Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz lead all NFL wide receivers with 5,796 combined yards since the 2011 season. No, the vast majority of those yards did not come against the Packers. It only seems that way.
The Giants do not always beat the Packers — Eli Manning is 3-3 against them, with two of the victories coming in the postseason — but they usually are able to hit big plays down the field — often far down the field — when they see the green and gold.
In his past four games against the Packers, Manning has thrown for 11 touchdowns and connected on passes of 85, 66, 67 and 59 yards. Eli’s favorite partner for this pitch-and-catch has been Nicks, who has faced the Packers six times, has six touchdown receptions and has averaged 18.4 yards per catch.
This all should have Manning, Nicks, Cruz and Rueben Randle salivating as they think about firing away on Sunday against a Packers defense that ranks 21st in the league in pass defense. In last week’s 27-10 Eagles victory in Green Bay, Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles completed touchdown passes of 55, 45 and 32 yards.
“We always want to have those games where all of us have those big games, five-plus catches for all of us, a couple of touchdowns,’’ Cruz said. “Hopefully that day is coming up, and coming up very quickly, because we sure do miss it as receivers.
“I think once you make one big play, if it’s for 40, 50 yards plus, it definitely changes the complexion of the game, changes the way a defense plays you.’’
The Giants haven’t changed the complexion of the game much this season, as they haven’t been able to count on duplicating past offensive excellence.
Through nine games, the Giants have just eight pass plays of 30 or more yards, compared with 15 at this juncture in 2012. According to Pro Football Focus, since the opener against the Cowboys the Giants have not completed more than one deep pass (20 yards past the line of scrimmage) in any of their past eight games.
What was the norm has now become the almost never.
“This year it hasn’t happened to the degree we would like it to, and it is something that is noticeably missing and we’d certainly like to improve on that as well,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said of the deep-passing game.
This is the fourth straight regular season these teams have met. A year ago, the Giants piled on 31 first half-points en route to an easy 38-10 victory that did not include any downfield highlights, but did include three touchdown passes from Manning.
“The Giants have been able to get behind us in the past,’’ Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “It’s definitely something we’re aware of and we have to do a better job.’’
Manning, after throwing 15 interceptions in the first six games, has clearly toned down the attack as far as taking high-risk shots down the field. He said he continues to want to beat defenses over the top, but not at the expense of forcing anything, especially with the rise of the running game and the hot streak his defense is on.
“We’ll try to get a few balls down the field, but hey, if we’ve got to dink and dunk and get positive yardage and get in manageable situations and get first downs, that works also,’’ Manning said. “You can’t force things down the field just to force things down the field. It’s only worth it if you have a chance to complete it.’’
There is no holding back, Cruz said. In the past few weeks the shots down the field have not stopped in practice even though they have dried up on Sundays. Seeing the Packers, though, helps rekindle the confidence that perhaps history will repeat itself.
“They kind of run some of the same schemes they’ve had in the past. It gives us a little bit of confidence but every team is different, every game is different, everything is unique,’’ Cruz said. “We just have to go in there and expect the worst, expect them to come with everything they got and be able to adjust off of that.’’