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Giants vs. Saints: 'Kudos & Wet Willies' style preview

Let's preview Sunday's meeting between our 5-0 New York Giants and the 4-0 New Orleans Saints 'Kudos & Wet Willies' style.

There will be lots of 'Kudos' Monday if ....
  • The Giants run the football effectively. Keeping Drew Brees and the Saints offense off the field will be critical. A couple of long, time-consuming drives would be nice.
  • The Giants pressure Brees. We know how explosive (a league-leading 36 points per game) the Saints offense is. If Brees is well-protected the Giants have no chance of slowing New Orleans.
  • The Giants control New Orleans' running game. The Saints are, surprisingly, second in the league with 166 yards rushing per game. We know the Saints can throw as well as anyone. If they can also run, the Giants will give up a ton of points.
  • The Giants protect Eli Manning. If they do that, Eli should be able to continue the amazing season he is having.
There will be lots of 'Wet Willies' if ...
  • Darren Sharper again gets the best of Eli Manning. Sharper, the Saints safety, has made a career of picking off passes from Eli. That needs to change Sunday.
  • The Giants secondary gets exposed. The Giants are No. 1 in the league in pass defense, but that's largely because of the pitiful competition they have played. If Brees can take advantage of safeties like C.C. Brown and Aaron Rouse, or any Giants cornerback not named Corey Webster he could create some big plays for the Saints.
  • Jeremy Shockey has a big day. You know Shockey will be an emotional focal point. Weall know what he's like once he gets rolling, and we don't want to see it. Besides it would be fun to see Giants defenders separate Shockey from the football a couple of times.
  • Lawrence Tynes gets out-kicked by John Carney. I don't think I need to explain this one.

STATS

PASSING

Manning: 87-135-1,212 (2C)-10 (1C)-2-111.7 (1C)

Brees: 87-129-1,031-9 (T2C)-2-108.4 (3L)

RUSHING

Bradshaw: 58-375 (3C)-6.5-2

Bell: 45-229-5.1-1

RECEIVING

Smith: 37 (1L)-481 (1L)-13.0-4 (T1L)

Shockey (TE): 18-162-9.0-2

OFFENSE

417.4 (2L)

414.3 (3L)

TAKE/GIVE

+6

+7 (T2L)

DEFENSE

210.6 (1L)

295.3

SACKS

Tuck: 3.5

Grant: 4

INTs

3 tied: 1

Sharper: 5 (1L)

PUNTING

Feagles: 41.0

Morstead (R): 43.7

KICKING

Tynes: 55 (1L) (16/16 PAT; 13/16 FG)

Carney: 36 (18/18 PAT; 6/7 FG)