Q&A Exchange: Preview of NYG vs BUF

In the first real test of the season, the Giants go up to Buffalo in their first of 4 games with the AFC East. Buffalo is an improved team. The Giants are 5.5 pt underdogs. In an effort to get a better feel for what the Giants will be seeing on Sunday, we did a Q&A exchange with Joe Pinzone of Buffalo Wins blog, a sister site on the Bloguin Network. Joe is a good follow on Twitter too. See our answers to his questions about the Giants on his site.

We did the Q&A on Tuesday, and cautioned about expectations for Victor Cruz. Little did we know that a day later he would be sidelined indefinitely… another in a string of blows for him, the team, coaches and fans of the Giants. Cruz’s return is vital to the team in 2015, because the offense needs to carry the defense. No Cruz, no juggernaut.

On Sunday the Giants will have to do it w/o Cruz, which we assumed anyway, given it would have been his first game back. Onto our questions for Joe…

1) We believe protecting Eli is crucial to determining who will win Sunday. Does the Bills pass rush get to Eli?

I think it can. In 2 of the 3 first games, the Bills were all over Tannehill (2 QB sacks, 10 QB hits, and 18 QB hurries) and Andrew Luck (5 QB hits, 13 QB hurries and 3 sacks) and held both offenses to 14 points each. The Bills can get after the QB by either Rex’s exotic blitz packages or using their front 4. Now, when the Pats beat the Bills, they dissected the defense because Brady was getting rid of the ball so quickly. That’s how you beat the Bills defense if we are basing it on the first 3 games.

2) Is Tyrod Taylor absolutely shocking you? He has been unbelievable.

Yeah, I’m shocked as hell. He’s in the top 5 in YPA, QB rating and TDs. He’s only missed 20 passes thus far this season and he’s got a heck of an arm. He can also beat you with his legs. I think the best way to beat him is to go by what New England did and that was get pressure off the edges and make Taylor beat you from the pocket.

3) Do you have confidence in Taylor or is it just his OL protecting him? Will it continue?

I am not sure yet. I wrote a piece this week saying that we shouldnt read too much into Taylor after just 3 starts. I’ve seen a lot of Bills QBs look great after a month worth of starts and they totally fizzled out. So, we shall see. As for the line, they are decent in the run game department, but I wouldnt say they are good in pass protection.

4) The Bills secondary is terrific. Their DL is excellent. But their LBers are the softer spot. How would you attack them? Vereen?

I would design a lot of screen plays since the Bills like to blitz and the best way to stop that is to run screen plays. I think you can also beat the Bills by using the TE as Gronk proved it in week 2. I’d also look to see if Aaron Williams plays as he’s very underrated, but his backup has had some growing pains (Bacari Rambo).

5) UltimateNYG’s draft analyst panned Cyrus Kouandijo as his bust of the 2014 draft. Is Kouandijo making improvement in 2015?

God no. He’s been awful. Your draft expert was correct. I don’t know what gives with him. He can’t get on the field and he’s been bad ever since he got off the plane to Buffalo. No idea what his issues are because he never gets on the field. I’ve heard conditioning is an issue.

6) We are more concerned about pocket integrity than pass rush vs Taylor. Will the Giants be able to contain him in the pocket?

I don’t know if you guys can. The Bills have used a lot of roll outs for Taylor, so, even if you try to contain him in the pocket, they will design plays to get him out of it. If I’m the Giants, I try and exploit the right side of the Bills. Jon Miller (rookie guard) and Seantrel Henderson (2nd year tackle) are very green and Henderson has been panned by a lot of experts out there.

7) Are you a believer in Rex?

I’m not sure yet. Again, its only 3 games. He has a lot of bravado and he can definitely pump you up. He’s in a better situation IMO than what he had with the Jets because the offense has much more talent and if Taylor keeps this up, the Bills will win 11 games. He’s better than Doug Marrone, I can tell you that.

8) Final score?

I think Bills win, 24-21.

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Q&A Exchange: Preview of NYG vs BUF

Alan Draper

Alan Draper

Alan Draper