Preview:
The New York Giants travel to Tampa Bay this Sunday to play the Buccaneers in Raymond Jones Stadium with kickoff at 4:05pm EST. This will be the 22nd meeting since 1977.
These two teams last met on November 18th, 2018 at MetLife Stadium when the Giants won 38-35. A win on Sunday would improve the Giants record in the series to 15-7 and 7-6 on the road.
The Bucs are coming off a 20-14 win over the Carolina Panthers
on Thursday Night Football. The Giants coming off a 28-14 loss to the Buffalo
Bills this past Sunday.
Jones Under Center:
This will mark the first pro start of rookie Daniel
Jones, the 6th pick of the 2019 Draft. Jones steps in for 16 year All
Pro Quarterback Eli Manning who will be missing only his second game of his
long career.
“I feel like I’m ready
to embrace it” said Jones while meeting with the media on Wednesday. “I think
focusing on what we’re doing here, focusing on what we’re doing in the building
and our preparation with my teammates, with my coaches. Narrowing that focus to
being here in the moment in this week, I think, is important with that. I feel
like I can embrace that, and I am looking forward to the opportunity.”
In three seasons at
Duke, Jones started all 36 games in which he played. With the Blue Devils,
Jones completed 764 of 1,275 passes (60%) for 8,201 yards, 52 touchdowns and 29
interceptions. He also had 406 rushing attempts for 1,323 yards (3.3-yard avg.)
and 17 touchdowns.
Jones was outstanding in the preseason. In four games, he
completed 29 of 34 passes (85.3%) for 416 yards, two touchdowns, no
interceptions and a glittering 137.2 rating.
Shep’s Back:
Sterling Shepard will be returning from the concussion
protocol after missing last weeks game. Shepard suffered the concussion during
the week one loss to Dallas and fully recovered from his hand injury during
training camp.
“Anytime you get your
frontline players back, it helps” Said Head Coach Pat Shurmur. “Certainly, it’s
not an excuse when they’re not there. Everybody on our roster is supposed to go
in and make plays. But having Shep will be a good boost for us”
Shepard like many of
the Giants will be playing with Daniel Jones for the very first time.
During his media session on Friday, Shepard was asked the difference between
Jones and Manning on the field.
“It’s a different style
of play (between) he and Eli,” Shepard said. “He has the ability to use his
feet a lot more and you’ve got a lot of RPOs going on”
Shepard has a lot
respect for Manning though the team badly need a victory. “It’s nothing against
Eli, he played great,” Shepard said. “Honestly, I feel like we could have
played better for him. But I wouldn’t call it that either. I don’t think that’s
the situation.”
“I feel like we can go down there and get a win with Daniel
as quarterback. That’s the move that we made, and that’s what it is.”
Injury Report:
*Only two players
appear on the Giants’ final injury report of the week, both wide receivers.
Cody Latimer has been declared out of the game at Tampa Bay because he is in
the NFL concussion protocol and Bennie Fowler is questionable with a hamstring
injury.
Buccaneers standout rookie linebacker Devin White, chosen one
pick ahead of Jones in the draft, will not play because of a knee injury he
suffered last week at Carolina.
