If Giants right tackle Nate Solder wanted to move on from a rough season-opening performance in Week 1, the Denver Broncos aren’t making that any easier.
Tuesday, the Broncos’ official Twitter account tweeted out a video where star edge rusher Von Miller knocked Solder over with ease en route to Daniel Jones. He didn’t get a sack on that play, but it demonstrative of how things went in the Giants’ 27-13 loss.
In the video, a Broncos coach is seen telling Miller that he “went right through him.”
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After practice Tuesday, Solder admitted he needed to play better. Miller sacked Jones in the first quarter after easily beating Solder on an inside move in the first quarter, and it didn’t get any easier for him after that.
“It’s one of those goofy things,” Solder said. “Von is a tremendous pass rusher but sometimes you just hurt yourself with bad footwork, with the placement of your weight on the outside foot rather than the inside. My hands were late all night. So just things like that I have to continue to work at.”
Solder knows he needs to play better, he said.
“I wish I would’ve done everything perfect but I didn’t,” Solder said. “We’re going to go back, we’re going to take the corrections — and there’s plenty of those — and hopefully some of those good things we did, there were some, we can keep doing it.”
The Broncos game was Solder’s first since the end of the 2019 season. He opted out last season and spent the year away from football, spending time with his family. Peart was expected to be the starting right tackle heading into training camp, but Solder outperformed him and won the job instead.
“It was unbelievable” being back, Solder said. “This time last year, I was playing with my kids at home. So to be out here, to be back, playing this wonderful game, was a real privilege.”
Pro Football Focus dinged Solder with allowing three total pressures in 29 pass-blocking snaps. Solder was in a rotation at right tackle — his first start at the position since his rookie year in 2011 — with Matt Peart in Week 1 and likely will be going forward too.
That includes Thursday night against Washington, against one of the most talented defensive fronts in the NFL. Solder will have his hands full with Washington’s talented pass rushers, which include Chase Young and Montez Sweat coming off the edge.
“Washington is excellent,” Solder said. “They have tremendous talent, strength, they’re long, they’re strong, they’re competitive. It will be a real challenge for us.”
Offensive line shuffle
Left guard Shane Lemieux has been battling a knee injury since the beginning of training camp and didn’t fully practice for most of the summer. But he fought through it to start Sunday’s game against the Broncos, and played pretty well.
But he only played 17 snaps before leaving in the second quarter and was replaced by Ben Bredeson for the rest of the game. Lemieux was listed as “did not participate” on Tuesday’s injury report, which was an estimation since practice was only a walkthrough. But it’s still not a good sign for his chances of playing on Thursday, since the Giants won’t practice before the game.
In Lemieux’s absence, the two likeliest options to fill in at guard would be Bredeson and center Nick Gates. The Giants acquired Bredeson in a trade with the Ravens before the season and he played 44 snaps against Denver. Gates had been getting some reps in training camp and since regular season practices started — which he talked to NJ Advance Media about at the beginning of the month — at guard and has experience playing the position.
Gates had played every game at center since moving to the position for the first time last year, but the Giants also acquired Billy Price from the Bengals before the season and he has experience at both guard and center too. The Giants also have Matt Skura on the practice squad, who has 51 career starts at center.
Either way, if Lemieux can’t go — or is limited — expect a new-look offensive line against Washington’s defensive front on Thursday night.
Evan Engram update
Engram was a “Did Not Participate” for Tuesday’s practice as well, and it seems unlikely the tight end will be able to play on Thursday on a short turnaround. Engram missed Sunday’s game and is still working his way back from a calf injury suffered in the preseason finale against the Patriots.
Joe Judge indicated he has some hope that Engram will play, though it still feels like a longshot.
“I hope so. Yeah, I hope so. I know he’s been pushing,” Judge said. “He had a real good day of rehab the other day, moving along. He’s making a lot of jumps in terms of how he’s working. We’ll see where he is today physically and reevaluate that probably (Wednesday) based on how today goes, and we’ll see if he can get ready.”
In his absence, the Giants only played two tight ends — Kyle Rudolph and Kaden Smith — and neither made much of an impact against the Broncos. Rudolph caught two of five targets for eight yards, and Smith wasn’t targeted.
If Engram can’t go again, it’s possible the Giants call up one of their tight ends on the practice squad, likely Ryan Izzo, who started 12 games for the Patriots last year.
Extra points
- Running back Saquon Barkley said he’s “feeling pretty good” coming out of Sunday’s game, when he received 11 touches and played around half the offensive snaps. He’s expected to play on Thursday, though it’ll likely be in a limited role again.
“I‘m just listening to the coaches,” Barkley said. “I’m fully aware of it being a long season. Especially with the added game, playing 17 games this year. I’m just listening to the coaching staff, listening to the trainers, taking it one day at a time and trying to get my body ready and get ready for Thursday.”
- Outside linebacker Cam Brown (hamstring) was also listed as “Did Not Participate” on Tuesday’s injury report estimation. Brown is primarily a special teams player that didn’t receive any defensive snaps on Sunday.
- The Panthers cut kicker Ryan Santoso, meaning he won’t meet the conditions from the Giants’ trade during the preseason. Santoso was traded for a conditional seventh round pick, which the Giants would’ve only received if Santoso was active in two games for Carolina. Now, he’s a candidate to return to the Giants on the practice squad, assuming he clears waivers.
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Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com.
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