Here are five players to watch in Giants vs. Chiefs on Monday Night Football:
QB Daniel Jones
Last week, Jones became the first Giants player to complete a pass, catch a pass and run the ball since Kerry Collins at Denver on Sept. 10, 2001. No Giants quarterback had caught a pass since then.
"Well, I don't know if it worked like magic, but it worked," offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said of the trick play. "Yeah, it was a good play for us. We wanted to get to it. There were certain situations where we felt like we could get the look that we wanted, and it came up for us in that case and ultimately those plays come down to execution. Book (Running Back Devontae Booker) did a really good job handling that pressure and getting the pitch off and then (Wide Receiver) Dante (Pettis) made a really good throw and DJ (Quarterback Daniel Jones) made a hell of a catch."
The Giants might call on Jones to do it all again as they try to match firepower with the Chiefs.
"I think each week you just try to decide what you think you need to do to win the game," Garrett said. "You try to attack with what are potentially strengths that you have and maybe some things that you think you can take advantage of from them. That was such a good defense last week. I think they were third in the NFL coming into the game and we had a lot of moving parts on the offensive side of the ball, so we felt like that was a way for us to move the ball. Again, I thought the guys responded well to it."
DL Leonard Williams
After recording one sack in his first four games, Williams has 3.5 in his past three outings. The defense is coming off its best game of the season, recoding a season-high six sacks, forcing a safety and holding Carolina to three points.
"I think that's the biggest word is consistently," Williams said. "It's something that we can definitely build on, but we have to be consistent with it. We can't take any fall-offs [against Kansas City]. Obviously, teams are going to make plays at times. I think the biggest thing that we have to do is to learn how to adjust when a big play happens and don't think that it's over and just stay poised.
LB Azeez Ojulari
The second-round pick is having a special rookie season and he's just getting started. Ojulari leads all NFL rookies with 5.5 sacks – 2.5 more than Baltimore's Odafe Oweh and Buffalo's Greg Rousseau, a pair of first-round draft choices. His 5.5 sacks tie the Giants' rookie record since sacks became an official category in 1982, accomplishing the feat in just seven games. They are also the most through seven games since the Chargers' Nick Bosa had 7.0 sacks in 2019. The NFL rookie sacks record is 14.5 by Tennessee's Jevon Kearse in 1999.
CB James Bradberry
Bradberry typically covers the opponent's best receivers, and this is one of the weeks when he will face one of the best in the league, period. Tyreek Hill, a perennial All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection, has 52 career touchdown catches, the third-most in the NFL since 2016. Meanwhile, Bradberry grabbed his third interception of the season last week, tying his career high with 10 games to go.
S Xavier McKinney
The second-year pro's role grows even larger with Jabrill Peppers out for the rest of the season due to injury. McKinney will have the tall task of helping cover All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce and former league MVP Patrick Mahomes, who can extend plays with his legs.
"I'm spending my week looking at their offense as a whole," McKinney said. They've got play-makers everywhere. Not just focusing on one guy. They all can really have a huge impact on the game."
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