The New York Giants are headed to the top of the NFC. Well not just yet, but as the midpoint of the season begins there is still a chance. The Giants go into their bye week with a 4-3 record and two straight wins. While they sit at the bottom of the NFC East, the season is far from over.
New York Giants Mid-Season Report Rundown
I think we can all admit our surprise of how well the entire NFC East has been playing, from top to bottom. I almost had to do a double take when I saw that the Dallas Cowboys are sitting at the top with a 5-1 record. This was almost the same reaction I had when I saw how well Carson Wentz was playing. Then again when I realized that, although they did not seem like a threat coming into the season, Washington is also one to watch for as well. The NFC East and the league as a whole has proven that any given Sunday, any team still has a chance. So while the 4-3 start is not ideal, and is not exactly where I pictured things, the Giants are still in a position to get into the playoffs.
The Battle the Rest of the Way
The Giants have four total NFC East match ups remaining. Two of these games are against the Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas will try to get its revenge from their opening day loss. The Giants will look to do the same against Washington after a tough loss in Week 3. Two of these NFC East match ups against Philadelphia and Washington will be played in the last two weeks of the season, If things go well, both games will likely have huge playoff implications. Dallas and Philadelphia are the only teams on the Giants remaining schedule who have a better record than them at the present time, with one and two losses respectively. This means at least three other teams have been able to expose the weaknesses of the remaining teams that include Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Detroit.
While the Giants are not perfect on defense, the majority of the credit when victorious has to go to the defensive side of the ball. They have showed up each week, and at times, completely carried the team. Now if they could get a bit more help from Eli Manning and the offense, the Giants could be looking at a lot more wins and a much bigger margin of victory.
In each of the Giants wins, they have only won by a total of seven points or less. This means a lot of nerves for fans throughout the entire game, and too much room for the opposing team to change the outcome. Or worse, a tough call by the officials like we saw two weeks ago in the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens when a debatable pass interference call was made against the Giants. This play gave the Ravens a huge advantage offensively and could have easily changed the outcome since the game was so close.
How Can They Improve?
The main improvement needed throughout the rest of the season is scoring in the red zone. Settling for three points in the red zone does not get the job done. It often helps in leading to a loss or an extremely close game. The Giants are currently 30th out of 32 teams scoring touchdowns in the red-zone. Only the New York Jets and Houston Texans are worse. What immediately comes to mind when thinking about these three teams is the fact that the Giants have a much better and more reliable quarterback than the other two. The Giants should have a much better completion percentage in the red-zone. With a stellar receiving corps, Manning has to be able to get to these receivers when it matters most.
A continuing issue the Giants continue to face is a sub-par run game. In the last two weeks, Rashad Jennings, Bobby Rainey, and Paul Perkins have rushed for a combined total of 76 yards, and split right down the middle with 38 yards each week. The run game must improve and needs improved protection from the offensive line, an area that may be difficult to improve much with the current roster.
Because of the weak run game, the Giants must focus on their pass game. The good thing is the Giants have a strong receiving corps when it comes to short and long passes and can use a combination of various plays to make up for the inability to run the ball as much from the line of scrimmage.
However, this will only work if the Giants stop turning over the ball. Manning must continue to limit the interceptions, while the Giants’ entire offense must stop fumbling the ball as much as possible, especially deep down the field on potential scoring drives.
With these changes, the Giants have just as good a shot as any other team. They need to come back from this bye week mentally and physically prepared for some tough battles and ready to win.
