Lions host Giants, hoping to rebound after loss to Eagles

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Lions host Giants, hoping to rebound after loss to Eagles

2025-11-22 00:42 Last Updated At：00:50

NY Giants (2-9) at Detroit (6-4)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox

BetMGM line: Lions by 10 1/2.

Against the spread: Giants 6-5; Lions 6-4.

Series record: Lions lead 25-21-1

Last meeting: Lions beat Giants 31-18 on Nov. 20, 2022, at the Meadowlands.

Last week: Giants lost to Packers 24-20; Lions lost to Eagles 16-9.

Giants offense: overall (15), rush (10), pass (19), scoring (23)

Giants defense: overall (29), rush (30), pass (22), scoring (29)

Lions offense: overall (5), rush (7), pass (9), scoring (t4)

Lions defense: overall (5), rush (8), pass (8), scoring (10)

Turnover differential: Giants was minus-6; Lions plus-5.

LB Abdul Carter was benched by Mike Kafka in his debut as interim coach for the first defensive series last week after the rookie missed a walk-through. The No. 3 overall pick had a half a sack in his debut and hasn't had one since despite playing 70.8% of his team's defensive snaps. The former Penn State star drew some criticism for being ringside at WWE “Monday Night Raw” and he’s in the spotlight because the Giants want to see improvement from week to week.

QB Jared Goff is coming off one of his worst games of the season. He completed a career-low 37.8% of passes against the Eagles, connecting on just 14 of 37 attempts for 255 yards with a TD and an INT. After his TD pass, Goff went 7 of 25 for 136 yards and was 1 for 11 in the fourth quarter. Seven of those passes went to Amon-Ra St. Brown, his favorite receiver, in the fourth and they were incomplete. Goff usually plays well at home and the Lions are hoping that trend continues in a game they need to win to improve their playoff positioning.

Detroit's running game against New York's defense. The Lions will be determined to establish their running game after Jahmyr Gibbs was held to 39 yards rushing on 12 carries and David Montgomery ran for 27 yards on six carries at Philadelphia. The Giants are among the league's worst against the run, allowing 150 yards rushing per game.

Giants: Rookie QB Jaxson Dart will miss a second consecutive game after getting concussed Nov. 9 at Chicago, putting Jameis Winston in line to start again. ... Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) may miss a second straight game and CB Paulson Adebo (knee) might be out for the fifth game in a row.

Lions: TE Sam LaPorta (back) will miss his second game on IR. ... CB Terrion Arnold (concussion) and S Kerby Joseph (knee) may miss another game, but coach Dan Campbell is hopeful S Brian Branch (toe) can play through his injury. ... CB DJ Reed (hamstring), out since Week 4, is nearing his return.

The Lions have won four of the past five games against the Giants. ... Detroit won four NFL titles from 1935 through 1957, and the first one was with a 26-7 win over the Giants.

The Giants have dropped five games in a row, their longest losing streak since a franchise-record, 10-game skid last season. New York lost a one-point lead in the fourth quarter against Green Bay last week, blew a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead in the previous game at Chicago after becoming the first team since at least 1970 to lead by 18-plus points with six minutes remaining and lose in regulation against Denver last month. ... Winston was 19 of 29 for 201 yards passing with a rushing TD, a pick and a fumble. ... RB Devin Singletary rushed for a career-high two TDs against Green Bay. ... RB Tyrone Tracy had a season-high 139 yards from scrimmage last week. ... WR Isaiah Hodgins had a team-high five catches for 57 yards last week, days after being signed off Pittsburgh’s practice squad. ... New York has allowed 24 or more points in each of its past five games and an average of 31.2 points during its losing streak. ... Edge rusher Brian Burns has a career-high 13 sacks, second only to Cleveland’s Myles Garrett in the league. ... The Lions are out of the playoff picture for the first time since the end of the 2022 season, falling to third place in the NFC North and among teams in the hunt for a wild card. ... Detroit has played 54 games going back to October 2022, without losing two in a row in what is the NFL's longest streak of avoiding consecutive setbacks since New England's 56-game run from 2012-2015. ... The Lions went 0 for 5 on fourth down and 3 for 13 on third down against the Eagles. ... Gibbs had a career-high 107 yards receiving on five catches last week. ... WR Jameson Williams has scored in three straight games, and four of five games, and is averaging 38.1 yards on 17 career TDs. ... Detroit's defense hasn't allowed a player to throw for 300 yards or run for 100 yards through the first 10 games of a season for the first time since 1969. ... DE Aidan Hutchinson and Green Bay's Micah Parsons are the two NFL players with at least 15 QB hits, 7 1/2 sacks and 7 tackles for losses in each of their first four seasons since QB hits became an official stat in 2006. ... The Lions are playing their first of three straight home games in a 12-day span, including on Thanksgiving against Green Bay and the following Thursday against Dallas.

St. Brown will likely bounce back after a lackluster performance at Philadelphia. The two-time All-Pro WR caught a career-low 16.7% of passes as the targeted receiver, finishing with season lows in receptions (two) receptions and yards receiving (42) against the Eagles. The Giants are giving up an average of 27.3 points per game and 225.2 yards passing.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

NATO allies bewildered by Trump's about-face on US troop moves in Europe

HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.

The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.

But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.

“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”

U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.

The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.

Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.

Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.

Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”

About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.

The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.

But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.

Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.

Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”

Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.