Thanks to Ed Valentine over at SB Nation’s Giants blog, Big Blue View, for answering our Chiefs-Giants questions. Find my answers to his questions here and below you’ll find my questions to him.
AP: What's the No. 1 reason the Giants are 1-8?
BBV: When you are 1-8 there is never one reason. The offense hasn't been good enough -- the Giants have never scored 30 points in a game with Ben McAdoo as head coach. The defense has regressed terribly from a year ago. The special teams have been especially putrid. There has been a lot of discord between the head coach and the players. There have been injuries, Odell Beckham Jr. being the biggest.
I honestly can't give you a No. 1 reason. It's a combination of many things. What I can say is this -- the Giants deserve every bit of being 1-8.
AP: Evan Engram looks like a good player. How have teams defended him in the past? How does he get open?
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BBV: Engram not only looks like a good player, but he is a really good player. Teams have tried a lot of things. Shoot, the Seahawks even brought Richard Sherman down to match up with him when Engram was lined up inline with his hand in the ground. He lines up inline, sometimes in the slot and increasingly out wide as the lone receiver to his side. He's got top end wide receiver speed, size, he's physical and he runs terrific routes. Problem is, linebackers are too slow to keep up and safeties are too small to handle him in traffic.
AP: The Chiefs pass rush needs to get right. What can we expect from the Giants offensive line?
BBV: Well, this is really interesting. Ereck Flowers is the left tackle everyone loves to hate. Only, he's riding a seven-game streak of not giving up a sack -- that's a league-high 282 pass-blocking snaps in a row without a sack. Left guard John Jerry and center Brett Jones have been good there, too. Where you could have success is on the right side. D.J. Fluker is a really good run blocker, but he's slow and that makes pass pro tough for him. Justin Pugh (back) won't play. Bobby Hart will, and every time he has had to play this season that has been a very bad thing for the Giants. So, attack that side of the line.
AP: The Chiefs want to start running the ball again. Will the Giants defense shut Kareem Hunt down?
BBV: Have you seen the Giants defense the past two weeks? If they play the way they have the past two weeks they won't shut anybody down. The defense has spent a lot of time parting like the Red Sea. Sometimes I think I could gain 5 yards, and I'm 57 years old with a bad back and I've torn my Achilles tendon twice. Guys in the secondary have been like traffic cops lately. Only, instead of stopping anybody it's like they've just been standing there waving them through.
AP: What's your score prediction and why?
BBV: A lot for the Chiefs to a little for the Giants. Why? Because they Chiefs are good and the Giants, well, aren't.