I try not to refer to them as “keys to the game Youth B.J. Hill Jersey ,” because the ultimate key to any game is to simply somehow score more points than the team on the other side. Here, though, are some of the things to watch Sunday when the New York Giants host the New Orleans Saints.418 watch That’s how many passing yards Brees (71,523) needs to surpass Peyton Manning (71,940) for most all-time. Brees is currently third behind Manning and Brett Favre (71,838). Can he break the mark on Sunday? He has already thrown for 439 and 396 yards in games this season, so it’s absolutely possible.Will OV play?Defensive coordinator James Bettcher said earlier this week that linebacker Olivier Vernon, yet to play this season due to a high ankle sprain, was “trending.” Vernon has practiced twice this week on a limited basis, the first times he has done so since being injured, and said Thursday that he is “making progress.”The Giants, 29th in the league in Adjusted Sack Rate (4.1 percent) could use anything they can get from Vernon as they face the high-flying Saints, third in the league in scoring at 34.7 points per game.Giants injury news, 9/27: Olivier Vernon practices for second straight dayCan Odell hit that extra gear?By standard measures, Odell Beckham Jr. has come back successfully from last season’s broken ankle. By his own lofty and historic standards, though, Beckham might not consider himself all the way back.That’s because the one thing missing in the first three games has been the spectacular catch or the explosive turn a 7-yard pass into a 70-yard play kind of thing he has done so frequently in his career.Old-fashioned quarterback matchupThere aren’t a whole lot of pure, drop-back pocket passing quarterbacks left in the league. Guys who stay in the pocket as much as possible and win with their arms and their brains rather than their legs and their athleticism. Brees. Tom Brady. Eli Manning. Maybe Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan and Philip Rivers. A handful of other guys.Manning and Brees have dueled six times since Brees landed in New Orleans in 2006, with the Giants 2-4 in those games. Many of them have been offensive shootouts.This might be the last time we see these two quarterbacks Youth Saquon Barkley Jersey , one of whom (Brees) is going to the Hall of Fame and the other (Manning) who could well join him, face off.30 calling?The Saints are averaging the aforementioned 34.7 points per game. They had already hit the 40-point mark twice this season. The Giants haven’t scored 30 points in a game since the final game of Tom Coughlin’s tenure, a streak of 38 games without hitting that mark.The Giants’ performance against the Houston Texans, though, 20 first-half points, a big fourth-quarter touchdown drive when they needed points hinted at good things to come. The Giants are going to hit 30 a few times this season. To beat the Saints, Sunday might have to be the first one.Jackrabbit vs. Michael Thomas?Thomas is New Orleans’ best wide receiver. He has caught an unconscionable 38 of the 40 passes Brees has tossed in his direction this season. He is, at least physically, the type of player Janoris Jenkins has matched up well with in the past [think Dez Bryant]. Eli Apple [groin] is likely to miss a second straight game as he did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. Jenkins is clearly the Giants’ best option against Thomas, so it will be interesting to see if he follows him wherever he lines up on Sunday.Giants vs. Saints: Giants’ DC James Bettcher knows “great challenge” awaitsDefending Alvin KamaraKamara is for the Saints what Saquon Barkley is for the Giants — a do-everything back who can not only run the ball but may well be more valuable, and dangerous, as a pass receiver. Last season, he had 1,554 yards from scrimmage (728 rushing, 826 receiving). He scored 13 touchdowns. This season, Kamara has 141 rushing yards and 289 receiving yards that puts him on pace for 2,293 yards from scrimmage. Kamara’s 30 receptions leads NFL running backs.Bettcher said Thursday there is no magic elixir for defending a running back in the passing game. No way to assign a specific player to cover him on each pass route he runs.“At the end of the day we have to play fundamentally sound football,” Bettcher said. “There‘s no perfect call to get one guy on him every snap of the game.”The good news? Through three games, Football Outsiders has the Giants ranked No. 5 in the league in covering running backs. The bad news? Of course, it is that none of the backs they have had to handle have the receiving skills or quality of quarterback delivering the ball that Kamara has.Alvin Kamara should be the blueprint for Saquon Barkley’s usageChad Wheeler vs. Cameron JordanWheeler’s second start at right tackle isn’t going to get any easier. A week after surrendering three sacks and two quarterback hits to future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt http://www.authenticsnewyorkgiants.com/cheap-rhett-ellison-jersey , Wheeler will generally line up against New Orleans defensive end Cameron Jordan. After earning All-Pro honors during a 13-sack 2017 season, Jordan is tied for the league lead this season with four sacks.