New York Giants Twitter Mailbag: NFC East Showdown Edition

A funny thing happened this week.

I went to my “office” (OK, a desk with a small overhead storage bin) at the Quest Diagnostics Center's media room on Wednesday, a day considered the start of the new football week for teams playing on Sunday.

I thought I was going to cover the preparations leading up to a critical Week 6 NFC East clash between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Instead, it was as though I was covering one of those “wrestling” matches where both sides do a lot of trash talking and chest thumping leading up to the event itself.

Welcome to Giants-Eagles week, where anything and everything can and does happen—like this work of art that popped up the Eagles’ official Twitter account:

It’s all in good fun, but as a certain “loudmouth New Yorker” always likes to say: “Talk is cheap; play the game."

Thanks for the question, John. If I am the Eagles, I devote double coverage to Cruz and Beckham, and take my chances trying to stop Rueben Randle, who has been inconsistent, with single coverage.

I also look to duplicate what the Falcons did last week in taking tight end Larry Donnell out of the picture.

Defensively, as Jason Pierre-Paul told reporters on Thursday, stopping the run has to be the No. 1 priority for the defense.

If they can stop the run and make the Eagles one-dimensional, pressuring Eagles quarterback Nick Foles could potentially lead to mistakes.

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Here is the caveat though. The Giants will need to try to stop the run without having to stuff a safety up in the box.

Antrel Rolle is probably going to have a partial assignment to cover running back Darren Sproles if he gets into space, while linebacker Jacquian Williams will probably draw tight end Zach Ertz. (Remember, in Perry Fewell’s system, the weak-side linebacker usually gets the opposing tight end.)

In five games so far, the Giants have held their opponents to less than 100 yards rushing in three games—Week 1 against the Detroit Lions, Week 4 against Washington and Week 5 against the Atlanta Falcons. Two of those three games were wins.

Therefore, there is a correlation between stopping the run and winning if the defensive players do their assignments.

Jonathan, right now, the coaches are trying to get Devon Kennard back into the mix. Last week, his first since suffering a hamstring injury early in Week 1, he took all his snaps on special teams.

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

With the anticipated return of Jon Beason in the middle this weekend, that will push Jameel McClain back to the outside.

What I think will happen then with Kennard is that he will probably rotate with Mark Herzlich on some of the sub-packages, such as goal line, short yardage and nickel.

With more experience and if he stays healthy, I think that should the Giants ever need to move McClain back inside for Beason, we will see the rookie on the outside ahead of Herzlich. 

Chris, funny you should ask that. Tom Rock of Newsday, the ever-so-vigilant researcher that he is, astutely noted that, including the preseason, the Giants are 8-0 in those games in which Jon Beason hasn’t played and 0-2 in those he has played.

OK, so stats don’t always tell the whole picture—in this case, the stat suggesting that Beason’s absence has made the Giants better is just laughable.

There are two factors that I think answer your question.

The first is the players themselves. Jameel McClain is a very smart, versatile linebacker who is a better version of Chase Blackburn—a guy who could play any of the positions and play them at a high enough level.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

You have probably noticed in watching the games that the defense hasn’t looked disjointed during Beason’s absence. That’s because McClain has been superb at getting guys lined up and making the necessary calls.

The other half of the answer is that Perry Fewell has compensated for Beason’s absence by tweaking a few things.

Beason, when healthy, is an every-down linebacker. However, when he is out of the lineup, instead of removing McClain in the nickel package, Fewell has left McClain and Jacquian Williams in there.

In the short-yardage and goal-line packages, Mark Herzlich has gotten the call, though it remains to be seen if he is going to yield some of those snaps to the now healthy Devon Kennard.

Thanks for the questions. If I missed yours, feel free to post a comment below, and I will answer what I can before the game. 

Patricia Traina is the senior editor for Inside Football. All stats from NFL.com unless otherwise noted. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow me on Twitter: @Patricia_Traina.