays a big advantage for you if you can do that and not have the same person over and over studying that same person patterns. Yes, I think that is a big advantage for you,” he said.

Thurmond surmised that new Lions offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi might try to take advantage of Johnson’s talents by moving him around on the field.

“That’s what they did in the past, though, really utilized him in the slot, really moved him around to get different matchups, different route combinations that they like, that’s going to better fit them,” he told reporters.

“The offensive coordinator is coming from New Orleans, so we watched a lot of that tape as well to see his style, how he calls his plays and everything. It’s going to be an interesting situation.”

For as good as Johnson is, Thurmond believes that it will all come down to playing solid technique to contain Johnson. 

“He’s really effective on the deeper passes. He’s 6’5” (and) he has a tremendous jumping ability to be able to go after the ball,” Thurmond noted. “Really just play sound technique, be disciplined in our keys and really just pay attention to detail and stopping the run and stopping the pass.”

Patricia Traina is the senior editor for Inside Football. All quotes and information obtained firsthand, unless otherwise noted. Follow me on Twitter, @Patricia_Traina.