The Detroit Lions are 1-0 on the season and will next face the New York Giants (0-1) on Monday Night Football.

The Giants were widely expected to be one of the top contenders in the NFC, but struggled mightily in their season opener without star wideout Odell Beckham, Jr.

What kind of threat will the Giants pose to the Lions’ defense, which performed well in Week 1? Here are my scouting observations from the Giants offense during week one loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

The Giants offense without OBJ

Beckham’s ankle injury kept him from participating in Week 1, and his absence made offensive execution noticeably harder for the Giants. Beckham was able to run sprints in pregame warm ups, but it still unclear if he will be available for week two.

“No part of our offense was functional tonight,” New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo told Bill Pennington of The New York Times. “We weren’t able to get anyone going, Not one going.”

Quarterback Eli Manning spoke about the challenges Dallas presented them:

This year they played less man and more zone, especially on third down. They had some new stuff – a lot of good calls ready for us. And it forced me to go into second and third receivers. We have adjustments, but we didn’t convert them.

Manning would finish the night 29 of 38 for 220 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception. Averaging only 5.8 yards per attempt speaks to Manning’s inability to move the ball down the field. His most productive target was backup running back Shane Vereen who caught nine balls for 51 yards.

The top receiver was Sterling Shepard, who managed seven catches for 44 yards and played every offensive snap (56). If Beckham isn’t able to play again, Shepard will possibly draw coverage from Lions nickelback Quandre Diggs who blanked Larry Fitzgerald in coverage in week one.

Shepard is a quicker receiver than Fitzgerald and could present a problem for Diggs, but Diggs has played terrific this offseason and looks as confident as ever on the field.

The Giants also failed to effectively utilize newly acquired receiver Brandon Marshall, targeting him only four times, resulting in one catch for 10-yards. Marshall will likely draw coverage from Darius Slay, who should make life difficult for him again this week.

The Offensive Line is still a weakness

The Giants offensive line has been a point of weakness for the last few seasons and that’s why it was surprising when they didn’t upgrade the unit in the offseason.

According to the PFF NY Giants tweet above, the offensive line didn’t grade out poorly (save Ereck Flowers), but in live action they appeared out of sorts, giving up three sacks, four quarterback hurries and five tackles for loss to the Cowboys. If the Lions defensive line plays like they did against Arizona, that stat line is reachable for them this week.

Like the passing game, the Giants running game wasn’t impactful either, totaling only 30 yards on 10 carries by running backs. The offensive line didn’t generate much push and the offensive scheme appeared to abandon the run once they fell behind in the game.

Weston Richburg is one of the best centers in the NFL and an important key to the game will be: can he handle A’Shawn Robinson’s power better than Arizona’s interior offensive line did in week one?

The most favorable matchup for the Lions is Ezekiel Ansah versus Giants left tackle Ereck Flowers, who gave up one sack and one hurry in week one. Flowers, the former ninth overall pick in the 2015 draft, has never lived up to his buzz, but the Giants haven’t given up on him yet.

Ansah looked to be on a limited snap count in week one, so his health is still a factor, but even on limited snaps, he has an advantage on speed and athleticism. When Ansah gets a breather, Anthony Zettel replaces him and is off to a tremendous start to the season.

Expect the Lions to run a similar defensive scheme as they did against Arizona, strength up the middle to stop the run, variation of rushes and drops from the edges to create pressure and disguise coverage, and a zone heavy scheme with a bit of man sprinkled in from the back seven to attempt to confuse Manning.

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