5 Storylines for New York Giants' Week 7 Game at Jacksonville

The Giants have the first of two straight road games starting this weekend when they visit the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants look to continue improving step by step this week when they travel down south to face the Jacksonville Jaguars for their third game against an AFC opponent. 

The Giants, 2-0 thus far against AFC teams (and undefeated this season against any team not in the NFC East), have been showing improvement every week in finding ways to get it done on the field, and they're getting the most out of a lot of their players.

Quarterback Daniel Jones is looking for his third straight game with at least a 70 percent completion rate. Running back Saquon Barkley is aiming for his third road game in a row with a rushing touchdown and his fourth road game in a row with 100+ scrimmage yards. 

Tight end Daniel Bellinger is looking for his third straight game with a touchdown catch. And defensive lineman Dexter Lawerence, who tied a career-high of four sacks last week, is seeking his fourth game in a row with a sack.

These are just some of the notables for this week, along with the following storylines.

 Is a Decision on Nick Gates Coming Soon?

The Giants opened the 21-day window on offensive lineman Nick Gates on October 5. Gates, as readers know, is working his way back off the PUP list, where he's been since the summer while recovering from a horrific broken leg suffered last season.

Technically the Giants have until next Wednesday to make the final call on whether to add Gates to the roster or leave him inactive for the rest of the year. They have an opening on the 53-man roster right now to fill, and whether they use that spot on Gate will depend on if he's physically ready.

Doug Pederson

Giants fans might not soon forget how Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson, when he was the head coach of the Eagles, screwed the Giants (who needed an Eagles win over Washington to make the playoffs) and his own team, for that matter, in the 2020 regular season finale when he decided to take a look at backup quarterback Nate Sudefeld, which many people, including then-Giants head coach Joe Judge, saw as a slap in the face to the game's integrity.

Pederson insisted he wasn't trying to compromise the game's integrity, but not many people bought his words. And although Judge, who verbally lashed out at Pederson for compromising the integrity of the game while never mentioning his colleague by name, is long gone, several of the Giants players on that team are still around today. 

Whether they'll admit to it or not is another story. Still, it will be worth watching to see if any of them have a little extra juice in terms of wanting to get back at Pederson, who, by the way, agreed to do a conference call with the Giants' media for that decision.

Living for the Moment

If you missed it, the 5-1 Giants are a 3.5-point underdog to the 2-3 Jaguars. But if you're looking for the Giants to be extra motivated, you will probably be disappointed because that's not what head coach Brian Daboll preaches to his team.

"I think the big thing for us is just focusing on what we can control, which is each day, get ready for the team we’re about to play – Jacksonville in this case – have a good workday, prepare the right way," Daboll said. "That’s where our focus will always be."

In other words, don't worry about the odds, the standings, the scoreboard, or any o of that stuff. Live for the moment, and don't dwell in the past.

It sounds easy enough to do, but players are human as well, and as the positive press clippings continue to pile up, the noise grows to a feverish pitch that soon might be too difficult to ignore.

Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Evan Engram (17) points to the fans in the stands as he walks off the field following the team's shutout victory over the Colts. The Jaguars went into the first half with a 17 to 0 lead over the Colts and went on to win the game 24 to 0. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Indianapolis Colts at TIAA Bank field in Jacksonville, FL Sunday, September 18, 2022 :: Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

Seeing an Old Friend

The Giants will see a familiar face this weekend in the form of old friend Evan Engram, their 2017 first-round draft pick who signed with the Jaguars as an unrestricted free agent this past off-season. Engram is off to one of his best starts to a season, his 208 receiving yards tying him for 11th most among tight ends through six games.

He's caught 24 of 32 pass targets but doesn't yet have a touchdown, as the Jaguars have been deploying him more as a slot receiver and on the outside and not so much inline. While Engram has, at least so far, dramatically cut down on his dropped passes--he has one so far--his yards after catch total (98, 4.1 average) is the lowest of his career to date.

The Giants have mostly done a good job against opposing tight ends this season, allowing just two touchdowns (to Marcedes Lewis of the Packers on a blown coverage and one to Mark Andrews of the Ravens last week) all season. Last week they let Andrews run wild to the tune of 106 yards on seven receptions.

Engram might have disappointed New York, but he can still be a mismatch for teams whose linebackers aren't particularly adept in coverage, and oh, he was apparently feeling pretty confident about playing against his old team in the off-season.

Rattling Trevor Lawerence

Regardless of whatever problems the Jaguars problems on offense, one area in which they've been pretty solid has been protecting quarterback Trevor Lawerence. The Jaguars have allowed just 10.0 sacks this season and have the fifth-best pass-blocking efficiency rating according to Pro Football Focus (88.9).

The Giants? After starting with three sacks in their first three games, the pass rush has started to have more success getting home. New York has recorded ten sacks in its last three games and remains the league's blitz percentage leader (42.5 percent).

Lawrence hasn't been blitzed much so far this season, seeing the blitz on just 22.2 percent of his dropbacks. He's thrown two touchdowns and two of his three interceptions when blitzed, and his receivers have dropped five of his pass attempts when blitzed. Lawrence, like any quarterback, doesn't like being pressured to throw before he's ready, so if the Giants can bring some heat against him, perhaps there will be some opportunities to cash in on.

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