The Giants will be without left guard Shane Lemieux for Thursday night’s game in Washington. Lemieux continues to deal with a knee issue which has reduced his playing time.
Tight end Evan Engram (calf) was also ruled out. Engram did not play in the Giants’ season-opening loss to the Broncos.
Lemieux, however, did play in that game on Sunday. He started on the O-Line, but was limited to playing just 17 of 61 snaps on offense.
The Giants now have another red check on their list of problems with the offense.
Head coach Joe Judge, however, has options he can consider for which player to plug into the starting lineup for Lemieux.
Ben Bredeson stepped in for Lemieux on Sunday and saw plenty of action at left guard (44 snaps). But he’s only been in town for a handful of practices since the G-Men acquired him from the Ravens.
The Giants can also consider moving center Nick Gates over to left guard. If Judge decides to do this, it opens the door for newly-acquired center Billy Price to get an opportunity. Big Blue acquired Price in a trade with the Cincinnati Bengals, towards the end of training camp.
Gates has the skills to slide over and fill in for Lemieux. Furthermore Price is a former first-round draft pick (2018) out of Ohio State.
The logic is there for Judge to lean towards this decision, but I’d be hesitant to disrupt the chemistry between Gates and quarterback Daniel Jones.
Gates started all 16 games at center in 2020, he’s also a team captain. But still, I’d lean towards leaving him at center to help stabilize the O-Line. The Giants are going up against a Washington team which has a formidable defensive line, featuring Chase Young.
Furthermore, the O-Line showed signs of moving in the right direction with their pass protection. Their run-blocking needs to be better, however this isn’t the ideal week to make such a dramatic change.
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