Marquee matchup and New York Giants-Jacksonville Jaguars game don’t seem to go together. But considering how early those teams have picked in recent drafts, it shouldn’t be surprising that highly valued prospects will square off when the teams meet on Sunday.

The draft capital spent by the Giants and Jaguars is particularly concentrated in one matchup – New York’s offensive tackles versus Jacksonville’s edge rushers.

The Giants have Andrew Thomas, the No. 4 choice in the 2020 draft, at left tackle and Evan Neal, the No. 7 choice in the 2022 draft, at right tackle. The Jaguars have Josh Allen, the No. 7 pick in 2019, and Travon Walker, the No. 1 pick in 2022, rushing the passer.

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“If you want to look at it like that, then I guess it would be a nice matchup,” Neal said on Thursday. “It’s just going to be fun to go out there and compete against those guys and just have fun — have fun and compete.”

The four players came through the SEC’s pipeline to the pros – Neal from Alabama, Thomas and Walker from Georgia and Allen from Kentucky.

“I played against Walker twice in college,” Neal said. “He’s a real powerful guy, explosive, strong guy, long arms. Josh Allen, he’s a real fast guy. Isn’t as heavy and he plays with a high motor based off what I’ve seen.”

An All-State wide receiver for Abbeville High School, Allen has three sacks this season to boost his career total to 23.5, and he’s also registered 10 quarterback hits in 2022. Walker got a sack in his first NFL game on Sept. 11, but he’s been shut out in the five games since and has three quarterback hits for the season.

“Just attack it like I’ve been attacking every other week,” Neal said of his approach to Allen and Walker. “Studying my opponent, making sure I’m coming out to practice every day, working hard, correcting my mistakes and building off of the good things.”

The Giants have won five of their six games this season. In the lone loss, Neal had a tough time against Dallas defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence in the Cowboys’ 23-16 victory on Sept. 26.

Neal came out of that game saying he had “to play a better brand of football.”

“You’re not always going to have your best game,” New York coach Brian Daboll said on Thursday when asked about Neal’s response in the three games since the loss. “You’re probably going to wish you could do things a little bit better. That’s everybody, not just Evan. Come in, see what you can improve on, work hard to improve and get ready to play the next week.”

Neal said he tried to learn from the Dallas experience as he lined up against the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens in the succeeding weeks.

“Nobody wants to play like that,” Neal said. “But the only thing you can do is move forward. Regardless, we’re going to have a new opponent every week. You can’t dwell on things like that. You’ve got to move on to the next opponent and focus on performing better. …

“I feel like I’ve improved. I feel like I’ve made improvement week to week. I just want to continue to do that my entire career. I believe that the improvement never stops. I just want to keep on getting better.”

The Giants and Jaguars square off at noon CDT Sunday at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville.

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The Jaguars have dropped their past three games to fall to 2-4 in 2022. Jacksonville’s worst loss this season came by eight points to the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.