Despite the vast amount of injuries sustained by the New York Giants in 2017 season, the Broncos secondary are not overlooking what the Giants could be capable of in the passing game.
The injury bug has hit the Giants hard this season, with eight players listed on the injury report for week six and another 13 players on injured reserve. The Giants took their most devastating losses during their week five game against the Los Angeles Chargers, when four of their five receivers went out with injuries. Of the four, Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall, and Dwayne Harris have all been placed on season-ending injured reserve.
The Giants scrambled to sign Tavarres King, Travis Rudolph and Ed Eagan. King, the only player with NFL experience, has four career catches with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants since 2014. All three players, along with Roger Lewis, will suit up for the game against the Broncos while Sterling Shepard, the only other remaining season-starting receiver, has been declared out with an ankle injury.
The Broncos’ defense won’t take the new additions lightly, though.
“It’s going to be an interesting game, because you never know what new guys are going to do,” said cornerback Chris Harris Jr. “They’re going to come out play hard, block harder and try to do whatever they can to stay on the roster.”
The Broncos’ passing defense has fallen off pace as compared to previous years. Denver is currently ranked 11th in the league in passing yards given up per game, with 210. The Broncos also rank 18th in the league in passing touchdowns allowed, with eight.
While the Broncos hope to correct the issues and improve their rankings, they also know how dangerous a team set up like the Giants could be.
“It definitely could be dangerous. That shock factor, you don’t know what you’re going to get,” said cornerback Aqib Talib. “You don’t know how fast the receivers are. You really don’t have any good tape on the receivers. You just have to prepare for everything.”
The Broncos are also wary of the matchup against Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Manning, a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, is ninth in passing yards with 1,338. He has also thrown for eight touchdowns this season.
Manning is completing passes at a rate of 67.8 percent, currently the best of his career, and has an 89.1 rating, up from last season’s 86.0. He is on pace to throw for 4,281.6 yards this season, up from last year’s 4,027.
“He’s going to prepare well and he’s going to have some schemed up plays for us that he likes,” Harris said. “We have to put that pressure on him, make him make fast decisions and make him make bad mistakes.”
The Broncos face off against the Manning and the Giants on Sunday Night Football on Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m.