“He (Jordan) will be on the (offensive) right side most of the game, so he’ll be over there with Chad and Pat (Omameh) and on the edges with the tight ends,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “It’s going to be a challenge to get him blocked, and I think it’s important that we battle him through the game much like we did J.J. Watt.”Shurmur said that last week vs. Watt he felt Wheeler had been left one-on-one too often, and that “I can’t put him in those situations as much as I did.”So, expect help on that side much of the day from tights ends Rhett Ellison and Scott Simonson, along with whoever is in the game at running back.Chad Wheeler film study: Did the Giants make the right choice at right tackle?Adventures in the return gameThe Giants are 25th in the league in kickoff return yardage, averaging just 19.3 yards. They are 30th in the league in punt returns, averaging just 3.0 yards per return with a long return of 6 yards. Kaelin Clay, acquired at the beginning of the season to do that job, had a key fumble Week 1 and has already been waived. Stacy Coley, signed to replace Clay, muffed the first punt return of his career and ran back his first kickoff as a Giant for only 6 yards.Cody Latimer (22.3 yards on four returns) did not practice Wednesday or Thursday due to a knee issue. That means Coley might be the primary kick and punt returner Sunday. The Giants will need more than they got a week ago.“When you get a young guy in there, the first punt return of his career, you’ve just got to relax, let the plays come to you, and just do what you know how to do,” special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said. “It’s just again, young players. They’re going to make mistakes http://www.authenticsnewyorkgiants.com/cheap-connor-barwin-jersey , they’ve got to learn, and eventually we’ll get them to where we want to be.” Not a lot has gone right for the New York Giants in their much-ballyhooed rebuild of the offensive line.High-priced left tackle Nate Solder hasn’t played up to the level of the four-year, $62 million contract he signed. Free-agent right guard Patrick Omameh (three years, $15 million) played his way to the bench.The player the Giants counted on to be their starting center, Jon Halapio, went down in the season’s second game with a broken right ankle.Ereck Flowers bombed at right tackle, got benched and then released. Chad Wheeler hasn’t been any better.Did Giants’ GM Dave Gettleman do anything right in this rebuild other than select guard Will Hernandez in Round 2 of the 2018 NFL Draft?Well, moving on from Weston Richburg was apparently a good decision. That was the opinion of Oscar Aparicio, host of the ‘Better Rivals’ podcast for SB Nation’s San Francisco 49ers website, Niners Nation. Richburg, of course, signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract ($28.5 million guaranteed) with the 49ers during the offseason. The Giants and 49ers play Monday night, and Aparicio joined the show to talk about that upcoming game.“If there is a weakness on the offensive line unfortunately it’s really at center. Weston Richburg was a big free-agent signing for the 49ers and so far this season he’s not performed in the way that you would expect for the kind of marquee signing that I think we were getting,” Aparicio said.“I thought, honestly, we were getting little bit of value with Richburg because when he was not injured he was playing at a very, very high level. I thought, OK, maybe he was injured and that’s why he wasn’t playing well the last kind of year and some change that he was with New York http://www.authenticsnewyorkgiants.com/cheap-ray-ray-armstrong-jersey , but he’s not performed super-duper well.”San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said Richburg has “added a ton” to his team.“He’s been as good a center as I’ve had, he’s been one of the main reasons I believe we’ve been able to run the ball as well as we have had this year despite our injuries,” Shanahan said. “He’s battled through the last few weeks, battling some injuries, and he’s missed one game but he’s been out there playing through some stuff. Guys love him here and he’s really helped us.”Whatever you believe the Pro Football Focus grades to be worth, here they are. Richburg is PFF’s 36th-ranked center with a 55.4 overall grade. He has allowed two sacks and 19 pressures.In small sample sizes, Halapio (69.4) and Pulley (63.1) grade higher. Greco (56.0) grades out roughly equal while splitting time between center and guard. The trio has allowed four sacks and 23 pressures. Combined, they earn $2.2 million in base salary this season. Throw in the $480,000 being earned by rookie Evan Brown and the Giants are spending $2.68 million on the center position this season.Aparicio told us that Richburg “hangs out in that average area” among NFL center, and the numbers would seem to back up that assertion. “I think that you probably made the right move to not pay him a ton of money if you can get someone to perform at that average level on a much cheaper contract,” Aparicio said.Also on today’s showAparicio and I discuss the reasons for the negativity surrounding the 1-7 Giants vs. the more positive atmosphere around the 2-7 49ers.We talk about the Nick Mullens phenomenon.I address the Kyle Lauletta situation, including a brief clip of Lauletta speaking to media on Tuesday.I talk about the Giants’ hopes for new offensive lineman Jamon Brown.Where to subscribeYou can find and subscribe to Big Blue View Radio on the show’s home page. You can also find the shows on our Big Blue View Radio Hub Page.You can also find us on all your favorite podcast apps:Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSSDon’t miss Dan Pizzuta and Chris Pflum on Friday as they debut an NFL Draft show. Also, if you missed it, check out my show from earlier this week that included an interview with Newsday’s NFL columnist Bob Glauber.Finally, be sure to check out the home page for all of the shows across the expanding Vox Media Podcast Network.