Top 5 Key Matchups to Keep an Eye on as Giants Clash with Patriots in Week 12

After a rough run of results, the Giants’ schedule has become somewhat more favorable over the past few weeks. They beat the Commanders on Sunday and now face a New England team that has only won twice as all season.

On Sunday, the Patriots return to MetLife Stadium, the site of their only road win of the year, with the Giants hoping to win their second game in a row for the first time all season.

Here are some of the biggest stories to watch as Big Blue looks to keep the momentum rolling:

Can Tommy DeVito build on last week’s performance?

The rookie quarterback definitely had his best performance so far in the win over Washington. He ended up with 246 yards and three touchdown passes. Whether or not Tyrod Taylor returns this year, DeVito is arguably playing well enough that the Giants will keep him in that role as long as he’s healthy.

The main negative from Sunday’s win was that DeVito was sacked nine times, usually as a result of holding onto the ball too long. He’ll need to be more decisive this week, although Matt Judon is on injured reserve and no other Patriots player has more than three sacks.

Can the Giants get Saquon Barkley going early on?

Over the past two weeks, Barkley has really struggled to get going in the first half of games, but the Giants have kept feeding him and he’s ultimately delivered in the second half. He has minus-one yard on 13 carries before halftime in those games but 150 yards on 14 carries after halftime.

For the season as a whole, he’s averaging 2.8 yards per carry in the first half and more than double that amount in the second half.

Barkley also had a big second half in the Jets game, when they abandoned the pass with DeVito making his debut. However, the lone outlier in recent games has been the Raiders game where Barkley had 69 carries on 10 carries in the first half.

With fewer injuries and more stability on the offensive line over the past few weeks, it would be good if he could get off to another start like that one.

Will the Giants win the turnover battle?

The Giants have really ramped up their turnover rates since failing to record a single defensive turnover in the first four games. Over the past seven games, they’re winning the turnover battle 16 to 5, having forced multiple turnovers four times and managed to not turn the ball over themselves five times.

Despite this dominant stretch, they’ve only gone 2-5 in those games, perhaps suggesting that their ability to win the turnover battle is sometimes the only thing keeping an otherwise overmatched team competitive. New England is more than capable of playing with a conservative game plan which could guarantee a tight matchup.

An eye on the draft

Based on current records, both the Giants and Patriots will be picking in the top five in April’s draft. New York is currently in line to pick fifth with New England projected to have the third pick. The outcome of this game will have major implications on draft order but it’s still too early in the season to say that either team will be thinking about tanking.

New England looks certain to be in the market for a new franchise quarterback, but the Giants may opt to go in a different direction with Daniel Jones only one year into his big-money deal. A receiver like Marvin Harrison Jr. or a stud offensive lineman like Olu Fashanu or Joe Alt could be targets for Big Blue if they end up somewhere around where they are right now.

Who will be the Patriots’ starting quarterback?

There is much uncertainty over the Patriots’ quarterback situation as Mac Jones has been benched multiple times this year, but Bailey Zappe has been far from impressive in place of him.

Reports indicate that both Jones and Zappe have been getting first-team reps this week and that Bill Belichick is keeping things under wraps until right before the game. While ordinarily this would affect the Giants’ preparation, it looks like they’ll be facing a struggling passer one way or another.

New England also has Will Grier on the active roster and Malik Cunningham on the practice squad but there have been no indications that either player is in the mix to play at this stage.