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10 things to watch in preseason finale vs. Jets

10-THINGS-JETS-CITIZENS

PRESEASON FINALE

The Giants (1-1) and Jets (2-0) will square off Saturday at MetLife Stadium for their annual preseason meeting. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on CBS and NFL Network.

It remains to be seen if the Giants' starters will take the field. Jets coach Robert Saleh announced Thursday morning that his team's starters, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers, will not suit up Saturday. However, Giants coach Brian Daboll said Saleh's decision will hold no bearing on what his team decided to do.

"[We'll] do what we think is best for the team," Daboll told the media Thursday.

As of that statement, the head coach had not made a final decision on whether or not quarterback Daniel Jones would start. Daboll did say that backup Drew Lock would likely once again serve as the team's emergency quarterback, which would pave the way for Tommy DeVito to take a majority of snaps under center.

"I haven't been told yet, but as soon as I'm told, I'm ready to go always," DeVito said Thursday. "It's part of the job when you come into it, you never know what's going to happen. I dealt with that last year, being the next man up. Whenever Dabs tells me I'm ready to go, I'll be out there and play."

ALL-TIME SERIES

The Giants faced the Jets in 51 consecutive summers (1969-2019) before the NFL canceled the 2020 preseason due to the pandemic. The Jets have won the three games since the series resumed in 2021 and lead the series, 28-25-1. The tie was in 1972.

From 1984-2020, the Giants and the Jets were the only NFL teams to share a stadium (Giants Stadium/MetLife Stadium).

View photos from Wednesday's joint practice session with the New York Jets in Florham Park.

DEXTER: 'DON'T LET THEM IN OUR HOUSE'

One of the reasons Daboll said defensive coordinator Shane Bowen was brought in this offseason was the success his Titans' defenses had in the red zone. Tennessee allowed a touchdown on just 37.7 percent of opponents' trips inside the 20-yard line last season, which was the No. 1 mark in the NFL. And it wasn't just this past season that the Titans performed well with their backs against the wall, as the unit also finished with the No. 7 red zone defense in 2021 and No. 15 in 2022.

Last weekend, we saw the first glimpse of this new red zone defense with the projected starters on the field. On their first drive of the game, the Texans had a first and goal from the Giants' seven-yard line. Bowen's defense stood strong, shutting Houston down on four straight plays to force a turnover on downs. On the fourth down play, Brian Burns got around a lineman to pressure C.J. Stroud as Dexter Lawrence proceeded to bat the ball down at the line of scrimmage. According to the two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman, this is what the Giants' defense wants to pride itself on this season.

"We say, 'don't let them in our house'," Lawrence said Thursday. "We want to protect the house at all costs and, even that long drive, guys still fought to the end, and we ended up getting the turnover on downs and that's the maturity that you want to see in your defense."

After the unit finished 25th in red zone defense in 2023, improving close to the goal line could go a long way in helping the defense take a big step this season.

TRACY: 'I FEEL REALLY GOOD'

The Giants had a scary moment take place at practice last week when rookie running back Tyrone Tracy fell to the ground with an ankle injury. The team's medical staff put an air cast on Tracy, carted him off and immediately brought him to the Hospital for Special Surgery for a more comprehensive evaluation. Despite the scary scene, the rookie back escaped from the incident with very limited damage done to his ankle. In fact, Tracy was back on the practice field participating in individual drills just a few days after the injury.

"It was definitely something scary," Tracy told the media Tuesday. "The best thing that happened was, you know, I only had very little damage to my ankle. I'm really just happy to be back out here on the football field. Like I said, it was very scary. The medical staff did a great job of making sure that I'm recovering. And I'm in their daily making sure that I'm doing my treatments and making sure that I'm doing everything I can to come back 100 percent healthy."

Tracy returned to the facility only a few hours after going down with the injury and sat in meetings that same afternoon. Suffice it to say, the running back room was excited to see him back in the building with only a minor injury.

"They were pretty hyped for me when I was coming in," Tracy said. "A lot of the folks around the building started calling me Paul Pierce. They said I pulled a Paul Pierce. But it's all good. I know there is very genuine love around the building and I'm happy to be here for real."

It was the best case scenario for Tracy, as an injury that looked like it could have ended his rookie season turned out to only sideline him for a couple of days. The 24-year-old was once again on the practice field Tuesday and even got a few reps during team drills.

"I feel really good," said Tracy. "Today was kind of like a test to see how good I was. I didn't get really many reps. But they wanted to see me move, wanted to see how well I was moving. And me personally, I think I did fairly well."

