The Sunday morning injury reports are filtering in, and there's one big one. Sterling Shepard was added to the injury report at the end of the week with an "illness," and now it's being reported that he's expected to miss today's game against Kansas City. According to Ian Rapoport, the illness is migraines.
Shepard had a huge game at San Francisco last week, catching 11 passes for 142 yards. He's essentially the team's only credible wide receiver. When he missed Week 6 at Denver, Roger Lewis caught 1 pass for 15 yards -- he was their leading wideout. When Shepard missed Week 7 against Seattle, Travis Rudolph led the way by catching 3 passes for 32 yards. Those are better secondaries than Kansas City's, but it's a significant drop from Shepard to either of those players. Tavarres King will also pick up some targets.
Evan Engram scored and put up at least 60 yards in both of those games. He should see more targets if Shepard sits, but he also might see tighter coverage; the only receiver the defense really needs to worry about. He's also scored in each of the two games Shepard has been back for, catching 4 and 6 passes the last two weeks (5 and 6 the games Shepard was out). So he's not necessarily hurt by Shepard's absence, though I personally would rather Shepard was out there to make it tougher on the defense.
Seems like it's also a downgrade for Eli Manning. Again, the games Shepard missed were against tough Denver and Seattle secondaries, while Kansas City hasn't been nearly as good. But his weaponry is awfully limited.
--Andy Richardson