After a disappointing 1-6 start to the New York Giants season, Big Blue is ready to retake the field after their bye week. Unfortunately, the week of preparation has been a microcosm of the year so far. The Giants All-Pro cornerback, Janoris Jenkins, is suspended indefinitely. The New York media is starting to call for head coach, Ben McAdoo and general manager, Jerry Reese’s job. However, the NFL is a week to week business. With the 5-2 Los Angeles Rams coming into East Rutherford on Sunday, all of the noise could go away with a win over a much a better Los Angeles team. It won’t be easy but here are the Keys to Victory for Giants
Week Nine New York Giants Keys to Victory
Get the Ball out Fast
It’s no secret that the Giants offensive line is their greatest weakness. This week they are going up against a team that is ranked tied for seventh in sacks. There is no way the Giants minuscule offensive line can block the talented squad of Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn, Connor Barwin and Michael Brockers. The only way to make these game changers a non-factor is by getting the ball out quickly before they have chance to get to Eli Manning.
Manning, according to Pro Football Focus’ Signature Stats, has been good when getting the ball out of his hands in 2.5 seconds or less. He’s completing 71.1% of his passes with a touchdown-interception ratio of eight to three and 96.4 NFL quarterback Rating. With the return of Sterling Shepard and the emergence of Evan Engram, getting the ball out quickly should be doable.
Pressure Jared Goff
Jared Goff is having an excellent sophomore season under new head coach Sean McVay. He is in the top 15 in passing yards per game and NFL quarterback rating for players who have thrown more than 100 passes this season. Nonetheless, he is still a young quarterback, and young quarterbacks hate pressure.
According to Pro Football Focus’ Signature Stats, Goff’s QB Rating under pressure plummets 23 points from 90.3 to 67.2. When under pressure he is only completing 44.1% of his passes, which is ranked 29th out of 35 eligible quarterbacks.
Without Olivier Vernon it’s going to be hard for the Giants to get home with only four down linemen. Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagunolo is going to have to dial up the blitzes to get to Goff. However, as the season has shown, it’s worth it.
Take Advantage of Mistakes
Although the Rams are having an excellent 2017 season, they are in no way a perfect team. So far on the year, the Rams are tied for eighth in most giveaways this season with 12. For the Giants to pull the upset this week they are going to have to take advantage of the Rams mistakes. On paper, he Rams are a more talented team than the Giants. Yet, no matter how talented a team is, losing the turnover battle is hard to overcome.
Sunday’s game is going to a challenge for the New York Giants. Los Angeles is a good team with momentum right now. But if the Giants can do these three things then they may have a chance of pulling an upset this weekend.
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