TAE BANKS 'IMPROVING'

Cornerback Tae Banks had a solid rookie campaign last year, finishing with two interceptions and 11 passes defensed to go with his 64 tackles (53 solo) and two tackles for loss. He earned a passer rating against of 84.7, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranked 24th out of 74 qualified cornerbacks, in addition to allowing a 57.6 completion rate (53 receptions allowed on 92 targets). Similar to Hyatt, Daboll sees Banks' comfort increasing heading into Year 2 as the young corner continues to develop.

"He's still young, still improving," the head coach said. "He works hard with (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach) Jerome (Henderson) every day. Obviously, as he's played in this new system, he gets more comfortable. But all our young guys, whether it's first year, second year, third year, continue to grow."

Going into the regular season, Banks is solidified as the team's top cornerback. He will likely find himself matched up against opposing team's top wide receivers often, which assistant general manager Brandon Brown believes the second-year corner is ready for.

"Tae is up for the challenge of wanting to prove that he can be a number one corner in this league," Brown told the media earlier this week. "He knows that he's got to earn it and that's not going to be given to him."

BROWN: CHATMAN'S EFFORT IS VISIBLE EVERY DAY

Undrafted rookie defensive lineman Elijah Chatman has made a strong case for himself this summer. Chatman is not your stereotypical defensive tackle, as the 23-year-old is listed at 6-feet, 278 pounds. But don't let his size fool you. Nicknamed "Baby Bison" at SMU, Chatman has flashed at practice over the last few weeks and recorded a team-high five total pressures in the preseason opener against the Lions.

The undrafted rookie continued his strong play against the Texans when he chased down Texans running back J.J. Taylor 45 yards down the field. According to assistant general manager Brandon Brown, Chatman's athleticism was one of the factors that sparked the team's interest in the lineman.

"When you look at Elijah, you go through the spring process, and you have your workout warriors from pro-day," Brown said. "Well, Elijah was a 31-vert(ical) guy, a 4'8 40 (yard dash) guy, a 32 bench rep guy, a 9'4 (nine feet, four inches) broad jump guy. All those explosive metrics give him an opportunity for being an outlier, and even though he's 5'11, he's got almost 33-inch arms. So, there are redeeming traits where you take the intangibles of how he's built, how he's wired, and figure out what he can do best.

"The coaches are motivated, especially (Defensive Line Coach) Dre (Andre Patterson) and (Assistant Defensive Line Coach) Brian Cox, and that's why I affectionately call Dre, Dr. Dre because there's probably nobody that he thinks he can't fix. We love that mindset. It was a group effort from scouting, analytics, and coaching. We're glad Elijah is here."

As for the impressive play against the Texans, Brown was not surprised at all by Chatman's hustle.

"The effort and the want to, we see that every day," said the assistant GM. "And there's a cool transition when you start seeing teammates root for guys. When you start seeing (defensive lineman) Dex (Dexter Lawrence) rooting for Elijah, taking him to the side, giving him some pointers because it's like, 'Hey, I could be playing with this guy.' or 'There's something here that I like that I want to help develop.' So, it's been really cool to see."

'A LOT OF CONFIDENCE' IN O-LINE

One of the biggest positives to come out of Saturday's game against the Texans was the performance of the offensive line. Left tackle Andrew Thomas, left guard Aaron Stinnie, centers John Michael Schmitz and Austin Schlottmann, right guard Greg Van Roten and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor surrendered a total of zero pressures against the Texans' pass rush. Daboll praised the veteran group for their performance and development this summer.

"That's probably one of our more veteran groups now on our team," Daboll said. "So, with those four players, and I'd say five include Stinnie, you have people that have played a lot of football, some at different spots, some together at other teams as well, and A.T. who's been here and done it at a high level for the years he's been in this league. So, I would say those four players that are communicating well with one another. I have a lot of confidence in that group. Their experience, their communication, their style of play, they've been good additions to our football team.

While the players undoubtedly deserve a ton of the credit, you cannot talk about the early success of the O-line without mentioning the unit's coaches. Offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo and assistant offensive line coach James Ferentz have done a great job so far working with the veteran group, something the head coach made sure to point out Tuesday.

"Carm's a good coach," said Daboll. "We have crossed paths with him, not working, but with a lot of people that I've worked with. He's done a nice job with them. I think they respect him. He's coached two of them and got a good way about him. He's got good leadership traits, good communication skills, good at the fundamentals, and I've thrown him in there every time. James Ferentz has been a good addition as well, who has played in this system for quite some time and played center, he can see it through their eyes. They've worked well together."

