The Giants are poised to move into a three way tie for first place in the NFC East this week three weekend. The NFC East games are
1:00
49ers at Giants
Bengals at Eagles
Washington at Browns
4:25
Dallas at Seahawks
Seahawks Over Dallas.
The Seahawks stand out as an offensive powerhouse. The Seahawks lead the league in passing completion percentage, passing touchdown percentage and quarterback rating. They are second in yards per pass attempt and yards per play. The Seahawks are tenth in yards per rush attempt. They are eighth in percentage of drives ending in an offensive score and ninth best in percentage of offensive drives ending in a turnover. Only the Packers have scored more points than the Seahawks. They are fifth in positive point differential. The only offensive statistic that Dallas stands out for is ninth in yards per pass attempt and first in rushing touchdowns.
Defensively neither Dallas or the Seahawks standout. The Seahawks allowed 41% of offensive drives to result in a score to Dallas allowing 52% to score. The Seahawks defense is tenth in offensive drives resulting in a turnover (13.6%) to Dallas ranked 29th with 4.3%. Dallas leads the Seahawks defense in offensive yards per play allowed with Dallas at 17th with 5.6 yards per play. The Seahawks are 30th at 6.6 yards per play allowed. Defensively these teams are a wash.
The overall edge goes to the Seahawks with their dominance in the league on offense.
Browns Over Washington
Offensively the Browns rank 13th in yards per play (5.9) to Washington’s rank of 31st (4.3). Washington has the edge in percentage of offensive drives resulting in a turnover raking fourth with 3.8%. This compared to the Browns rank of 30th with 19%. That is a bad statistic considering Washington ranks eighth defensively in percentage of opponent drives resulting in a turnover with 14.8%. The Browns have a edge in passing touchdown percent ranking 14th (4.8%) to Washington at 21st with 3.1%.
The Browns have a distinct edge in the run game where they rank second in the league in rushing yards per attempt and rushing yards per game. Whereas Washington ranks 31st in rushing yards per attempt and 25th in rushing yards per game. Defensively the Browns are fourth in the league in rushing yards per attempt allowed.
Washington has a -5 points differential compared to the Browns at -27 points. However the Browns have played the Ravens in one of their games.
Washington is 31st in the league in total passing yards, The Browns are 28th. Besides Terry McLaurin the Washington Team does not have any notable receivers. This coupled with the edge the Browns have in the run game, gives the overall edge to the Browns. If the Browns can limit turnovers they should win this game.
Bengals Over Eagles
The Bengals are 13th in scoring percentage on offensive drives with 42.9%, compared to the eagles at 30th with 28%. The Bengals are also better on offensive drives turnover percentage at 23rd with 14.3% compared to the Eagles at 32nd with 24%. In two games the Bengals are fifth in passing first downs with 34 compared to the Eagles at 22nd with 26. the Bengals are 22nd n points differential with -8 and the Eagles are 31st with – 28. The Bengals have a quarterback rating of 81.5 and the Eagles have 64.4. The Eagles will be without their wide receiver Jalen Reagor. Reagor is their top receiver in yards per target and yards per reception. He has the third most receiving yards on the team. Joe Burrows quarterback rating went from 60 in week one to 90 in week two. Whereas Carson Wentz went from 72 in week one to 56 in week two. Pro Football Focus has Carson Wentz with the lowest quarterback stats of his five season career for PFF grade, Yards per attempt, Big-time throw %, Turnover-worthy play % and Accurate-pass %. He is their lowest graded quarterback in the league this season.
Defensively the Eagles lead in yards per play allowed. They rank seventh with 5 yards per play and the Bengals rank 26th with 6.2. In quarterback rating allowed the Bengals rank 11th with 90.7 and the Eagles rank 28th at 110.2. The Eagles are one of only six teams whose defense has not gotten an interception. The Eagles are sixth in rushing yards per attempt allowed with 3.6. Whereas the Bengals are 27th with 5.0 yards allowed. The Eagles rank 15th in QB pressure % (22.7%) and the Bengals rank 25th at 17.2%.
The woes of Carson Wentz should continue as they lose Jalen Reagor. On the other hand Joe Burrow is looking like he is improving. In week two playing from behind against the Browns, Burrow threw three touchdowns, had an adjusted completion rate of 70.0% and had three big-time throws. Though they lost the game Burrow shows that he can play in this league.
Giants Over the 49ers
Though the Giants will play without Saquon Barkley and Sterling Shepard, the 49ers look more hit by the injury bug. They will be without RB Tevin Coleman, DE Dee Ford, QB Jimmy Garoppolo, LB Dre Greenlaw, TE George Kittle, and RB Raheem Mostert. Backup quarterback Nick Mullens, last week against the Jets, had a 51.7 quarterback rating and threw zero touchdowns and one interception. He also fumbled twice. Whereas Daniel Jones has been ranked 10th among qualifying quarterbacks this year by Pro Football Focus. Newly signed Giant running back Devonta Freeman had a 4.4 yards per touch last season. That is not bad and was better than Barkley’s 3.8 yards this season. The loss of Shepard will hurt but Golden Tate and Darius Slayton were the leading Giant receivers in yards per game so far this season. In yards per target the leading Giants in order are RB Wayne Gallman, TE Levine Toilolo, WR CJ Board, WR Golden Tate and WR Darius Slayton.
The 49ers rank fourth defensively in opponent scoring percentage of drives with 30% of opponent drives resulting in a score. The Giants rank 20th with 42%. The 49ers have allowed an opponent 83.6 quarterback rating to the Giants allowing a 99.2 rating. However the Giants played the Steelers and the Bears. Whereas the 49ers played the Cardinals and the Jets. The argument can be made that the Giants have faced tougher opponents.
The Giants are only 3.5 point underdogs. They have the opportunity to get the win over a very banged up 49er team. This should be an interesting Sunday to follow these games and hope for the Giants making a move into a first place tie in the division.
In addition to a win it would be great if Daniel Jones scores at least two touchdowns. Jones currently sits at tie for fifth among active quarterbacks for touchdowns scored in their first 14 starts. That is a two way tie with Baker Mayfield. If Jones scores only one touchdown he will still remain in fifth but it would now be a five way tie.
