While the Giants under Tom Coughlin have always gotten off to fast starts, the last time they won the Super Bowl they began the season 0-2. Today they will play the Broncos in Met Life Stadium, it will be the third time the Manning brothers face each other in the regular season (Peyton has won the last two encounters). The Broncos looked very impressive in the season opener against the Ravens (Peyton threw for 7 touchdowns with no interceptions) while the Giants looked sloppy in their first loss at the Cowboys new stadium. Let's look at keys to the game:

The Giants brought in one of their former players in RB Brandon Jacobs, who won 2 Super Bowls in NY. All but 7 of his 4856 career rushing yards came as a member of the Giants; he spent just one season as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. Jacobs, who left the Giants on rather bad terms, returns to address an emergency situation at RB. Andre Brown's injury in the last preseason game was a tough blow as he was a more than adequate backup to David Wilson, who had two fumbles against the Cowboys. Wilson also looked completely inadequate blocking on passing downs, and while he is a former first round pick, Tom Coughlin has shown the fastest way to his dog house is to put the ball on the ground. The Giants need Wilson to follow in Tiki Barber's footsteps, who also started his career with fumbling issues. I suspect Wilson heard the words "High and Tight" all week. Look for Jacobs to get some carries and maybe even the start, but for Wilson to still get plenty of action. The Giants get Center David Bass back for this game and he should help the running game.

The Broncos passing game looked incredible against the Ravens in the season opener. Peyton Manning proved last season he is fully recovered from his neck injury, and this season he has the NFL's premier WRs group with Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and new addition Wes Welker. The three combined for 250 yards against the current Super Bowl champs. While the Giants gave up a lot of points to the Cowboys, the defense played rather well last Sunday. The Giants pass rush will need to help out the secondary against the Broncos great passing attack, but the Giants will at least be able to count on CB Prince Amukamara (a former first round pick) who was cleared to play today after suffering a concussion against the Cowboys.

While the Broncos don't run the ball very frequently (despite having a massive lead, they only had 21 rushing attempts against the Ravens) they will be facing one of the worst linebacking units in the NFL on Sunday. To make matters worse, the Giants lost MLB Dan Connor for the season this week. Big Blue will also have a tough time stopping TE Julius Thomas who had a great game against the Ravens (5 catches for 110 yards and 2 TE).

The Giants also have a terrific passing attack. WR Hakeem Nicks was sharp against the Cowboys and he is looking to have a great season since he is in the last year of this contract (the Giants gave a big extension to Victor Cruz and aren't likely to sign Nicks, especially if Randle keeps showing the form he displayed against the Cowboys). The Broncos will be without CB Champ Bailey and could give up a lot of big plays. 

While Eli Manning has lived in the shadows of his big brother Peyton, he leads the family in Super Bowl wins (their father Archie was also an excellent NFL QB but he never won a ring). He will look to win his first game against his big brother and the Giants need him to lead them to victory. 

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About the author
David Amoyal
Grew up in Padova (Italy) and current resident of Boston (USA). Editor in chief and writer for Vavel USA. My writing idols are Bill Simmons, Jason Whitlock and Chuck Klosterman