Sunday Late Afternoon – Seattle Seahawks at New York Giants

We’ve got a contest between two potential playoff teams in the 4PM slot on Sunday afternoon and it should be a good one. Two terrific defenses, two pretty good quarterbacks and two personalities that overshadow the rest of the entire team. Bet you can’t guess who those guys are… This game shapes up to be one of the better regular season matchups we’ll see all year, so make sure you mark this one on your calendar.

Keys to the Game

Seahawks

Playing on the east coast is never easy for Seattle because they “lose” three or four hours flying across the country, but at least they’ll be playing out of the 4pm slot and not 1pm. The most important aspect of this game is going to be protecting Russell Wilson. That means two things: the offensive line is going to need to step their game up and the game plan is going to need to be based quick throws and running the football. Wilson simply won’t have the time to drop back play after play with the Giants defensive line crashing down on him. Getting the ball out of Wilson’s hands quickly here, a la Tom Brady and the Patriots, is going to greatly increase Seattle’s chances to earn a tough road win in this one.

Giants

New York needs to play smart football when they host Seattle. The Seahawks will try to get under Odell Beckham Jr.’s skin and try to rattle Eli — the Giants need to recognize that and not give in. The offense shouldn’t have too much trouble getting into the endzone, even against this talented Seattle defense, so it will be the New York defense that decides this one. The Giants will need a strong showing from their D in order to shut down Wilson. Pressuring him and getting him to make bad decisions will open this game right up for New York.