The Chargers are back on the road this week to face the 0-3 New York Giants. They’ll put their undefeated streak on the line against team that just benched their starter through the first three weeks (Russell Wilson) to start their exciting rookie (Jaxson Dart). While this may sound great, Dart is now an unknown that the Bolts don’t have a ton of film on outside of his preseason performance.
Here’s to hoping nothing catches them off guard completely, but it’s okay to feel fairly optimistic about this matchup.
Let’s go ahead and dive into the three things I’ll be watching when these two teams take the field on Sunday morning.
1.) Can RB Omarion Hamton break 100 rushing yards for the first time?
Hampton enjoyed his best rushing output of the young season when he gained 70 yards on 19 carries against the Broncos in Week Three. This week, he has an excellent opportunity to exceed that mark — and maybe even push for 100+ yards — against the Giants and their 31st-ranked rushing defense which is currently allowing over 150 yards per game on the ground to their opponents.
Following Najee Harris’ achilles injury early in the game against Denver, Hampton ended up receiving nearly every rushing attempt from then on. Backup Hassan Haskins is likely to see some carries against New York, but this seemingly looks to be way less of a committee approach now than it did prior to Week Three.
I’m expecting a big game from Hampton, but don’t be surprised to see it get off to a slow start as the Giants do employ Dexter Lawrence, a one-man wrecking crew who could be quite the issue for the injured and inconsistent interior of the Chargers offensive line.
2.) Will WR Keenan Allen catch his 1,000th pass?
Three games into the 2025 season, Allen has 993 career receptions split between his time with both the Chargers and Bears. With a big day against the Giants on Sunday with at least seven catches (something he’s done twice already), Allen could become just the 16th player in NFL history to record 1,000 or more receptions in a career.
He would also join Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (1,014) as the only two active players in the NFL with over 1,000 career receptions.
Unfortunately due to his lone year in Chicago, Allen would then need another 70 receptions to officially make it 1,000 with the Chargers by himself. Still, that is something he could feasibly chase this year as long as he stays around his current pace (6.3 receptions/game).
Seeing as Allen’s performance thus far can be directly tied their 3-0 start to the season, my gut says he’ll reach 1,000 in the powder blue barring some bad injury luck.
3.) How will Jesse Minter put a cap on Giants WR Malik Nabers?
Nabers currently leads the Giants in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. I think it’s safeto say if the Chargers want to maximize their chances of beating the Giants and staying undefeated, they’ll need to look into how the Chiefs bottled him up in Week Three.
Nabers received seven targets that night which was the lowest on the season by a wide margin (had 12 and 13 targets in the prior two games). Of those seven targets, Nabers was only able to catch two of them for 13 yards. That’s a dream stat line if you’re the Chargers defense.
The Giants do not have a good offensive line. The presence of Cam Skattebo may force the Chargers to play with a bigger personnel group if he finds an early rhythm, but for the most part they’ll likely stick in Dime personnel (six defensive backs) with Derwin James as their second linebacker next to Daiyan Henley. This personnel package matches up well with the Giants and their passing attack as Wan’Dale Robinson, their WR2, is also a speedster who can catch a defense off guard if he’s not give the proper attention.
