Giants and Redskins Preview

The NFL begins tomorrow and I couldn't be any more excited. Big Blue is back at home and taking their first stand against the many who will be trying to dethrone the champs. Being a fan of those Super Bowl Champions, I just have to give you my take on the New York Giants throughout the season. The way I'm going to do that is a weekly breakdown of their upcoming game. These breakdowns will include position by position analysis of each team, giving you my thoughts on the team with the advantage at each of those positions, all culminating in my final score of the game. So without any more delay lets get started!!! Quarterback - Eli Manning vs Jason Campbell. This I think is pretty easy we all know Eli is better. Some may argue that will only happen if it's the Eli Manning that played like Peyton down the stretch. I disagree thou. I think even the inconsistent Eli from the beginning and middle of the season is still better then the younger Jason Campbell. Don't get me wrong, I do believe Campbell is a solid up and coming quarterback but yet a year or two away from being anything more then the fourth best QB in the NFC East. Advantage - Giants. Running back - Clinton Portis vs the three headed monster. This is where things get interesting. The Giants have decided to go with a running back committee with Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw. Jacobs is the clear starter but who gets the bulk of the carries is up in the air. It will most likely come down to match-ups as well as whose got the hot legs at the time. The Redskins on the other hand have the sure handed Portis whose been nothing but steady through his career and even becomes more valuable this year with the Skins going with more of a West Coast offense. This is a close call here but i have to say. Advantage - Redskins. Wide Receiver - The Giants have without a doubt their best wide receiving corp in years. In all my time watching football I've never seen Big Blue with such a deep corps, even during their championship runs they never had immense depth, they've always been smash mouth run the ball down your throat. That began to change last year with Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer and the emerging Steve Smith. Now they add Mario Manningham, Sinorice Moss (if he can stay healthy), and Dominik Hixon, this gives them so many options should someone get hurt. They could even go with more four or five wide receiver sets to open the field up. With training camp injuries the young guys got a lot of work and should be able to step in at anytime. The Skins well they've got Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El, with James Thrash as the #3. Its not a spectacular group but they do get the job done. The two teams, much like at running back are pretty even but due to the depth of the Giants corp i'll give them the nod here. Advantage - Giants. Tight End - Kevin Boss vs Chris Cooley. This will be shortest preview, as we all know how special Chris Cooley is. The Skins can line him up anywhere half back, full back, h-back, tight end, or wideout and get some kind of production. The Giants are high on Boss, high enough to let Jeremy Shockey leave town, but no one is sure what to expect in a full season yet. So this one is easy. Advantage - Redskins. Defensive Line - This has been the area of most debate about the Giants over the past two weeks. Are they a strong unit without Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora? I still believe they are. The starting unit includes Justin Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka, Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins. The depth is no longer to deep which knocks them from the upper echelon of the league on the line, but there is no doubt the starting four is still pretty damn good. The Skins are in the same boat, they've got solid starters but questionable depth. With Jason Taylor (game time decision), Andre Carter, Cornelius Griffin and Anthony Montgomery they will get to the quarterback and annoy the hell out of the running game. Here is where I'm going to give you two options. Advantage 1 (Jason Taylor does not play) - Giants. Advantage 2 (Jason Taylor does play) - Push. Linebackers - This is the area the Giants are most affected by the loss of Osi. I repeat the defensive line is not the one's hurt here, its the linebacking corp. Having Kiwanuka move back to the end position leaves the Giants without anyone proven at his former strong linebacker spot. The Giants are actually pretty weak at the position, minus Antonio Pierce who may be the most underrated LB in the league. This is the area where the Redskins are going to need to attack at, the middle of the field. If they can get Cooley open in the middle of the field, or get Portis to break tackles to get to the second level it could be a very long night for the Giants defense. The Redskins don't have an outstanding group of linebackers but they are pretty damn solid. With Marcus Washington, London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh they hold a clear advantage in this area of the field. Advantage - Redskins. Secondary - The secondary was said to be the weakest unit on the New York Giants last season. So what happened with that unit? They took that disrespect and just went out practiced and played their heart out ending the year as a very productive unit. There is still no stars on the unit, but its a group of youngsters and veterans who now work as a group to let Spags dial up many blitz packages. What makes them even more dangerous is that anyone of their defensive backs could easily show up in the pocket to lay a crushing hit on Jason Campbell. The Skins have a pretty solid secondary themselves. With Carlos Rogers, Shawn Springs and Fred Smoot they should give the Giants receivers headaches all night long. With all of Burress success last season he caught only 8 balls for about 120 yards and a touchdown. As a whole, the Giants were only able to gain about 415 yards through the air in those two games. Even with the improving Giants secondary, I have to give the Skins the edge. Advantage - Redskins. Special Teams - The two sides are pretty evenly matched in the return game. The Giants take a lead at punter, the Skins at kicker. So this one's fairly easy. Advantage - Push. To win I believe the Giants are going to have to establish the running game. If they can get the ball rolling on the ground it should open up Eli's bread and butter the play-action pass. Once the Giants do enter the passing game they are going to need to spread the ball around and keep the secondary guessing. If they do a Plaxico lean as they have at times before, the Skins defense will lock up the passing game. For the Redskins to win, I think they need to come out and have no fear. Put the ball in Jason Campbell's hands early and open up the field. If they complete quite a few early passes and show they aren't scared of the rush it should relax the Giants defense some (unlikely but it could). If this happens, then Portis will have more then enough room to run wild against the Giants. On defense if they can shut the Giants running game down then the game could easily be theirs for the taking. My opinion thou is a Giants 24-16 win. It's their first appearance in front of the home crowd since winning the Super Bowl and emotions will be running high. History is on the Giants side here as the defending Super Bowl Champion has won all four of these Thursday Night Opening contests.