5 New York Giants Players to Watch vs. the Philadelphia Eagles

What a week!

On Sunday night, the New York Giants will visit the Philadelphia Eagles for a game in which the winner will take a half-game lead in the NFC East standings.

The way the week leading up to the game unfolded, one would have thought this was a playoff game.  

It started with New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle’s candid assessment about how weak the division was last year, an assessment that, according to NFL.com’s Judy Battista’s research, is on target, regardless if the Philadelphia Eagles, the 2013 division winners, agree.

It escalated when a Giants fan who attended a memorabilia signing somehow managed to convince cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Prince Amukamara to pose for a photo (h/t CBSSports.com) commemorating the number of Super Bowls won by the Eagles.

The Eagles began to fire back, making some of the legendary trash-talking exchanges between Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy and former Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora seem like every-day pleasantries

First, there was an infographic on the Eagles’ official web site, a direct poke at Giants quarterback Eli Manning, known to grimace whenever something goes wrong. 

Then there was this team-sanctioned video, narrated by actor and Eagles fan Bradley Cooper that takes a swipe at both the Giants and New York sports fans.

After Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul made his disdain of Philadelphia abundantly clear, he opened a loophole for the Eagles to exploit when he said, “At the end of the day, yeah, they’re 4-1, but they could have easily been 0-4.”

That prompted Eagles center Jason Kelce, who isn’t even playing on Sunday, to share with Sports 94WIP, the Eagles’ flagship station, a rather scathing opinion about the intelligence of both Giants head coach Tom Coughlin and Pierre-Paul (h/t Ebenezer Samuel, New York Daily News):

"

Well my response to that is, I don’t think Jason Pierre-Paul is smart enough to come up with that statement on his own. I think he’s the type of guy that just reiterates what his coaches have been telling him. So, I’m a little worried about Tom Coughlin’s math because I feel like maybe that’s where it was screwed up. Maybe it was just relayed to him.

"

“I don’t know how he went into the records and found out I wasn’t a very good math student,” Coughlin quipped when told of Kelce’s comments.

To cap off a crazy week of trash-talking, the Eagles web site released this juvenile cartoon mocking Eli Manning.

Yep, it’s Giants-Eagles week!

Thankfully, all this chirping will end late Sunday night, when one of these two teams will be able to puff its chests for the coming week, while the other will be sent home to lick its wounds.

It’s going to be a close, intense contest—the Giants-Eagles games usually are.

Will New York emerge on the right side of the ledger? Let’s look at five key players/units who, if they come through with strong performances, will add a lot of blue to the Eagles’ planned “Black Sunday” event.

RB Andre Williams

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Rookie running back Andre Williams is a soft-spoken, intelligent young man who chews over his words before he delivers them.

He is also a hard-charging downhill runner who seems to relish dishing out punishment in a way this team hasn’t seen since the days of Brandon Jacobs in his prime.

This week, Williams will make his first NFL start, stepping in for Rashad Jennings, who is out with a sprained knee.

“You know, I am very excited,” Williams told reporters this week. “It is going to be my first start; I just want to prepare as well as I can and make sure I am ready to compete at the highest level I can.”

The coaches are also excited about the rookie fourth-round draft pick, who last year led the NCAA in rushing yards and who so far has 170 yards on 50 carries and two touchdowns.

“He is an aggressive guy,” offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo told reporters. “He runs like he is going to tackle you. That is probably what we like about him the most. He is a big, physical guy. He is a cerebral guy, but he runs very aggressively.”

The Giants will need the rookie to bring his A-game against an Eagles run defense that, so far, has allowed an average of 132.0 rushing yards per game, the eighth-most in the league.

If the Giants can get the running game going early, that should open up things downfield for the passing game against a porous Eagles pass defense that has allowed an average of 274.2 passing yards per game, fourth-most in the NFL.

CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who popped up on the Giants’ injury report this week with hamstring and ankle issues, wants people to know that he is just fine.

"Nothing to worry about, to be honest,” Rodgers-Cromartie told NJ.com’s Jordan Raanan, who also reported that Rodgers-Cromartie had tests done on his knee after some fluid accumulated. 

Despite being listed as probable for Sunday's game, Rodgers-Cromartie’s physical condition could indeed be a cause for concern.

Last week, Rodgers-Cromartie was presumably dealing with the same ailments which forced him in and out of the lineup.

Not surprisingly, he earned his worst pass-coverage grade (minus-1.1) of the season from Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

The Giants pass defense has been prone to giving up the big pass play (20 or more yards), allowing 19 such plays so far which ties them for fifth-most in the league (with Arizona and Baltimore).

Of those 19 plays, five have gone for 40 or more yards, tying them for fourth in the league with the Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets.

Those are not good stats for a pass defense, which by the way, is also allowing opponents an average of 265.0 yards in the air per game, the ninth-highest average in the league.

