DE Justin Tuck vs. T Gabe Carimi
The Giants racked up double-digit sacks against the Bears last October, and Justin Tuck had three of the 10 takedowns, including one forced fumble. The Bears gave up an NFL-worst 56 sacks in 2010, but they addressed the problem this April by drafting Gabe Carimi out of Wisconsin, who was awarded the Outland Trophy as the top collegiate interior lineman. The consensus All-American received the starting role at right tackle during training camp and will face Tuck for the first time. No one welcomed the move more than Jay Cutler.
T Will Beatty vs. DE Julius Peppers
On the flipside of the coin, Eli Manning was the least-sacked quarterback last season (tied), but the Giants' offensive line has been re-vamped and Will Beatty is now the starting left tackle. Beatty, who has six career starts under his belt, made known his competition with Osi Umenyiora during training camp helped his progress. Now he will test it live against a six-time Pro Bowler in defensive end Julius Peppers, who had four tackles and one sack at New Meadowlands Stadium last year while the Giants racked up 189 yards rushing (5.9 avg.) for two touchdowns.
NYG special teams vs. Devin Hester
New York's punting has been under a microscope over the last year, but the critics might be surprised to know that no team has covered returnman extraordinaire Devin Hester better than the Giants. Out of all teams that had the headache of planning for Hester a minimum of three times, the Giants stand on top, holding the all-time punt return touchdown leader to an average of 3.1 yards on seven tries. That's almost 10 yards below his career average (12.4) in the three games they have faced him. Hester has only returned one kickoff against the Giants for 19 yards, which is five yards below his average. In 2010, Matt Dodge kicked to Hester twice – one for six yards and the other for no gain. In that same game, Dodge punted seven times for a 42.0-yard average with one inside the 20. Dodge and Steve Weatherford will split the task on Monday night with the rest of the coverage unit.
