Gameday Prelude: A Tale of Two Quarterbacks

Added by Vin D'Anton on December 8, 2012.

During my short tenure as the Giants writer here at DoubleGSports.com, I have harped on historical reoccurrences during the Tom Coughlin/Eli Manning era. Well guess what ladies and gents; I’m repeating my trend because the Giants have one coming up this weekend.

You are probably asking yourself; “what in the world did this pessimistic writer come up with this time?”

What I dug up was simple; Drew Brees owns the New York Giants. Own isn’t even the word, more like Drew Brees has made the Giants his (insert expletive) in the four games he has played against them.

Here are the numbers: 4-0 record, 79-122, 1,055yds, 11td, one rush td, 0int. On top of all this, Brees’ teams average 43ppg when they play Big Blue.

For those of you who want to hit me with the whole “Well, Brees and the Saints can’t win outdoors especially when it’s cold” nonsense, think again. While three of the four games were at home for Brees (one of them in San Diego), the Saints came into the Meadowlands on Christmas Eve, 2006 and steam rolled the Giants in a 30-7 victory.

On top that, the Giants defense ranks 22^nd in the league in passing defense and 21^st in rushing. While the Saints rank 27^th in rushing offense, something will have to give. The Saints have a carousel of decent running backs so if they can turn the run game on if they want to. They normally don’t because Brees is a machine back there in the pocket.

The Giants will need to have their best defensive game of the year Sunday, and Jason Pierre-Paul feels the Super Bowl Champs haven’t yet.

“I think we look soft,” said Pierre-Paul. “I think we’ll get there, man. We haven’t played our best game this year. I know, for a fact, we haven’t played that game.”

Well technically they were phenomenal against the Packers two weeks ago but the Packers may have been due for a bad game after a hot streak.

The challenge this week will be making sure Brees doesn’t get hot again. In their two game-losing streak the 2011 Offensive Player of the Year has 2tds and 7ints. That spells a party for Drew Brees this week after throwing no touchdowns last week, ending his consecutive games with a touchdown pass record at 54.

More importantly the Giants offense needs to click. In the Monday Night loss to the Redskins, the Giants could have honestly had 400+ yards passing but no, Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride continued to be Kevin “Killdrive.”

The Giants will have to let Eli Manning do his thing this week and get back on track for a playoff run. Eli has just 5tds on top of 3ints against the Saints in his career. Let him air it out and get back on track with Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks.

They were on the brink last week so they are almost back to that “let if fly” offense, and why not have Eli do it with Drew Brees watching on the opposing sideline?