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Giants Country publisher Patricia Traina was a special guest on the Jets Country Podcast ahead of the Week 8 battle between local NFL rivals. The Giants' offensive line was a key topic of discussion.
Transcript
00:00 To go a little deeper into this offense before we shift gears, let's talk about the Giants
00:07 offensive line who is protecting Taylor.
00:11 I know they had their struggles protecting Daniel Jones.
00:16 He took a heavy number of sacks when he was in there.
00:21 I also know that they have a rookie center.
00:24 They have some injury problems.
00:27 I know the tackle, Andrew Thomas, I believe, has been out.
00:31 So just kind of give us a state of the Giants offensive line.
00:36 And obviously, you know, they'll be going up against really what's a vaunted Jets defensive
00:43 front.
00:44 Yeah, so here we are.
00:46 We're in week eight of the season, and the Giants have had at least eight different offensive
00:50 line combinations, mostly due to injuries, partly due to performance.
00:56 This week, it looks like center John Michael Schmitz is going to be back after missing,
01:01 I think he missed a couple games with a shoulder injury.
01:05 Andrew Thomas is not going to be back.
01:07 He's listed as doubtful on the injury report, but players that usually get listed as doubtful
01:12 don't expect to see them on Sunday.
01:13 I mean, we haven't seen that yet.
01:17 So right now, we are potentially looking at an offensive line, projected offensive line,
01:22 I should say, where Justin Pugh will probably be left tackle, not really his best position,
01:28 but you know, he's been kind of filling in there since Joshua Azudu, who had been playing
01:33 the position, is on IR with a toe injury.
01:36 At left guard, probably will be Ben Bredesen, who had been playing center, but you know,
01:42 Schmitz is coming back, as I believe he is.
01:45 Bredesen will kick out over to left guard, then Schmitz would be the center.
01:49 Then over at right guard, Mark Lewinsky, who was benched after week one for performance.
01:56 He's been solid actually the last couple weeks.
01:59 So I think he returns to the lineup.
02:02 And then at right tackle, the question mark is Evan Neal.
02:06 Evan Neal is listed as questionable on the injury report he missed last week due to an
02:11 ankle injury.
02:12 If he can't go, it will likely be Tyree Phillips, who filled in for him last week and did a
02:17 decent enough job.