Giants (2-9) Lions (6-4)
Last Sunday it was a low scoring game between the Detroit Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles held Detroit to their lowest points scored this season, and the Lions ended up with a 16-9 game loss.
Once again the Giants were in a position to come away with a win. This time they had a 20-19 lead in the fourth quarter in their game with Green Bay. Once again they couldn't hang on to it, and took a 27-20 loss to the Packers.

Detroit Lions
In 2020 after facing three straight last place finishes, the Lions decided to replace their general manager and head coach Matt Patricia in mid season. In 2021 the Lions went with a major rebuild, and their quarterback of 12 years Matthew Stafford, the first overall pick in the 2009 draft, was traded to the Los Angeles Rams for three draft picks, and Jared Goff. General manager Brad Holmes decided to pick former Giants tight end Dan Campbell to be the head coach as part of their overhaul. Most candidates for that position usually have coordinator experience for the offense or defense.
Campbell was the tight ends coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2011. In 2015, he became the interim head coach for 12 games when the head coach was fired. His 5 wins and 7 losses didn't impress the Dolphins enough, as Adam Gase was available for their head coaching spot. Campbell moved on and signed with New Orleans to be their tight ends coach and assistant head coach. Opportunity knocked and Campbell got the job he was looking for.
In Campbell's first year as head coach, the Lions finished last once again. In 2022 Campbell guided the team to its first winning record in five years. Since then there's been two first place NFC North division titles. The first time taking the Lions to just one game short of their first ever Super Bowl appearance. Last year after an impressive 15-2 season, the Lions lost their game in the Divisional Playoffs.

Detroit Lions Offense
The Lions were the top scoring offense last year, averaging 33.2 points a game. That's hard to match, and no team is near there now. Compared to the others, averaging 29.2 has the Lions ranked fourth in the NFL. Quarterback Jared Goff has led the team to be eight in passing yards, and has thrown 21 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Goff's completion percentage has been at the highest of his career in these last three seasons and is at 69.7 going into this game. It took a sharp sudden downturn last week, when Goff completed only 14 of his 37 passes, 37.8 percent with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
Goff was working without his third leading receiver Sam LaPorta, for the first time this season, and that didn't help his efforts. LaPorta will miss this next game, as he's been placed on on injured reserve. Amon-Ra St. Brown has been the top receiver for the Lions every year he's played for them. He's led the team in targets, receptions, total yards, first downs and touchdowns since they drafted him in 2021. Though St. Brown was targeted the most last week, he caught only 2 of the 12 passes thrown to him for 42 yards.
Top running back Jahmyr Gibbs was the top receiver, with 5 catches on 8 targets for 107 yards, the most in his career. Gibbs didn't do nearly as well on the ground, rushing 12 times for 39 yards. Williams scored the only touchdown for the Lions with his 40 yard touchdown catch. It should be noted that the Lions offensive line has been dealing with a number of nagging injuries requiring trainers attention during the games. This week the starting right and left tackles, right guard and center are showing as questionable. Also, Dan Campbell has taken over the play calling in the last two games. The Lions were 3 of 15 on third down plays and 0 for 5 on fourth down plays last week, though Campbell might have been the one to make those decisions either way.

Detroit Lions Defense
They had to prepare for either Jaxson Dart or Jameis Winston being the starting quarterback for the Giants or maybe the other way around. With Dart now ruled out and Winston confirmed as the starter, Russell Wilson has to be back on their agenda, as he would step in next if needed as the backup quarterback. Head coach Dan Campbell and Winston were both with the New Orleans Saints a few years ago, so Campbell knows a bit of what he can expect from seeing him first hand.
The Lions passing defense has been near the bottom in the past two years, and its improved to a top ten ranking now. The Lions came up with 37 sacks last year and have 31 now, with defensive end Aidan Hutchinson leading the team with 7.5, and linebacker Al-Quadin Muhammad has 6. Rushing against this defense has been hard, and for the last two years and now, teams are averaging less than 100 yards a game.
When it gets down to points, the Lions are a top ten defense in that area too, giving up 21.6 points a game. The Lions have struggled with their red zone defense, allowing touchdowns almost 65 percent of the time, ranking them 25th in the league. Top safety Kerby Joseph led the league in interceptions last season, and has missed four straight games with a knee injury. Joseph will be out for this game as well. Cornerback Terrion Arnold suffered a concussion, was out last week and will be out again.

NY Giants Offense
Earlier in the week it looked like Jaxson Dart would be back on the field to play in this game with the Lions. Dart was ruled out on Friday, still in concussion protocol. Jameis Winston will be taking the snaps. In Winston's first start last week, he proved to be a more than adequate backup quarterback. In the first half he completed 8 of 11 passes for 86 yards to four different receivers. Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary combined on 14 carries for 43 yards and 2 touchdowns, and the team was in a 13-13 tie at the half with the Green Bay Packers.
The offensive line run blocking was there, and Tracy and Singletary finished the day with 132 total rushing yards. Winston also carried the ball 3 times for 10 yards, and he had 1 touchdown run that gave the Giants a lead at one point midway through the fourth quarter. Winston was on the spot to do that again near the end of the quarter, but after getting the offense to the redzone, he threw an interception when Jalin Hyatt cut his route short.
Former Giants wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins was signed off the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad only a few days before the game, and interim head coach Mike Kafka made a smart move, having him play. The former Giants wide receiver, filling in for sidelined Darius Slayton, was familiar enough to lead the receivers with 5 catches on 6 targets for 57 yards and 4 first downs. Hodgins and Slayton both will be playing in this game and that will make things easier for Winston, who will now have had more practice time with each of them. The Giants activated running back Eric Gray, and he will be in the mix with Tracy and Singletary.

Giants Defense
The Giants have to note how the Eagles went up against the Lions offense last week. They brought a lot of pressure on quarterback Jared Goff and he didn't handle it well. That's something the Giants have the talent to do up front, if they play effectively. Goff does not scramble for yards like some other quarterbacks the Giants have been up against. Goff has 22 yards and one fumble on 12 carries, so there's no worry there. Brian Burns had two sacks last week against the Packers, to give him 13 on the year. Burns also had four quarterback hits. The Giants need to bring it.
The Eagles also focused everything on the Lions top receiver and their top running back, making sure both those players were off their marks. That won't be easy, but the Lions do have offensive line issues that became more apparent in last weeks showing. Kayvon Thibodeaux will be out for this game, so Abdul Carter will be heavily in the mix. The Giants secondary is struggling, and cornerback Paulson Adebo will be out again for this game. Rookie cornerback Korie Black left in the second quarter of the last game with a hand injury, but looks ready to go for this one.

Overall
The Detroit Lions are coming off a loss, and are heavily favored to win this game. Aside from other obvious factors, in the last three years with Dan Campbell as the Lions head coach, they have never lost in back to back games. The Lions have won the NFC Division North title the last two years running, are in third place now, and anxious to jump back up.
The Giants have lost five straight games, and even winning this one and all of the rest, would still end up with a losing season. On a road trip working with an interim head coach and a backup quarterback, it's a hard call to go up against a team like the Lions, and to expect very much. If the Giants do pull off an upset, it will be their first road win of the year.

NFC East Games
Sunday at 1:00am Giants (2-9) at Lions (6-4).
Sunday at 4:25pm Eagles (8-2) at Cowboys (4-5-1)
The Eagles are the only NFC East team favored to win in these games. Check out.
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Next Games
Dec 1 Giants at Patriots
Dec 14 Commanders at Giants