Following their bye week, there are four New York Giants who must perform on Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
The New York Giants (2-8) will look to end their six-game losing streak as they take on the Chicago Bears (4-6) on Sunday.
Coming off a bye week, the Giants have had time to reflect on their miscues in the first 10 games of the season, and how to correct them down the stretch.
If the Giants are going to win on Sunday and have a strong finish to the season, everyone is going to have to step up their game. There will be four players in particular that fans need to keep their eyes on this Sunday.
Daniel Jones
There have been times this season when Daniel Jones has looked like the best quarterback in this year’s draft class, justify general manager Dave Gettleman‘s decision to take Jones sixth overall.
But the one knock on Jones is his ability to take care of the ball. He’s lost nine fumbles and thrown eight interceptions. Not to mention, he’s had a fumbled returned for a touchdown in each of his last three games.
He can ill-afford to continue to turn the ball over against arguably the most talented defense he’ll face this see. It will be interesting to see if Jones took the necessary steps during the bye week to fix his turnover woes.
Saquon Barkley
No player needed a week to rest more than Saquon Barkley as he’s still hampered by a high ankle sprain that cost him three games. In the last two games, Barkley has carried the ball 27 times for a total of 29 yards.
Some of this can be attributed to poor offensive line play but it was clear Barkley wasn’t close to 100%. It’s hard to envision the Giants offense sustaining any success against a Bears defense that’s giving up 17.4 points per game if Barkley isn’t productive.
After having a week off to heal, will Barkley look like the player he was in the first two weeks of the season when he averaged 113.5 yards on the ground or is his high ankle sprain still lingering?
Leonard Williams
It’s been almost a full month since the Giant traded two 2020 draft picks to the New York Jets to acquire Leonard Williams. In his two games with Big Blue, Williams has six tackles and zero sacks.
Despite the slow start, Williams should see an extended amount of playing time against the Bears now that he’s had ample time to familiarize himself with the defense. So far this season, the Giants defense has primarily lined up with two defensive linemen. Dalvin Tomlinson and rookie Dexter Lawrence have lined up as the interior guys with linebackers Markus Golden and Lorenzo Carter playing off the edge.
Will defensive coordinator James Bettcher switch things up on Sunday and play Williams alongside Tomlinson and Lawrence, opting to play a more traditional 3-4 defense?
DeAndre Baker
Baker has gotten the brunt of the blame for the secondary woes that have plagued the Giants all season. Recently Baker was called out in front of the team for his lack of effort and his inability to grasp the defensive scheme.
It has been an “up and down” rookie season for DeAndre Baker, who was called out last week in front of team for his effort on this “unacceptable” play. But the #Giants insist there have been enough positives for the first-round pick to self-correct. https://t.co/wR21tB2Lx1 pic.twitter.com/D9cIMp1bNY
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) November 22, 2019
Baker has shown glimpses that he can play at a high level but the cons have outweighed the pros in his first 10 NFL games.
After a week to study film and work on his miscues, Baker and the rest of the Giants secondary should fare better on Sunday facing a Bears offense that’s averaging 182.8 passing yards a game.
