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PFF Preview: Cardinals @ Giants, Week 2

2014-Prev-WK2-ARZ@NYGThe 1-0 Arizona Cardinals completed a fourth-quarter comeback to seal an 18-17 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football. They now travel to MetLife Stadium to face an 0-1 New York Giants team who would sooner forget about their own Monday Night experience.

The Giants struggled to get their ground game going in Detroit, finishing with just 53 yards on 22 carries, averaging 2.4 just yards per. That suits a Cardinals front seven which held the Chargers to just 2.2 yards per attempt in Weke 1. Nose tackle Dan Williams, as well as linebackers Matt Shaughnessy and Larry Foote all graded positively in run defense, scoring +1.5, +2.6 and +2.5, respectively.

The Giants can look to a similarly favorable match-up against the run, they were able to hold the Lions' run game down and face a team that had its own difficulties getting the ball moving on the ground, with leading rusher Andre Ellington limited by a foot injury. The key performers against the run for the Giants were defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul (+2.6) and Robert Ayers (+1.3), as well as safeties Antrel Rolle (+2.3) and Stevie Brown (+1.8).

Here are three more notable numbers for each side:

Arizona Cardinals

Calais Campbell – Campbell had two QB hits and four hurries on his way to a +2.6 pass rush grade, fourth amongst 3-4 defensive ends in Week 1.

Michael Floyd – Calvin Johnson's three deep catches (on throws of 20 yards or more), led the league in the first week. That is good news for Michael Floyd since 42.9% of his targets came on such passes, he caught the only two catchable deep balls he saw for 92 yards.

Stepfan Taylor – As the Cardinals' third choice at running back, Taylor was limited to just one carry against the Chargers. He made the most of his limited opportunities as a receiver, though, catching all three passes thrown his way and put up 7.0 Yards per Route Run, second amongst running backs with more than one reception.

New York Giants

Larry Donnell – The Cardinals struggled to contain Antonio Gates, so expect the Giants to look in Donnell's direction often after the Grambling State product led the Giants with a passing game grade of +1.2, making Donnell the fifth-ranked receiving tight end in the league.

Prince Amukamara – Although the Giants struggled to contain Matthew Stafford, little of the blame can be put on Amukamara, who allowed just one catch for 9 yards on four passes thrown into his coverage, on his way to an impressive +2.4 coverage grade.

Damontre Moore – While only used as a pass rusher on five snaps, Moore still recorded a pair of hurries and a 30.0 Pass Rushing Productivity score; making him the Giants' most efficient source of pressure from the defensive line.

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