New York Giants Preseason Week 3 Matchup Preview

The New York Giants are gearing up for their final dress rehearsal prior to the regular-season opener. On Saturday, they will host the New York Jets in the annual MetLife Bowl, a game that is always worth watching for its side stories.

The Giants, losers of their first two preseason games, have some growing concerns they need to iron out this weekend. We'll go over all those in greater detail, but first let's take a quick look at this annual summer series, which began in 1969.

The game will feature several players who used to play for the opposition. For the Giants, receiver Brandon Marshall, defensive tackle Damon Harrison, kicker Mike Nugent, and quarterback Geno Smith are all former Jets. Giants defensive tackle Jordan Williams spent time on the Jets' practice squad.

Giants tight end Matt LaCosse also had a brief stint with the Jets after Big Blue waived him as a rookie.

For the Jets, linebacker Spencer Paysinger and receiver Myles White are former Giants.

The Giants currently trail the Jets in the preseason series, 25-22-1. They did, however, win last year's game by the narrow margin of 21-20.

What will be the key storylines for the Giants? Read on.

Kicker Battle

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

If you were hoping the Giants would have an answer to their kicker battle by now, sorry to disappoint you: they don't.

That's how close Mike Nugent and Aldrick Rosas have been in this competition. Both have made all their field-goal attempts, though the latter holds a slight edge here in that he is two-for-two on attempts of 40-plus yards versus Nugent's one-for-one between 40 and 49 yards.

On kickoffs, Rosas has been slightly better, showing an ability to boot the ball into the end zone.

The Giants would probably like to rely a little less on their field-goal kickers to put points on the board for them. But at least they're finding out this preseason what they have in the pair.

Backup Quarterback Battle

Ron Schwane/Associated Press

Another battle that looks like it's going down to the wire is the backup quarterback race that pits Smith against Josh Johnson.

Statistically speaking, both quarterbacks are about even, though Smith does have two interceptions to Johnson's zero. The Giants must decide if they prefer a game manager (Johnson) or someone who can potentially move the ball but is also prone to making the bone-headed mistakes that kill drives (Smith).

This weekend, look for Johnson to get his turn in the competition. He completed seven-of-14 pass attempts for 37 yards in the preseason opener when he started for Eli Manning. While guilty of holding on to the ball too long at times, Johnson didn't commit any egregious errors that hurt the team.

Meanwhile, rookie Davis Webb, who didn't get any snaps last week, probably isn't in the mix for the No. 2 job right now. As he develops, though, it's not out of the question that he won't jump ahead of whoever wins the backup job by the end of this coming season.

Can the Offense Score?

David Richard/Associated Press

Through eight quarters of play, the Giants offense has scored exactly zero touchdowns. 

Want more bad news? The Giants are also zero for four in the red zone so far this preseason.

If that sounds familiar, it's because despite upgrading the talent at the skill positions, the Giants offense is basically picking up where it left off last year.

For a team that has Super Bowl aspirations, not being able to score—especially when in the red zone—is a problem.

"We are not happy about it," head coach Ben McAdoo said. "We are working at it. That's how we have to address it. We have to come out, we have to put our work in, and we have to improve on the practice field and get it to carry over to game day. Just because you want something to happen doesn't mean it is going to happen. You have to work at it."

The problem is they have been working at it, with the offense even managing to score against the defense. Why that's not translating to the field of play is a question McAdoo and his staff better figure out in a hurry if this team wants to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the year.

Getting the Running Game Started

Ron Schwane/Associated Press

Scoring points hasn't been the only struggle for this Giants team. New York has also struggled to run the ball with any consistency.

The revamped running game, which has Paul Perkins as the starter and Rhett Ellison as a blocking tight end (but the same offensive line—see the next slide), has averaged 3.2 yards per carry, the longest run being a 16-yard dash by Perkins in Monday's game against the Browns.

Through two games, the Giants have had seven rushing attempts stopped for zero or negative yards. That represents 16.2 percent of their rushing attempts this preseason.

Although the blame for the running game woes shouldn't be placed solely on Perkins, who is averaging 1.2 yards per carry, it is worth mentioning that Orleans Darkwa is averaging a team best 4.1 yards per carry, having made the most of those handful of opportunities he has received.

Will McAdoo finally give Darkwa more of an opportunity? The Giants coach has said the running game woes aren't the result of any one specific factor, but it would seem foolish not to go with those that seem to be successful.

Offensive Line

Corey Perrine/Getty Images

The Giants will face another 3-4 defensive front this week, which should give the much-maligned offensive line another good test.

Against Cleveland on Monday, the interior of the offensive line—guards Justin Pugh and John Jerry, and center Weston Richburg—didn't have one of their better games, particularly when it came to run blocking, where they had four rushing attempts that went for zero or negative yardage.

They also allowed a sack against Manning when Jerry, the starting right guard, failed to pick up a Browns stunt. Jerry’s struggles, in fact, let to McAdoo giving Brett Jones a handful of snaps at the starting right guard spot during Wednesday's practice.

"Brett does some good things for us," McAdoo said. "He is a tremendous communicator, whether he is at center or guard. He knows the scheme, knows the system, helps communicate to the players around him. He is a physical player. He plays with good pad level and we trust Brett."

Whether they trust him enough to replace Jerry in the starting lineup remains to be seen.

As for the rest of the offensive line, Richburg reminded people that the line's jelling is a process.

"If we ever think that we're at a point where we're good, we're not," he said.

"As athletes, we always talk about the process, and I think we talked the other day about if you reach a goal, set up another one and continue to get better. I think it's always a process for us. We're always trying to find ways to get better and make ourselves better as a team."

Most Giants fans might agree that it's time to expedite the process.

The Cornerbacks

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

The Giants' cornerback depth took a hit this week thanks to the concussion suffered by Michael Hunter in Monday's game, and the sudden departure by Valentino Blake, who was placed on the reserve/left squad list by the team.

Then there is the matter of starter Eli Apple, who is probably a question mark for Saturday night despite being able to do some work after an ankle problem.

That doesn't leave the Giants with much depth behind veterans Janoris Jenkins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Donte Deayon, who has been making a strong push for a roster spot as a backup slot cornerback, could get some snaps on the outside in place of Apple.

Also facing a golden opportunity to boost his stock is undrafted rookie free-agent Nigel Tribune, who has yet to dent the defensive stat sheet in what's been an underwhelming summer.

The Giants will probably add a cornerback to the spot that opened when they received the roster exemption on Blake. And they might have no choice but to throw that guy into the deep end after just one practice.

              

Patricia Traina covers the New York Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.