The New York Giants (2-5) visit the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) for their third (and hopefully final) prime-time game of the season, with this one scheduled for Monday Night Football.

Monday’s game marks the 79th regular season meeting between the two teams. In their last meeting, the Steelers won 26-16 at East Rutherford on September 14, 2020.

Pittsburgh has won the last three games in the series (2012, 2016 and 2020). The Giants’ most recent victory in Pittsburgh occurred on October 26, 2008, by a score of 21-14.

Monday Night Football hasn’t been kind to the Giants, who are 26-47-1. But if Giants fans are looking for hope, the Giants are 2-1 in away games this year, have a 224-183-10 record in October and an all-time record of 74- 69-5 in regular season games against the NFC. Northern teams.

Here’s a look at some emerging storylines expected to unfold over the course of the week and throughout the game itself.

You know things are starting to fall apart with your starting quarterback when you admit to pulling him early in the fourth quarter for his replacement, hoping the replacement could generate a spark.

That’s precisely what happened Sunday when Daniel Jones replaced Drew Lock with about 11 minutes remaining in a 28-3 loss to the Eagles.

Now, it’s certainly possible that Daboll used this excuse as a cover-up due to Jones’ $23 million injury guarantee in his contract, especially considering how quickly Daboll declared Jones the starter for the game future.

But even if the offense’s woes aren’t all the fault of Jones, he remains the constant factor in what has been two straight years under the current regime of poor quarterback play. And at some point, if this continues, Daboll will have to decide to sit Jones rather than continue to risk the future health of the team’s salary cap.

Will that happen this week if the offense gets off to a slow start again with Jones, who is 1-15 in prime-time games he’s started in? Stay tuned.

While Giants head coach Brian Daboll hasn’t been shy about announcing his plans to keep Daniel Jones as the starting quarterback, he hasn’t been as quick to share his thoughts on the left tackle spot. , where third-year player Joshua Ezuedu struggled in his first game. out in place of the injured Andrew Thomas.

Ezeudu managed to settle in as the game went on, but there were still enough flaws in his game to raise concerns about his readiness to protect the quarterback’s blindside.

For those hoping the Giants make a change, it might not be as easy this week. While Jermaine Eluemunor would make the most sense given his history, the Giants likely want to leave Eluemuor at right tackle since Steelers star edge rusher TJ Watt lines up exclusively on that side.

Offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo inferred last week that Evan Neal, who played left tackle in his final season at Alabama, wasn’t quite ready for prime time or at any time. He continues to work on becoming familiar with the techniques Bricillo and James Ferentz want their offensive linemen to use.

The Giants added veteran Chris Hubbard to the roster, and he could be a possibility, but it’s unclear how current he is. The Giants also selected former Cardinals first-round pick DJ Humphries this week, but he remained unsigned as of Wednesday night, raising questions about whether he was fully recovered from injury at the knee.

Daboll isn’t usually one to announce such plans so far in advance, so expect him to play this close to the vest and try to let the Steelers think it could be anyone at left post this week.

It’s bad enough that the Giants aren’t winning, but it’s even worse when a player isn’t putting in a full-fledged effort.

This has been the case several times in recent weeks with cornerback Deonte Banks. The first time it came to light, against Dallas, coach Jerome Henderson publicly called it out, and Banks responded the following week by limiting Seahawks receiver DK Metcalfe.

But instances of Banks not playing until the whistle came against the Bengals and Eagles, with a play against the latter drawing an angry Hederson toward Banks, who stopped prematurely during a scrimmage by Jalen Hurts.

Daboll did not indicate his intention to deal with Banks, even if he intended to. Still, it would be hard to blame him if he had benched the young cornerback for a series or even a quarter to send the message that a lack of effort on every play would not be tolerated, the message still being amplified if it is done on a national scale. game show.

The Giants had more than just their egos hurt last week against the Eagles.

Receiver Jalin Hyatt, rarely used as is, suffered a cracked rib, making his status questionable. Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson missed the game with a neck injury, and punter Jamie Gillan remains out with a hamstring issue.

However, he was spotted leaving the locker room after Sunday’s game without a limp.

In addition to these injuries, the one to watch is outside linebacker Brian Burns, who is dealing with a groin injury.

When Burns left the locker room Sunday, he was limping and moving slowly, his groin no doubt in pain. Last week he had his practice reps managed, so we expect that to continue this week.

But it’s certainly fair to wonder how long Burns can keep this up, especially if the season spirals out of control.

The Giants have been nothing short of terrible this season when it comes to scoring. They average 14.1 points per game, 30th in the league.

On the other hand, the Steelers defense has allowed 14.4 points per game, the second-lowest mark in the league.

If you’re looking for some good news, the Giants’ offense seems to work much better on the road, averaging 22.6 points per game, than at home, where it’s averaging 7.75 points per game.

Then again, this is a prime time game, where Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is 1-15 in prime time games he has started, which could be the fly in the ointment.