Patriots opponent preview: Giants plagued by familiar issues this season

Hope you’re excited about Week 12 of the NFL regular season, because it will feature a marquee battle between two of the worst teams in football: the 2-8 New England Patriots will travel to East Rutherford, NJ, to take on the 3-8 New York Giants .

On paper, the matchup between the two teams certainly does not qualify as a must-watch contest. However, it might very well end up playing a decisive role in the unceremonious race for top-5 positions in next year’s draft: the loser would “improve” its standing compared to the opposition.

Of course, neither team will play to lose — they have both very much proven themselves capable of coming up short even without any special efforts. Still, someone has to win; and according to the folks at DraftKings Sportsbook , that someone is the Patriots: they are currently listed as 3.5-point favorites despite questions surrounding their starting quarterback position.

Whoever will lead the team onto the field on Sunday will go up against a Giants team that has played plenty of uninspired football this season.

With that all said, let’s take a closer look at New England’s Week 12 opponent: its players, coaches, key stats, injuries, and more.

Giants key stats The Giants did manage to win three games this season — beating Washington twice, including last week, as well as Arizona once — but from a statistical perspective they might be the worst team in the NFL. A look at their rankings across the board illustrates this:

Record: 3-8 (4th NFC East) Offense: 13.5 points/game (32nd), 262.2 yards/game (32nd), -0.196 EPA/play (31st) Defense: 25.9 points/game (28th), 371.7 yards/game (28th), 0.009 EPA/play (23rd) Scoring differential: -136 (32nd) Turnover differential: +3 (9th) Much like the Patriots, the Giants’ biggest issue is playing competitive football on the offensive side of the ball. They are ranked dead-last in points and yards per game, and 31st (ahead of only the cross-town Jets) in expected points added.

Their defense has not been much better either, resulting in the worst scoring differential in football by a significant margin: the Giants are losing the average game by 12.4 points — 1.2 points worse than the 31st-ranked Carolina Panthers . And they are doing all that despite ranking in the top-10 in the league with a plus-3 turnover differential.

Long story short, this team is bad.

Giants 53-man roster (Note: Roster up-to-date as of Friday, 5 a.m. ET; *indicates projected starter)

Quarterback (2): Tommy DeVito* (15), Matt Barkley (9)

Running back (3): Saquon Barkley* (26), Matt Breida (31), Jashaun Corbin (35)

Wide receiver (7): Darius Slayton* (86), Wan’Dale Robinson* (17), Jalin Hyatt* (13), Isaiah Hodgins (18), Parris Campbell (0 | KR), Sterling Shepard (3), Gunner Olszewski (80 | PR)

Tight end (2): Daniel Bellinger* (82), Lawrence Cager (83)

Offensive tackle (3): Andrew Thomas* (78 | LT), Evan Neal* (73 | RT), Tyre Philllips (79)

Interior offensive line (6): Justin Pugh* (67 | LG), John Michael Schmitz Jr.* (61 | C), Ben Bredeson* (68 | RG), Mark Glowinski (64), Marcus McKethan (60), Sean Harlow (65)

Interior defensive line (5): Dexter Lawrence* (97), A’Shawn Robinson* (91), D.J. Davidson (98), Rakeem Nuñez-Roches (93), Jordon Riley (95)

Defensive edge (5): Kayvon Thibodeaux* (5), Jihad Ward* (55), Azeez Ojulari (51), Carlos Basham Jr. (45), Benton Whitley (48)

Off-the-ball linebacker (5): Bobby Okereke* (58), Micah McFadden* (41), Isaiah Simmons (19), Carter Coughlin (52), Cam Brown (47)

Cornerback (7): Deonte Banks* (25), Adoree’ Jackson* (22), Cordale Flott* (28), Tre Hawkins III (37), Darnay Holmes (30), Bobby McCain (21), Nick McCloud (44)

Safety (4): Xavier McKinney* (29), Jason Pinnock* (27), Dane Belton (24), Gervarrius Owens (39)

Specialists (2): Jamie Gillan (6 | P | H), Casey Kreiter (59 | LS)

Just like the Patriots, the Giants’ offensive struggles have a lot to do with two factors: quarterback play and offensive line play.

