NFL New York Giants

Larry Donnell Will Be X-Factor For New York Giants In Week 7

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By @RoKnowsDFS

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The New York Giants suffered a major loss in Week 6 against the Philadelphia Eagles as they lost their star WR Victor Cruz for the season with a torn tendon in his knee. It was the ultimate “insult to injury” scenario as the Giants also got dominated in that road loss by a score of 27-0.

From the moment that Cruz went down, many football fans and experts immediately crowned Odell Beckham Jr. as the prime recipient of Cruz’s targets and production. Therefore, Beckham seemed like he would be the x-factor for future success in New York. Other fans and experts crowned Rueben Randle as the top player to benefit from Cruz’s absence.

However, Randle was already receiving more targets than Cruz. Therefore, even though his targets and production will increase, he’s not really the true x-factor for the Giants to have future success. The true x-factor for their Week 7 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys and beyond is former Grambling State Tiger, Larry Donnell.

As many have realized this season, the Cowboys’ defense is no longer easy pickings for any offense facing them. They have dramatically increased the effectiveness in their pass rush thanks to the emergence of Tyrone Crawford and Jeremy Mincey.

Additionally, their secondary that was thoroughly abused last season is much better this season with the return of Orlando Scandrick and the improvement of Sterling Moore. The signing of Rolando McClain also helped to improve the Dallas defense. However, they have a deficiency that the Giants can and should be able to exploit.

As of today, the Cowboys are ranked 31st in the league when it comes to defending the TE position. On average, they allow TEs to record seven receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown per game. Therefore, this bodes well for the currently struggling Donnell as it’s highly unlikely that Dallas will choose to focus more on him than Beckham and Randle.

An additional deficiency of the Dallas defense is its run defense. It is ranked 17th in the league when it comes to yardage allowed to RBs as it gives up 115 rushing yards per game. However, its “middle of the pack” rank doesn’t tell the full story.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Cowboys’ run defense grades out to where they’re ranked 31st in the league and suggests that they may be prone to giving up more rushing TDs than the four they’ve allowed to this point. Therefore, the Giants should be able to have a bit more success pounding the Cowboys with runs from Andre Williams and open up the passing options more.

This bodes well for Donnell as Dallas will still look to limit the effectiveness of Beckham and Randle. Therefore, Donnell should be able to take advantage of this especially with second or third down seam routes where he would be a mismatch for any LB or safety that’s assigned to him.

This is no disrespect to the two former LSU Tigers that will be getting more targets since Beckham and Randle are definitely capable of picking up the slack for the absence of Cruz. However, the real x-factor for the “G-Men” against Dallas is the former Grambling State Tiger. Do not be  surprised when he goes off for eight catches, over 100 yards and at least one touchdown.

Roje Smith is a Fantasy Sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @RoKnowsDFS, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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