ATTACKING 'ALL AREAS OF THE FIELD'

In last weekend's game against the Texans, quarterback Daniel Jones threw four passes that went at least 20 yards in the air, according to Pro Football Focus, two of which he completed. In his six games last year, Jones completed the same number of 20+ yard passes. He only attempted 12 such passes all season, and the maximum number of attempts he had in one single game was four.

The fact that Jones threw four passes that deep down the field in just one half against the Texans goes to show that the Giants are not going to be afraid to take some deep shots this year. Doing this should help open up the rest of the field for the offense, which should create a more balanced attack.

"Anytime you want to try to attack all areas of the field," Daboll told the media. "I think there were 323 plays of 40 yards or more last year in all the games. So that accounts for less than one percent of the entire season, 0.9 percent exactly. So, you have to do a good job of threatening the vertical part of the field. No question about it. But you also have to be able to sustain drives. Anytime you can hit a big one, usually you're going to have an opportunity to get some points on the board. And we've actively been doing that throughout OTAs and camp of pushing the ball down the field. But, again, you have to make the right decision when you're playing quarterback. So, if they're all playing deep and there's a throw to Wan'Dale where you can gain 15, 18 yards on a run after catch, so be it.

"But definitely threatening the deep part of the field, intermediate, short, horizontal, that's what you want to do offensively is to try to create as many mismatches as you can, whether it's zone and you flood zones, whether it's man-to-man and you're using different type of plays, but trying to attack all areas of the field versus the defense to try to make it as tough on them as you can."

NEAL COULD RETURN VS. JETS

Last week, Evan Neal returned to team drills for the first time in training camp. The third-year tackle, who was working his way back from last year's foot injury, has been slowly ramped up as he inches closer to game action. While he is still unsure if Neal will play against the Jets on Saturday, Daboll hopes the young tackle will be able to suit up.

"Yeah, it'd be good," the head coach said about Neal potentially taking the field in the preseason finale. "We'll see how he does at practice today. We ramped him up a little bit more yesterday. Talked to the trainers. We'll do what's best for the player and for us."

Since returning to team drills, Neal has looked strong in pass protection. The 6-foot-7, 340-pound tackle performed well during team drills against the Jets on Wednesday, which his head coach said was a valuable step in his recovery.

"He did a good job," Daboll told the media. "Coming back, I'm not saying D.J., but he's had a long layoff too, so being able to play and compete against another team, it was important to get him those reps. Hopefully, we'll see him in the game."

ROSTER UPDATES

The Giants made a series of roster moves early in the week as they prepare for Saturday's game.

The Giants signed defensive tackle Kyler Baugh, linebacker Trey Kiser, and defensive back Clayton Isbell. In corresponding moves, defensive lineman Ryder Anderson and wide receiver Dennis Houston were waived/injured while offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste was placed on injured reserve.

Baugh signed with the New Orleans Saints after going undrafted in April. He played 10 snaps in the Saints' first preseason game before being waived last week.

The 6-foot-2, 305-pound defensive lineman began his collegiate career at Houston Baptist, where he spent three seasons (2019-21) before transferring to Minnesota, where he was teammates with Giants rookie safety Tyler Nubin. Baugh played in 26 games over his two seasons with the Golden Gophers and finished with 77 tackles, four sacks, seven tackles for loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and four passes defensed.

He was selected All-Big Ten honorable mention by the media both years at Minnesota.

Kiser spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason before being released a few weeks ago.

The 6-foot, 224-pound linebacker spent three seasons at South Alabama, where he played on both defense and special teams. During his senior season, he played in all 13 games with 12 starts and registered 68 total tackles (29 solo), 2.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss. Kiser earned All-Sun Belt Conference Honorable Mention recognition after the season.

He began his collegiate career at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College, where he was the program's only first-team all-Southwest Junior College Football Conference selection as a freshman after posting 55 total tackles, including seven tackles for loss.

Isbell signed with the Carolina Panthers after going undrafted in April. His collegiate career began at Illinois State, where he played for three seasons and was named second-team All-MVFC as a redshirt junior in 2021. He then transferred to Utah for the 2022 campaign, where he played in 14 games with one start.

Due to the COVID-19 rules, Isbell gained an extra year of eligibility, which he spent at Coastal Carolina. In 13 games as a super senior, Isbell registered 89 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass breakups, which led to third-team All-Sun Belt honors.

View rare photos from the all-time series between the Giants and Jets.

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