Shepard eyes Sunday return
THE GIANTS’ offense may be getting one of its dangerous weapons back this Sunday against the Seahawks.
Wide receiver Sterling Shepard, who missed last week with a sprained ankle, was back at practice on Wednesday and was beaming with optimism that he will be ready to play this week.
“I’m not looking to take a rest game and then have a bye week so I have two weeks,” he said. “I went full speed today, felt pretty good, so why not?”
Shepard was among the four wide receivers who went down with injuries in a Week 5 loss to the Chargers, but the only one who did not require season-ending surgery.
Without Shepard, Odell Beckham Jr., and Brandon Marshall, the Giants offense was a completely different unit against the Broncos, with offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan calling the plays and taking a ground and pound approach en route to a 23-10 win.
The game plan was quite different for Eli Manning, but something he expected going into the matchup.
“Yeah, it’s a lot less passing, but that’s the circumstances of what we were in last week,” said Manning. “New receivers, different guys, some of them their first games or first games in a while — you got to be careful. It wasn’t a game where we’re going to be throwing it 40 times.”
Manning threw the ball just 19 times, 12 of which came in the first half. He completed 11 of those passes and found rookie tight end Evan Engram five times, including a touchdown.
It is a stark contrast from the previous five games, with Manning attempting as many as 49 passes in one game and as few as 32 in another.
“I think it was just a case of how the game was going,” Manning said. “We had a little lead in the fourth quarter so I don’t know if we threw a pass in the fourth quarter. That’s the way the game worked out. The defense was playing well so we didn’t have to throw it much there at the end.”
The passing game will certainly be a tall task for the Giants again this Sunday, facing Seattle’s fearsome secondary, which features Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman.
While Orleans Darkwa has emerged as the feature back for the Giants, rushing for 117 yards against the Broncos, they still needed to rely on the passing game to get the ball down field and establish an early lead in order to commit to the run.
“The first half we were pretty efficient when we did throw the ball,” Manning said. “We got some big completions, some big plays in the passing game. So if we can play that way and hit some big plays in the passing game when we do throw we’ll be effective with it.”
If Shepard does play, he will certainly give the Giants a boost, but he also has plenty of faith in the rest of the receiving corps.
“When you have Odell and Brandon and those guys, it’s kind of hard for guys like Travis (Rudolph) and them to showcase their talent,” Shepard said. “But everybody knows what they have. You can ask Odell, ask Brandon, Dwayne (Harris), they’ll tell you. We’ve got guys who can go and they’re ready to step up.”