FRIDAY INJURY REPORT
TENNESSEE TITANS
–OUT: RB David Fluellen (knee), LB Brian Orakpo (elbow), TE Cole Wick (shoulder)
NEW YORK GIANTS
–OUT: WR Odell Beckham Jr. (quadriceps)
PLAYER NOTES
–WR Cody Latimer will be activated from reserve/injured next week when his 21-day window ends. It’s unclear if Latimer’s pending activation is directly resulted to Odell Beckham’s thigh bruise.
–DL Woodrow Hamilton has been signed to the giants practice squad. Hamilton played his college ball at Ole Miss and had previous NFL stints with the Saints and Patriots.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: RB Saquon Barkley. Barkley is coming off a career-high 170 rushing yards last week and has moved into second place in the league behind Zeke Elliott of the Cowboys in total yards from scrimmage, of which Barkley has 1,753 yards. The rookie is also averaging 5.4 yards per carry, the highest by a Giants running back since Brandon Jacobs averaged 5.6 yards in 2010. That’s all bad news for a Titans run defense that’s allowing opponents an average of 115.2 rushing yards per game.
GAME PLAN: If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it, so don’t expect the Giants to deviate from what’s gotten them four wins out of their last five games.
The Giants have been getting some solid ball out of left guard Will Hernandez and left tackle Nate Solder, so much so that they’ve been sending a number of running plays in that direction or at least behind either of these offensive linemen if they are asked to pull.
Look for the Giants to continue to do that with both Saquon Barkley and Wayne Gallman, who have helped the Giants running game average 164 yards on the ground over their last four games.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH:
–Giants CB Janoris Jenkins vs. Titans WR Corey Davis. Davis is the Titans’ leading receiver. Although he’s seen his pass receptions drop, he’s still managed to come through with some nice chunk plays to help his offense. Meanwhile, Jenkins has rounded back into his 2016 Pro Bowl form. In his last two games, Jenkins has allowed four out of pass targets to be completed for 35 yards and six yards after the catch, forcing opponents to shift gears and throw to the opposite side of the field.
Giants pass rush vs. Titans OL. Since their bye week, the Titans have allowed multiple-game sacks against Marcus Mariota in five of their last six games. In fact, of the 39 season sacks Mariota has absorbed to date, 20 have come over that six-game stretch. Giants edge rusher Olivier Vernon has had two straight games with multiple sacks and could be primed to record his third straight such game this season against a Titans offensive line that just recently lost RT Jack Conklin for the season, but the area of the Giants pass rush to watch is the interior, where youngster B.J. Hill has started to get into a groove with collapsing the pocket and getting to the passer.
