San Diego Chargers (4-3) at New York Giants (5-3)
The New York Giants looked like a Super Bowl team about a month ago, but then Eli Manning hurt his foot and the G-men got crushed in New Orleans. Now New York is on a three-game losing streak and Manning is in a big funk heading into Sunday’s game with San Diego.
The Giants are 4.5-point betting favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Manning has been dealing with plantar fasciitis in his right foot since Week 4. He acknowledged he would have to play through pain but said this week the foot is not hindering him. In the last three games, however, Manning has thrown six of his eight interceptions this year.
Here’s what NFL analyst and former Giants QB Phil Simms had to say about Manning’s injury:
“When you talk about leg injuries, foot, knee, whatever, it’s going to affect you,” he said. “I lived it. I know. And I don’t care what the Giants say on Eli, it’s got to be a problem. Think about it. It’s the pain. It’s not being able to do things the same way. You lose a little confidence. You can’t practice as much.”
To take some pressure off Manning, we could see a heavy dose of the running game Sunday. San Diego is just 27th against the rush, and New York RBs Brandon Jacobs (550 yards) and Ahmad Bradshaw (476) are only teammates to each have at least 475 yards rushing.
Certainly Manning isn’t the only issue on the Giants. The secondary has been getting burned by big plays in the losing streak. Chargers QB Philip Rivers is one of the league’s best quarterbacks at throwing downfield and he will no doubt look to test that defensive backfield. Rivers needs 267 yards passing to become fourth player in franchise history with 13,000 yards passing. In his past five games against the NFC, Rivers has 11 TDs vs. one interception. He probably will be throwing often considering the Chargers are averaging just 74.7 yards on the ground per game — worst in the AFC and second-worst in football.
The Giants are making one change in their secondary: Aaron Rouse was moved into the starting lineup at safety. He replaces C.C. Brown, who has been beaten twice on deep passes for touchdowns during the losing streak. New York has a minus-4 turnover differential in its last five games after posting a plus-5 differential in the first three games of 2009.
This is the first meeting between Rivers and Manning since the draft-day trade in 2004 in which Giants acquired Manning (the No. 1 pick overall by San Diego) for Rivers (taken by the Giants at No. 4) and three draft picks.
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