New York Giants vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 5 Storylines to Watch

The Giants (1-7) host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-2) tonight at MetLife Stadium. Here’s a look at five key storylines that could play a significant factor in the game's outcome.

The Giants (1-7) host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-2) tonight at MetLife Stadium. Here’s a look at five key storylines that could play a significant factor in the game's outcome.

The GOAT returns

Just when the Giants thought they saw the last of the ageless wonder that is Tom Brady, the quarterback is back for another go-round as he continues his Hall of Fame career wearing new threads.

Brady is famously 0-2 against the Giants in the Super Bowl, but in regular-season action, he’s 4-1, including a 1-0 mark against Daniel Jones.

In those five regular-season games, Brady is 125 out of 195 for 1,478 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions and has been sacked 11 times.

The Giants' best bet is to make sure they get more than just a hit here and there against the 43-year-old. Brady has completed 42.9% of his pass attempts this season when under pressure and 70.8% when not pressured.

The Giants, for what it’s worth, are aiming for their eighth consecutive game with at least two sacks. They have 18.0 sacks through Week 7, which ties them for eighth in the NFL. And for good measure, they are aiming for their fourth consecutive game with an interception.

Shane Lemieux’s debut

All signs point toward Shane Lemieux, the Giants’ fifth-round rookie, as the starting left guard this week. Lemieux, who would be filling in for Will Hernandez, who is on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, has never played snaps with the offensive line, but he will get a healthy dose of snaps this week against a strong Bucs defensive front.

Head coach Joe Judge wouldn’t confirm anything, but sources have indicated that Shane Lemieux will make his debut Monday night as a starting NFL offensive guard, filling in for Will Hernandez, who is on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

Lemieux, the Giants' fifth-round draft pick this year, has only played a handful of snaps at fullback and tight end, but he’s been making progress behind the scenes to where the coaching staff feels comfortable putting him out there.

“Shane has been doing a good job improving throughout the season. He’s done a really good job in practice,” Judge said. “We were planning on really working him in throughout the games anyway, to be honest with you, in terms of just like we worked (tackle) Matt Peart into games as well.

“We have confidence in Shane, I would expect him to play regardless of what the scenario is.”

You down with JPP?

Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul makes another return to MetLife Stadium to face his old team, Monday night. Given the turnover the Giants have had since Pierre-Paul was traded in the 2018 season, Pierre-Paul might as well be facing any other team.

Except he’s not, and he’s looking forward to showing the Giants that despite his permanently damaged right hand and neck surgery that kept him out of the meeting with the Giants last year, the 31-year-old Pierre-Paul, who is third in the league with 5.5 sacks, is still very much a force with which to be reckoned.

"This game definitely means something special to me," Pierre-Paul told reporters via video conference on Friday. " I'm fully healed and I'm ready to go," he said. "I'm trying to see what I can do. I already know what I'm going to do, but I want to see what I can do."

At one point, Pierre-Paul said he still "had love" for the Giants, who drafted him in the first round in 2010 and who stood by him when he accidentally blew off part of his right hand. Although he recognizes that the decision to trade him was business, that doesn’t mean his enthusiasm for proving his old team wrong is any less intense.

"You already know they made a mistake," he said. "... It's not that I'm trying to show them they made a mistake; it's just the fact that I know that I wasn't washed up or finished up. So, this [Monday], I have to show them, you know? It's my old team, and we've got to show them the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers."

Who will be running the ball?

The Giants have declared running back Devonta Freeman (ankle) out of tonight’s game, which should mean a starting role for fourth-year man Wayne Gallman.

But lest anyone think that it will only be Gallman, Judge said the plan is to rotate different backs. That would include Gallman, Dion Lewis, fullback Eli Penny, and if he’s elevated from the practice squad as is expected, Alfred Morris.

The Giants running game’s numbers have perked up as they’ve rushed for at least 130 yards in three out of their last four games. However, quarterback Daniel Jones, who made his NFL debut as a starter last year against the Bucs, has been the team’s rushing yardage leader in those games, not exactly what the Giants probably want to see, but something they’ll take so long as Jones comes out those runs unscathed.

Is punishment coming for the party-goers?

Last week, Judge and the players captured on video attending a team dinner without practicing social distancing or wearing masks refused to discuss any discipline that was handed down.

According to league protocols, the players involved almost certainly received a fine for their lack of responsibility. But might a benching also be in the works?

Remember, left tackle Andrew Thomas was fined and benched for a quarter when he accidentally was late for a team meeting, an action Judge said was a mistake. Jones, Shepard, and the other players involved in the video made a conscious decision not to wear masks. (Jones did admit he had a mask with him and acknowledged he needs to wear it.)

The point here is that if Thomas got penalized for an innocent mistake, wouldn’t it behoove Judge to be consistent with his handling of the discipline aspect of it? 

That’s not to say he’ll bench the players involved an entire quarter, as was the case with Thomas. However, if Jones, Shepard, and whoever else was involved sits for a series, it would not be a surprise.