As everyone witnessed, the New York Giants survived a thriller in Dallas, holding off a resurgent Cowboys team for a 20-19 victory. A game filled with typical Giants drama, it finally ended with Terrance Williams failing to get out of bounds on a pass from Dak Prescott as time expired. This game has some flashbacks of last season for the Giants, but also some unexpected and unusual (at least for Giants fans) positives. Here are three key takeaways from this game.
New York Giants Week One Takeaways
Time of Possession Battle
The Giants offense did not see the field nearly as much as they would have liked. The Cowboys dominated possession in this game, possessing the ball for 36 minutes and 43 seconds. Even with a stagnant run game, they still managed to move the chains and keep the ball. The Giants defense was noticeably tired, especially when Alfred Morris came in and exploded on the field. Also, when the Giants were on offense, they seemed to either score extremely quickly, or have one of their signature three and outs. The run game seemed to come alive towards the end, but it was wildly inconsistent throughout the game. This may not have hurt the Giants as much as it could have, but in the future and against a better team, the Giants could have a serious problem on their hands.
Money Well Spent
The Giants went on a shopping spree this past off-season, and it certainly paid off. There was a noticeable difference watching this Giants defense rather than the one from previous years. Newcomers Damon Harrison and Olivier Vernon played huge roles today. Their presence was felt from all viewers, and especially newcomer Ezekiel Elliott. The fourth overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft looked lost behind arguably the best offensive line in the league. On 20 carries, he only amassed 51 yards, good enough for 2.5 yards per carry. It almost seemed like he had trouble getting back to the line of scrimmage, let alone gaining many positive yards.
A team that gave up an average of 121.4 rushing yards per game last year only gave up 101 today, which would have put them right outside the top ten for NFL defenses. Vernon seemed to be in midseason form already, drawing multiple holding calls and being a major reason why the Cowboys run game never got going. Look for him to be a key piece of this Giants defense moving forward if they want to be serious playoff contenders.
Defensive Strategy
There were times during this game that Dak Prescott was picking apart the Giants secondary. This could easily be attributed to the pass rush. The number of times that the Giants had a four man rush was astonishing. However, the minute they dialed up a blitz, things changed dramatically. Prescott would become noticeably uncomfortable in the pocket and start overthrowing and missing his receivers. On a third and eight about eight minutes into the third quarter, the Giants sent a blitz, forcing Prescott to scramble and move around before ultimately trying to find Elliot short and overthrowing him.
This being one of the few times they sent numbers at the quarterback, it showed that when they did pressure him, he became erratic. This allowed defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to start trusting his defense and he seemed to become more comfortable sending pass rushers at Prescott, which ultimately allowed the Giants to pick up a much-needed victory away from home.
Overall, this was not the way the Giants envisioned their start to their season, but it is a good result nonetheless. The offense did not look as sharp as fans would hope, but there is definitely promise once Sterling Shepard and Victor Cruz get on the same page as quarterback Eli Manning. Manning looked solid, but there was definitely some miscommunication during this game that should be mended out within the next few weeks.
The defense has definitely improved, and as a unit it looks as though they can make a serious impact after they get a few games under their belt. Expecting a Super Bowl championship after this performance is a little ambitious, but expect a big playoff push by this team, because they have the talent to do so.
Main Photo:
