New York Giants at New Orleans Saints Preview

The New York Giants travel to New Orleans to face the Saints in a battle of the unbeatens. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 pm and the game can be seen nationally on FOX.

Injuries: The official New York Giants website is reporting that LB Michael Boley, DT Chris Canty and CB Aaron Ross are out for the Saints game. TE Kevin Boss, RB Ahmad Bradshaw and RB Danny Ware are all on the "Probable" list. QB Eli Manning is fine and will start.

The Giants will win...

because Eli Manning can beat the Saints' secondary. You may be familiar with that awful "The Saints Are Comin'" song. This isn't rookie QB Mark Sanchez going into the dome tomorrow afternoon. Eli's comin', the man with ten touchdowns, 1212 yards and a quarterback rating of 111.7. The Saints lead the NFL in interceptions with ten. Eli Manning has only been intercepted twice, though, and his offensive line will be sure to give him as much time as possible.

The TRUE Steve Smith will need to step up his game even more as Eli's big target, TE Kevin (The) Boss, is less than 100 percent. Is there any reason to believe that Smith can't get the job done? Right now, he's arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.

That's right. I said it.

The Jets held New Orleans to 24 points in New Orleans when the two teams met two weeks ago. 14 of those points were due to Mark Sanchez turnovers. All due respect but the New York Giants have a better defense than the J-E-T-S. New Orleans QB Drew Brees will be seeing blue in his backfield often on Sunday. His offense will need to score more than ten points in order to defeat the football Giants.

The Giants will lose...

because New Orleans has a much better defense than you think. As Jenny Vrentas of the Star-Ledger wrote, the Giants are concerned about facing what is currently the sixth-best defense in the NFL. Along with grabbing ten interceptions in four football games, the Saints are only allowing 16.5 points per game. Make no mistake about it. These are two very good defenses taking the field on Sunday.

There is also no denying that the Giants haven't played a team nearly on the same level as the Saints. New Orleans isn't the Redskins, Cowboys or the three less-than-UFL teams the Giants have played thus far in 2009. QB Drew Brees has 1031 yards and nine TDs in four games. As a team, the Saints are rushing for five yards a carry.

Then there's Jeremy Shockey. I'm not getting into the Shockey subject because this game isn't about him. The only thing I'll say about Shockey is that he leads the Saints in catches with 18. He also has two TDs. I'm not worried about Shockey because of the past he has with the Giants. Shockey worries me because of his play on the football field in 2009.

Prediction:

Since they dominated the Eagles, I've gone against ESPNFL and (correctly) placed the New Orleans Saints at the top of my NFL power rankings. I've been right to do so as the Saints are an elite football team. They're playing an elite team tomorrow, though, and the week 7 NFL power rankings will have a new number one team. Eli Manning has looked Peyton-esque and the Giants defense will do just well enough to keep New York in the game. Look for Big Blue to run a variety of play action and draw plays to keep the Saints defense on their toes for 60 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if New York's running game finally has the dominating performance we've been waiting for.

This is going to be an awesome football game, the NFL game of the week. As a shock to nobody, I'm sure, I'm picking the football Giants.

Giants 27
Saints 23