An inside look at Sunday’s Giants-Lions NFL Week 12 matchup in Detroit:
Marquee matchup
Lions RBs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery vs. Giants run defense
Anyone suspect this is a mismatch?
The Giants are 30th in the league in run defense, allowing a bloated 149.9 yards per game.
The Lions are seventh in rushing offense, and their stats are not padded at all with production from a running quarterback — Jared Goff has 22 rushing yards all season.
Gibbs (140-732, eight TDs) averages 5.2 yards per attempt and has speed to burn.
Montgomery (110-493, five TDs) averages 4.5 yards per attempt.
The Giants have been gashed by runs to the outside and figure the Lions will do their best to get to the boundaries against this defense.
Four downs
Follow the leader: Brian Burns took notice of Myles Garrett collecting four sacks last week for the Browns. Burns shook his head, acknowledged it is going to be difficult to keep up with Garrett and decided his best course of action is to concentrate on himself.
Burns has a career-high 13 sacks but Garrett leads the league with 15.
“With this game, you never really know,” Burns said. “Could I have told you I was going to jump out to a crazy start like I did this season? No, I couldn’t have. Could I have told you last week Jordan Love was just going to slide right in front of me and give me a sack? No, I can’t give you that. They come in bunches, they come when they come and just to take advantage of them.”
Starting day: Last week was supposed to be the second NFL start for Abdul Carter, but the rookie was kept on the bench for the first defensive series because he missed a walk-through that Friday morning.
With Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) out again, Carter should be up and running this time.
He has only a half-sack and admits playing at the highest level is more difficult than he anticipated.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “But nothing good comes easily. So, I like a challenge. I accept the challenge. Keep learning, keep getting better, and move forward.”
Comeback kid: Jared Goff is having a great season, but he was far from great last week, as he looked skittish in the pocket, completing just 14 of 37 passes and he threw an interception in the loss to the Eagles.
The Birds got after him — seven quarterback hits, two sacks. Can the Giants follow suit?
Goff has 21 touchdown passes and just four interceptions this season.
The next time he throws for 300 yards, he joins Patrick Mahomes (49) and Matt Ryan (45) as the only quarterbacks with at least 45 300-yard passing games in their first 10 NFL seasons.
Back attack: Not having Jaxson Dart takes a big bite out of the ground game, as he is third on the team in rushing with 317 yards.
Without him, the Giants ran for 142 yards against the Packers, gaining the most yards (132) their running back combination (Tyrone Tracy Jr. 88 yards, Devin Singletary 44) has amassed in a single game this season.
“I would say it started with communication,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “It’s a testament to everybody and the will to be physical up front and run the ball well.”
Paul’s pick
No Jaxson Dart sure makes this game less interesting, doesn’t it? Jameis Winston can still fling it, but he flirted with several would-be interceptions last week.
Try to find a matchup where the Giants have any advantage at all. The Lions are 6-4 and in a fight for their playoff lives — they will be in no mood to mess around here.
Lions 31, Giants 16
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