NY Giants (2-9) at Detroit (6-4)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox
BetMGM line: Lions by 10 1/2.
Against the spread: Giants 6-5; Lions 6-4.
Series record: Lions lead 25-21-1
Last meeting: Lions beat Giants 31-18 on Nov. 20, 2022, at the Meadowlands.
Last week: Giants lost to Packers 24-20; Lions lost to Eagles 16-9.
Giants offense: overall (15), rush (10), pass (19), scoring (23)
Giants defense: overall (29), rush (30), pass (22), scoring (29)
Lions offense: overall (5), rush (7), pass (9), scoring (t4)
Lions defense: overall (5), rush (8), pass (8), scoring (10)
Turnover differential: Giants was minus-6; Lions plus-5.
Giants player to watch
LB Abdul Carter was benched by Mike Kafka in his debut as interim coach for the first defensive series last week after the rookie missed a walk-through. The No. 3 overall pick had a half a sack in his debut and hasn’t had one since despite playing 70.8% of his team’s defensive snaps. The former Penn State star drew some criticism for being ringside at WWE “Monday Night Raw” and he’s in the spotlight because the Giants want to see improvement from week to week.
Lions player to watch
QB Jared Goff is coming off one of his worst games of the season. He completed a career-low 37.8% of passes against the Eagles, connecting on just 14 of 37 attempts for 255 yards with a TD and an INT. After his TD pass, Goff went 7 of 25 for 136 yards and was 1 for 11 in the fourth quarter. Seven of those passes went to Amon-Ra St. Brown, his favorite receiver, in the fourth and they were incomplete. Goff usually plays well at home and the Lions are hoping that trend continues in a game they need to win to improve their playoff positioning.
Key matchup
Detroit’s running game against New York’s defense. The Lions will be determined to establish their running game after Jahmyr Gibbs was held to 39 yards rushing on 12 carries and David Montgomery ran for 27 yards on six carries at Philadelphia. The Giants are among the league’s worst against the run, allowing 150 yards rushing per game.
Key injuries
Giants: Rookie QB Jaxson Dart (concussion) is on track to return after missing a game. … Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) may miss a second straight game and CB Paulson Adebo (knee) might be out for the fifth game in a row.
Lions: TE Sam LaPorta (back) will miss his second game on IR. … CB Terrion Arnold (concussion) and S Kerby Joseph (knee) may miss another game, but coach Dan Campbell is hopeful S Brian Branch (toe) can play through his injury. … CB DJ Reed (hamstring), out since Week 4, is nearing his return.
Series notes
The Lions have won four of the past five games against the Giants. … Detroit won four NFL titles from 1935 through 1957, and the first one was with a 26-7 win over the Giants.
Stats and stuff
The Giants have dropped five games in a row, their longest losing streak since a franchise-record, 10-game skid last season. New York lost a one-point lead in the fourth quarter against Green Bay last week, blew a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead in the previous game at Chicago after becoming the first team since at least 1970 to lead by 18-plus points with six minutes remaining and lose in regulation against Denver last month. … Dart, the No. 25 pick overall, threw for 10 TDs and three INTs in his first seven starts before his concussion . … Journeyman QB Jameis Winston started in Dart’s place last week. Winston was 19 of 29 for 201 yards passing with a rushing TD, a pick and a fumble. … RB Devin Singletary rushed for a career-high two TDs against Green Bay. … RB Tyrone Tracy had a season-high 139 yards from scrimmage last week. … WR Isaiah Hodgins had a team-high five catches for 57 yards last week, days after being signed off Pittsburgh’s practice squad. … New York has allowed 24 or more points in each of its past five games and an average of 31.2 points during its losing streak. … Edge rusher Brian Burns has a career-high 13 sacks, second only to Cleveland’s Myles Garrett in the league. … The Lions are out of the playoff picture for the first time since the end of the 2022 season, falling to third place in the NFC North and among teams in the hunt for a wild card. … Detroit has played 54 games going back to October 2022, without losing two in a row in what is the NFL’s longest streak of avoiding consecutive setbacks since New England’s 56-game run from 2012-2015. … The Lions went 0 for 5 on fourth down and 3 for 13 on third down against the Eagles. … Gibbs had a career-high 107 yards receiving on five catches last week. … WR Jameson Williams has scored in three straight games, and four of five games, and is averaging 38.1 yards on 17 career TDs. … Detroit’s defense hasn’t allowed a player to throw for 300 yards or run for 100 yards through the first 10 games of a season for the first time since 1969. … DE Aidan Hutchinson and Green Bay’s Micah Parsons are the two NFL players with at least 15 QB hits, 7 1/2 sacks and 7 tackles for losses in each of their first four seasons since QB hits became an official stat in 2006. … The Lions are playing their first of three straight home games in a 12-day span, including on Thanksgiving against Green Bay and the following Thursday against Dallas.
Fantasy tip
St. Brown will likely bounce back after a lackluster performance at Philadelphia. The two-time All-Pro WR caught a career-low 16.7% of passes as the targeted receiver, finishing with season lows in receptions (two) receptions and yards receiving (42) against the Eagles. The Giants are giving up an average of 27.3 points per game and 225.2 yards passing.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
The Associated Press
