The New York Giants’ outing last weekend was not what anyone expected. To say it was bad would be an understatement, and the Giants have a lot of work to do in order to bounce back from such a loss.
That said, there are six keys to earning a victory over the Arizona Cardinals on the road this Sunday.
Forget the past
Last week was a horrendous way to start the season, but it was only one game. The Giants must forget the shutout loss to a division rival if they want a shot at winning games going forward. Watch the tape, learn from it, make necessary changes, and move on.
The offensive line must hold
The offensive line was just awful last Sunday. Daniel Jones was sacked seven times, saw nine blitzes, 16 pressures, and was hit an additional six times (13 total with sacks included).
The result was that Jones threw for a mere 63 yards and two interceptions. No team has any chance of winning in this situation, so it cannot happen again. The line must hold.
No turnovers, no exceptions
During the 2022 season, the Giants had 16 turnovers for the entire year. Last week, they turned the ball over two times to start the 2023 season. Two of those turnovers resulted in direct touchdowns. The turnovers cannot happen against the Cardinals — not if the Giants have any hope of winning.
Special teams must fix errors
The Giants’ special teams were out of sync last week. They had a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown, a missed field goal, and none of their punts managed to land inside the 20-yard line. The Cowboys had a huge field position advantage. This week, the Giants need to turn that around.
Pressure the QB
Last week, Dak Prescott was sacked 0 times. On 13 blitzes and four pressures, he was knocked down just three times, passing for 143 yards and rushing for six. His lack of stats is more a result of the Giants’ turnovers, Prescott really didn’t have to do anything special to keep the Cowboys in the game.
Joshua Dobbs spent his first three seasons as a backup but gets the starting job while Kyler Murray wraps up recovering from a torn ACL.
Pressure Dobbs, force him to make a mistake, and capitalize on it.
No missed tackles
This isn’t just about missing open-field tackles, this is about making sure blocks hold. Graham Gano had no chance of making that first field goal because someone missed a block. Players should never be able to blow through the line like that, and it happened with Jones under center, too.
On the defensive side, eight missed tackles aided the Cowboys’ journey down the field. The Giants can’t afford to miss tackles this week against Arizona.
