Giants to get learning experience from the Patriots

Once upon a time, in two Super Bowls the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots. You will probably be seeing lots of clips from those games Thursday night when the two teams face each other in Foxboro. What you will most likely not be seeing is a Giants victory. Chalk it up to a learning experience for the G-Men.

You will see Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones but you will not see running backs Saquon Barkley and Wayne Gallman, tight End Evan Engram and wide receiver Sterling Shepherd. It may have the feel of the last pre season game when the two teams usually play each other. But it may not be as bad as it sounds.

The Giants still have their offensive line in tact. That includes Nate Solder, whom the Patriots know all about since he played there. They also know why they never resigned him. The Giants, who gave him 62 million dollars, are finding that out now unfortunately.

The running back will be Jonathan Hilleman and Elijah Penny. Head coach Pat Shurnur says Penny thinks he's a tail back, "just ask him." Hopefully he backs that up in a way that O.J. Anderson did in Super Bowl XXV.

The wide receivers will be Golden Tate, who has a chance to show the world on national television why he was given all that money by the Giants, and if he gets interviewed after the game can tell the world that he was not thrown in a trash can by Percy Harvin, or was he? Lining up on the other side will be Darius Slayton, who looked really good catching a 35 yard touchdown Sunday over Minnesota's shutdown corner Xavier Rhodes. The tight end will be Rhett Ellison, whom I'm surprised they don't use more. It's not Barkley, Engram, Shepherd and Gallman, but it's not that bad.

The defense will mostly be in tact but even at their best, can they take on Tom Brady and the Patriots offense, despite the fact that they haven't been the same this year? The Giants have nothing to lose here but a game they're not supposed to win. If they're smart, they play it that way. Have fun, treat it like the fourth preseason game, which they won by the way, and learn from the experience.

As a Giants fan, I'm treating it like a trip down memory lane. Watching the clips of "The Helmet Catch," which they will invariably show along with Plaxico's touchdown. Also look for Eli Manning's interaction with Tom Brady and wondering why the Patriots, despite the fact that those Super Bowls were 12 and 7 years ago, haven't stopped winning and why the Giants after all these years can't even get close.

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