Corner Aaron Ross practiced Thursday and should play for the first time all season on Sunday.
Adding insult to their injuries
Key matchups
Quarterbacks vs.Secondaries
Advantage: Giants Eli Manning and Matt Ryan are mirror images of each other. Both are students of the game, calming influences in the midst of chaos and quiet leaders. The Giants’ secondary, now with a healthy Aaron Ross, should break out against a banged-up offense.
Running backs vs. Front seven
Advantage: Giants The Giants must return to smashmouth football. The extra rest did wonders for Ahmad Bradshaw’s lower body injuries and Brandon Jacobs is itching to put a bumpy first half behind him. Defensively, Michael Boley wants to break out against his former team.
Offensive line vs. Defensive line
Advantage: Giants The Falcons line is vastly underrated and very solid but if they lose Turner and become one-dimensional, that adds strain to this unit and their young quarterback. If Sam Baker sits out, look for Osi Umenyiora to get pressure and a couple sacks on Ryan.
Kicking game
Advantage: Falcons One of the Giants’ low points all season. It may get worse if they have to go toefor- toe with the golden toed Jason Elam. Atlanta ranks first in the league in kickoff coverage, as opponents’ starting field position is the 20-yard line. Elam played for years in Denver, so wind won’t be a problem.
The pick
Giants 27, Falcons 17 Atlanta is reeling and playing a rested, desperate team on the road won’t do it any favors. For the first time in a long time, Manning won’t have to carry this team, as the O- and Dlines should control the line of scrimmage. Ross will help a secondary that’s been burned on the long ball.
For the first time perhaps all season, the Giants are the healthier of the two teams going into a game.
Looking to take advantage of opportunities recent events have given them, coach Tom Coughlin has made his team well aware of the circumstances. The Falcons are already beaten up, by the the time they walk off the field at Giants Stadium, Coughlin wants them bloodied and bruised.
“It felt pretty good to have everybody out there working,” Coughlin said of perfect attendance at Thursday’s practice. “That was a good sign. We had enough room to accommodate all the new bodies.”
Conversely, the Falcons have key players that have either practiced sparingly or not at all this week. Pro Bowl wideout Roddy White missed two practices, Pro Bowl running back Michael Turner will be a game-time decision and left tackle Sam Baker has been limited in practice all week with an ankle injury. Baker, a first-round pick last season, has been an anchor and the linchpin of a unit that hasn’t allowed a sack in 18 consecutive quarters.
“I hope he goes,” said Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora. “He’s that good of a player that I think they’ll be confident enough to leave him out there by himself.”
Umenyiora said he would rather see one-on-one blocking instead of the chip-blocking running backs and tight ends do on defensive ends.
“If they put someone in there [instead of Baker] it’ll be a chip-a-thon and slide [blocking],” he offered. “I like when the good ones play because when the sorry ones are playing that’s when all the chips and help come.”
He stressed that a renewed Giants defense can be a factor again and pointed out they’re still the league’s top defense in yards allowed per game.
“We’re stopping people for the most part but are giving up the big plays here and there, ever since the New Orleans game,” said Umenyiora, who thinks a healthy defense can be the difference. “We’re not going to give up as many big plays [the second half of the season]. We eliminate the big plays and we should be OK.”
A zone-blocking team, the Falcons can plug in Jerious Norwood and Jason Snelling in place of Turner and not miss a beat.
“That is their bread and butter,” Giants defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan said of Atlanta’s zone-blocking scheme. “If you get two guys in the same gap or you have an undefended gap, that is inevitably where the ball finds itself and that is where they rip through your front seven.”
Atlanta is second in the league in rushing yards per game [152.7] but Umenyiora stressed the Falcons’ ground success wasn’t all about Turner.
“The offensive line is the one creating the holes for Turner,” Umenyiora said. “I think whoever they put back there is going to be able to run effectively if we don’t do our jobs.”