New York’s issues at quarterback began even when original starter Daniel Jones was still in the lineup; the former first-round draft pick, who signed a massive contract extension in the offseason, had issues with ball security and turned the ball over seven times in six games before an ACL injury ended his season. His replacements — first Tyrod Taylor, then Tommy DeVito — looked better statistically, but were wildly inconsistent.

As for the O-line, it has been a major weakness especially in pass protection. New York’s quarterbacks have been sacked a league-high 63 times, with the sack rate of 16.2 percent being by far the highest in football. To put that number in perspective: the difference between the Giants and the second-worst team, Tennessee (10.8%), is as large as the difference between Tennessee and the fifth-best O-line in the league (Tampa Bay; 5.4%).

This lack of offensive support has made life hard for a Giants defense that features some intriguing talent. Dexter Lawrence is one of the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen, edge Kayvon Thibodeaux and cornerback Deonte Banks are rising young studs, and Xavier McKinney is as reliable a safety as their is.

And yet, on the whole, the unit has been unable to make up for the offense’s shortcomings. Sounds familiar?

Giants reservesPractice squad (16): ED Ryder Anderson (90), LB Darrian Beavers (43), K Randy Bullock (46), OT Yodny Cajuste (72), QB Jacob Eason (5), LB Tomon Fox (49), CB Kaleb Hayes (38), WR Dennis Houston (88), RB Deon Jackson (34), TE Tyree Jackson (84), LB Dyontae Johnson (54), TE Ryan Jones (49), OL Jalen Mayfield (62), OT Joshua Miles (77), CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver (36), ED Oshane Ximines (53)

Injured reserve designated for return (1): RB Eric Gray (20)

Injured reserve (12): RB Gary Brightwell, LB Jarrad Davis, G Wyatt Davis, OT Joshua Ezeudu, WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton, K Graham Gano, OL J.C. Hassenauer, QB Daniel Jones, OL Shane Lemieux, OT Matt Peart, QB Tyrod Taylor, TE Darren Waller

Physically unable to perform (1): CB Aaron Robinson

Non-football illness (1): TE Tommy Sweeney

New York has lost some key players to injured reserve this offseason, starting with the aforementioned Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor. The team also had to move star tight end Darren Waller and kicker Graham Gano to IR this season.

The latter move created a vacancy on the roster that has not yet been filled; the Giants instead rely on practice squad elevations to get by. As a result, they will bring Randy Bullock up again for Sunday’s game.

Giants coaching staffHead coach: Brian Daboll

Coordinators: Mike Kafka (OC), Don Martindale (DC), Thomas McGaughey (STC)

Offensive assistants: Shea Tierney (QBs), Christian Jones (QBs assistant), Jeff Nixon (RBs), Mike Groh (WRs), Andy Bischoff (TEs), Bobby Johnson (OL), Chris Smith (OL assistant), Christian Daboll (Assistant), Angela Baker (Assistant)

Defensive assistants: Andre Patterson (DL), Bryan Cox (DL assistant), Drew Wilkins (Outside LBs), John Egorugwu (Inside LBs), Jerome Henderson (DBs), Michael Treier (Ss), Kevin Wilkins (Assistant)

Special teams assistants: Anthony Blevins (Assistant), Stephen Thomas (Assistant)

There are some familiar names on the Giants’ coaching staff, starting with their main man: Brian Daboll spent 11 total years in New England over two separate stints, winning five Super Bowls along the way. He joined the Giants from the Buffalo Bills last year, but after going 9-7-1 and qualifying for the playoffs, the team has taken a step back this season.

Other Patriots ties can be found on the defensive side of the ball: Andre Patterson, Bryan Cox and Jerome Henderson all spent time in New England at one point during their playing or coaching careers.