3 keys to a Giants win over Falcons
Dec 22, 2024
RUN A COMPETENT OFFENSE
Brian Daboll’s offense has been unthinkably bad since Daniel Jones’ benching and release. The Giants have scored a total of 20 points in the first, second and third quarters of their last four games. That’s 20 points in 12 quarters. That is insane. They’ve scored their other 32 points in the fourth quarters: 24 in garbage time of blowouts and eight down the stretch of their unwatchable loss to the Saints. They can’t win if they don’t score.
BE PREPARED FOR PENIX
Rookie Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. will push the ball more accurately and aggressively downfield than Kirk Cousins did this season for Atlanta. And the Falcons intend to take some early shots downfield. The Giants defense just surrendered five TD passes to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens with no pass rush and coverage breakdowns. They can’t have a repeat against the rookie.
IMPROVE NOT-SO-SPECIAL TEAMS
The Giants’ entire season has been scarred by special teams breakdowns, from poor kick and punt coverage to fumbles to blocked field goals. The defense made a play early against Baltimore, but the anemic offense and poor punt return coverage performance let the Ravens score early anyway. This team is bad. It can’t survive being undercut at every turn.