Articles

By Michael Stewart/@golferbad

Introduction: Thus far during the Giants 1st three games I’ve made reference of the Giants performance after a popular novel by Charles Dickens called “A Tale of Two Cities”. Well entering week 4 I will continue with the comparisons, but this time I will use an historic event “the sinking of the Titanic”. The Giants are a sinking ship at this point and useless they somehow find some answers and turn it around, I don’t it getting better. This week the Giants will face the Los Angeles Rams who are every bit as good (if not better) than some of the teams the Giants have already played. They have an explosive offense and a solid defense led by Aaron Donald. As for the Giants, they looked utterly lost in their lost to the under-manned 49ers as 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens looked more like Joe Montana than a backup quarterback. This week the Giants will be facing a more proven performer in Jared Goff and the Rams high powered passing attack. Daniel Jones is already being asked to do too much; which was evident against the 49ers without running back Saquon Barkley. Let’s take a look at my top 5 things the Giants must do to pull off an upset and get their 1st win of the season:

  • Fast Start: At this point I must sound like a broken record, but in the 1st three games the Giants have scored only a total of 3 points in the 1st quarter and have played from behind a total of 40 of the 45 minutes played in the 1st quarter. This can’t be the case against a high powered Rams offense.
  • Keep away:  The Giants must have longer sustainable drives offensively and not let the Rams dominant the time of possession like the 49ers did last week; which was nearly a 2 to 1 ratio. The Giants literally had no running game as Wayne Gallman and Dion Lewis were non-factors. The Rams are ranked 4th overall in this department and the Giants are ranked 30th.
  • Execution: Over the 1st three games the Giants have failed miserably in 3rd down efficiency at a 39.47%; which is ranked 22nd overall. The Rams are currently the best in the NFL in this department with a 56.41%. The Giants must shorten the cap in this area if they have any chance of pulling off an upset.
  • Opportunistic: Over the 1st three games, the Giants are ranked 31st in the Red Zone with a 33.33% ratio. Compared to the Rams at 64.29% (14th overall). Last week against the 49ers the Giants were so bad that they never even made it into the Red Zone at all. The Giants need to maximize their scoring chances and not settle for field goals in this game.  
  • Takeaway/Giveaways:  The Giants are -4 in turnover differential and the Rams are at +1. The Giants must find a way to secure the ball and to also be aggressive defensively and force turnovers. This will not be an easy task for a Giants defense that is young and still learning how to play collectively as a unit.

Final Thoughts: The Giants aren’t talented enough to get into a shooting-match with the Rams at this point as the results will be extremely lopsided. Quarterback Daniel Jones is getting a lot of heat from the media and especially the fan base; which is unjust in my opinion. Consider this: you’re a young quarterback learning a brand new offense with no pre-season games to work with and a very short training camp. Then throw in the lost of your best player in Saquon Barkley and now every defense will be focusing on Jones to pass more; which will give the edge rushers the freedom to rush without regards to defend the run. Defensive Coordinators can employ an extra defensive back to help shut the passing attack for the Giants. So with all these issues the Giants will be facing, I just can’t see them pulling off a miracle and getting their 1st win of the season. I do expect them to have a better showing than they did last week and come to play with a chip on their shoulder, but in the end they will suffer the 4th lost in the season and remain winless.  

Final Score: Rams-38/Giants-13