EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – It’s dress rehearsal time for the Giants.
Like most NFL teams, the Giants use their third preseason game to most closely approximate a regular season contest. When the Giants host the Chicago Bears Friday night in a nationally-televised game in MetLife Stadium, their offensive and defensive starters will get their longest stints of the summer.
The Giants are in accelerated development mode. They will face the Bears only 12 days prior to their regular season opener against NFC East rival Dallas.
Coach Tom Coughlin wasn’t pleased with the defense in a preseason-opening 32-31 loss in Jacksonville and was not satisfied with the offense when it scored only one late touchdown in last week’s 26-3 victory over the Jets. He is looking for better performances from both units against the Bears.
“You’re running a lot of bodies in and out and it’s not quite the continuity you’d like to have, but still, offensively we need to go, we need to get something done here,” Coughlin said. “We have some people who need to show that. Yes, quite frankly, we had a special teams’ error in both games. That’s got to be eliminated. We’ve got to put the ball in the end zone, that’s something that’s a challenge for the offensive team. The defense played well last week. We had the ball run on us the week before, so it’s a consistency thing. Can we go do that week in and week out? Against a team that scored a lot of points (33 in a victory over Washington) the other day and moved right down the field, advancing the ball in the air. It’s a good football team. It’s time for us to start to move in the direction of the execution and the performance being at a high level.”
Coughlin wants to see a more productive running game. After finishing last in the NFL in 2011 and vowing throughout the offseason to improve, the Giants have run for a 3.2-yard average in two games.
“It’s been a high priority,” Coughlin said. “It hasn’t been accomplished very well, but we certainly have tried it. We rushed it 32 times the other night for 1.8 yards per rush (in a victory over the Jets). Obviously, it hasn’t been very successful, but we will continue to try to develop the run in all capacities. Whatever the personnel combination is on the field, we’ll continue to try to rush it.”
The ground game could get a boost from first-round draft choice David Wilson, who is expected to get his initial snaps with Eli Manning and the starting offense.
“He’s made good progress for a young guy,” Coughlin said. “There are some things about his game we would like to see just like I would like Rueben (Randle) to do some things. We need to play them and give them an opportunity to have some multiple reps, so we can see exactly what happens when they do start to get into a game mode. “
Manning has completed 11 of 22 passes for 122 yards and has yet to throw a touchdown pass in his limited preseason work. He is also looking to progress with the regular season looming.
“The third preseason game is always a game where the starters play the most,” Manning said. “They’ll play into the third quarter. Going against the Bears, they always have a great defense, good players, good scheme, so it’ll be a good challenge for us. Hopefully, we’ll be able to go out there, execute, run our game plan very well, and see if we can get a couple of touchdowns.”
This is more or less Manning’s final preseason tuneup. If he plays Wednesday against New England, it will be for only a series or two.
“You’re going to play the most extensive reps that you’ll get in the preseason before the first game that really counts,” Manning said. “So you want to try to go out there and play well. We treat this week like a game week, in our preparation, having three days to go over everything, install everything. Hopefully, we’re the most prepared going into this game, and it shows on Friday night.”
Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (back spasms), linebacker Michael Boley (hamstring), tackle Will Beatty (back) and wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (foot) are starters not expected to play.
At left tackle, veteran Sean Locklear will continue his quest to prove he deserves to start should Beatty remain sidelined.
“Sean’s a veteran guy,” said Manning. “He knows his stuff, knows what he’s doing, he’s come in and worked well with the starting group. Any time you play left tackle, or play offensive line, it’s like, ‘Hey, what do you call things?’ Everybody’s done the same scheme, it’s just done in a different way, or you call it something different. So, he’s got everything down. He’s playing at a high level, doing things well. So, I feel very comfortable with him out there.”
Another newcomer, Keith Rivers, is playing weakside linebacker in Boley’s place. Rivers has no qualms if he opens the season as the starter.
“I’d feel pretty comfortable,” he said. “I’ve been playing with the guys for the last two weeks, getting more and more comfortable every day. I think I would be alright.”
With the Dallas game looming, Coughlin is looking for his team to be more than alright in the summer’s most important preseason game.
The Giants will host the Bears in a nationally-televised preseason game for the second consecutive year. On Aug. 22, 2011, they crushed Chicago, 44-13.
By Michael Eisen, New York Giants
