Giants vs Jets at Metlife Stadium – EWB Staff Predictions
By Ed Stein
Vladimir De Wet
The New York Giants and New York Jets are playing at MetLife Stadium on Sunday for draft position. The G-Men are on pace for a third straight double-digit losing season while the Jets are getting ready for a four-peat. It is not time to sound the alarm because the current state of affairs has become the norm.
In the last eight years, there has been one combined playoff appearance between these intrastate rivals. The only real question that will be answered on Sunday is which hat will be seen first on draft day, Gmen Blue or Gang Green?
Both teams have heavily invested in the backfield. Making sure that Saquon Barkley of the Giants and Le’Veon Bell of the Jets produce and exit the field healthy will leave everyone happy. According to Football Outsiders, the Giants currently have the 22nd ranked offensive line while the Jets are 30th. Both the running backs as well as the young quarterbacks of each team have spent the season running for their lives.
Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold can only hope that they get more comfortable out there because each has behind such bad offensive line play. Also, both teams are missing big-time playmakers or simply don’t have them. The most recent injury reports released by the teams, the Giants will be without Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram. The Jets are without middle linebacker CJ Mosley. Demaryius Thomas, Bell, and Chris Herndon are all listed as probable.
Expect a sloppy, turnover-filled, high scoring game between two franchises already concerned about next year. The New York Giants give up the fourth-most points in the league with a -10 turnover differential, while the Jets give up the eighth-most points in the league and have a -7 turnover differential. In other words, both defenses are really bad.
The silver lining to watching this game is that the future for both teams is already on the field. No team will come out of this game with any great knowledge about what the next step is but one quarterback will leave the first in-house rivalry with bragging rights in the city (sorry Josh Allen, even though you’ve beaten both of them already this year, it is just different in the city). Giants win 30-27.