After a bumpy Week 1 showing, Rodgers-Cromartie has clamped down on opponents. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Rodgers-Cromartie has not allowed a pass of longer than 12 yards.  

Rodgers-Cromartie currently has a NFL rating of 64.0 in coverage, the 12th-best mark, per PFF’s list of graded cornerbacks who have taken 60 percent or more of their team’s defensive snaps. 

The Giants need all hands on deck to handle the Eagles’ weapons. An effective Rodgers-Cromartie would sure be a major plus.

WR Odell Beckham Jr.

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

Last week’s NFL debut by receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was, by all accounts, a success.

Oh sure, his final stat line—four catches for 44 yards and a touchdown—wasn’t anything to write home about.

However, his presence on the field was a catalyst in getting the Atlanta Falcons to back a man out of the box after seeing Beckham repeatedly run by them. That, in turn, opened things for the running game to succeed.

So what is on tap for the Giants' first-round draft pick this weekend?

If New York opens in a three-wide set, Beckham could be looking at making his first NFL start.

“He had a good week of practice so far,” offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo told reporters on Thursday. “We feel he is coming along nicely.”

In addition to taking snaps with the offense, Beckham could see time as a punt returner, where his speed could help give the Giants’ sagging punt-return unit, currently ranked 21st in the NFL with a 6.6-yard per-return average, a boost.

“He could be,” head coach Tom Coughlin told reporters when asked about that possibility.

“I think you need to have more than one [returner]. If we could have a couple people ready to go, then that helps you make decisions on when to use so and so and when to use the other person.”

Special Teams

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

It's another week and a another need to mention the Giants' special teams.

Whether it is the fault of the players or coordinator Tom Quinn (in this analysis, it is a little bit of both), the Giants' special teams have not been very good this year.

A look at the NFL.com updated stats prior to Week 6’s game shows the Giants are tied with the Jets for the 24th-best kickoff-return average (20.8 avg.) and are 20th with a 6.6 punt-return average.

The Eagles? They are second in the NFL with a 30.9 kickoff-return average and have the third-best punt-return unit, averaging 15.9 yards per return.

Can we say, “mismatch”?

There are things the Giants can do to, at minimum, come to a draw in this critical area. 

Step 1 is to keep the ball out of the hands of the Eagles' return specialists, Darren Sproles on punts and Chris Polk on kickoff returns. No exceptions.

Step 2 is to consider bringing Odell Beckham Jr. and all that speed he has in on either kickoff or punt returns (or better yet, both) wherever and whenever possible.

With Beckham no longer on the injury report, it is assumed that his nagging hamstring issue is in the past. 

However, head coach Tom Coughlin said he is going to continue to use Beckham judiciously to avoid creating any issues that might send the receiver back to the trainer’s room.

“Situation, time of the game, field position—all the above,” he told reporters when asked what circumstances might prompt him to use Beckham as a return specialist.  

Step 3 is to tackle properly and not attempt arm, ankle or lunging tackles. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the Giants have 10 missed tackles on special teams.  

The three steps all sound elementary, but as the Giants have shown so far, nothing is ever easy when it comes to special teams.

Until this unit starts to show some consistency—good consistency—it is going to remain as the team’s Achilles' heel.

LB Jacquian Williams

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

The Giants have themselves a legitimate young playmaker at linebacker in fourth-year man Jacquian Williams.

Williams, a sixth-round draft pick in 2011, struggled earlier in his career with a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury. Once he became healthy, his confidence level grew to where he has evolved into an every-down linebacker. 

“We said early in camp that he has emerged to be a three-down backer,” defensive coordinator Perry Fewell told the media on Thursday.

“We are just reaffirming that he has become a three-down backer. In the past, he was more of a specialist, and I think this is a tribute to the young man that he has become a three-down backer.

Becoming an every-down linebacker was Williams’ goal this year.

“I never want to be known as just a passing-down linebacker,” Williams told me for Inside Football during training camp.

“No, I’m an every-down linebacker. Will it take work? Yes. Will it take practice? Yes. Will it take experience and coaching? Yes.

“Am I an every-down linebacker? I am.”

Last week, Williams, who, according to the official game book on snap counts, took all 72 of the Giants’ defensive snaps and racked up a team-high 13 tackles, in addition to one pass defensed.

That performance earned him a Week 5 nomination for NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

His maturation as a linebacker should help him deal with the challenges this Eagles team poses. One of Williams’ assignments will most likely include keeping tight end Zach Ertz, who gives the Eagles another deep threat, from doing much damage.

Williams also has the physical tools to get after running back Darren Sproles if the Eagles manage to get him into space.

If Williams can play as he did last week for four quarters, Ertz and Sproles shouldn't be much of a factor.

Advanced statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus (subscription required) and NFL.com unless otherwise noted.

All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.