New York Giants: Three Keys to a Chance at a Week 4 Win
The newly renamed Caesar’s Superdome has been a House of Horrors for the New York Giants, who have lost their last three games in that building by an average score of 49-33.
Football aside, the Superdome crowd is right up there in bringing the noise to eardrum-shattering levels as it is. So imagine what the crowd noise will be like on Sunday when the Saints fans return to the Superdome for the first time since January 17 of this year.
“We expect one of the greatest atmospheres we’ve ever been in,” head coach Joe Judge said this week.
“For those of us who are kind of historians of the game, you look back on that Katrina game, the first game back in the dome. I would expect this to be very, very similar. That town takes a lot of pride in New Orleans, a lot of pride in their team and the team takes a lot of pride in representing their city, so this is going to be a tough game for us.”
He's not kidding, and the challenges of that game go beyond the crowd’s emotions that are likely to come spilling out by a community most recently affected by Hurricane Ida.
At the very core, the Giants need to cut down on the litany of mistakes they’ve made, which have ended up thwarting their own efforts. That goes without saying for every week. They’re also going to have to go into New Orleans without inside linebacker Bake Martinez, and potentially without Sterling Shepard (their best receiver so far), Darius Slayton, and with their fourth new offensive line combination in as many weeks.
It’s a grim-looking picture, but here is a look at some other things the Giants need to do besides cutting down on the stupid mistakes if they’re to give themselves a chance at pulling off the upset.
Get the O-line in Order
If Giants offensive line coach Rob Sale hasn’t been sleeping much this week, who could blame him?
The Giants are headed to one of the loudest stadiums in the league (trust me, I’ve been there several times), and with a new offensive line combination on deck as left guard Ben Bredeson (hand) seems to be unlikely to play Sunday.
Have I mentioned that they’re also going to face a Saints defense that likes to run a lot of stunts?
Let’s start with the projected new o-line combination. Bredeson has been declared out, leaving the Giants with a few options.
They could move Billy Price from center to guard and putting Matt Skura in at center. They could also roll with Wes Martin, whom they signed off Washington’s practice squad this week. Or they could play Skura at left guard.
The “safest” approach is Skura at left guard, given that he's been here longer than Martin. Again, now is not the time to mess with another center in front of quarterback Daniel Jones, especially when we already saw a couple of instances with the center-quarterback exchange not being pristine.
But the drawback with Skura at guard is he's more of a natural center, which raises a question of if a rotation is maybe in the works.
The Giants offensive line, which this week was spotted sticking around after practice to do some extra work, depends heavily on communication, both verbal and nonverbal.
With the Giants headed to a loud building, expect a lot of silent counts and hand signals by the offense to go along with the hope that there are no blips in the communication.
Stop Alvin Kamara
The Saints enter this week’s game without their No. 1 and No. 2 receivers. But no matter, as they have running back Alvin Kamara, who thus far in his career has had Giants fans yearning for New York to steal a page or two out of how Kamara has been deployed when it comes to Saquon Barkley.
But I digress. Kamara has 177 yards on 52 carries (no touchdowns) and has faced 8+ men in the box on 25 percent of his rushing attempts this season. He's also ranked fifth in rushing efficiency.
When he gets into space that he’s a threat. Kamara has ten catches on 13 targets for 62 yards and two touchdowns so far.
So how can the Giants, who will be without Martinez, slow down Kamara? It’s simple enough: hit him early and often to create some doubt and hesitation in his cuts and his reads.
“Basically, up front just getting him to stop his feet,” defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II said. “He can hold out those stretches and pin the trigger pretty well. Up front, just getting (them) knocked back and making him stop his feet and letting the guys pursue.”
The Giants, who should have their full menu of heavy personnel up for this weekend’s game, will also benefit if they can get to Kamara on those passes to him out of the backfield and slow him down before he can work up a head of steam.
To help with that, they’ll also bring a safety down to play some linebacker.
“We do that already. We use that,” defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. “It’s going to be different people, backer, safeties, different people, defensive backs, in terms of corners. So that’s already a part of the scheme.”
Turn Red into Green
This season, the red zone has been a dead zone for the Giants' offense and defense and is a big reason this team is winless.
On offense, the Giants have converted inside the red zone on just 40 percent of their trips, 29th in the NFL. On defense, they've allowed opponents to convert on 63.64 percent in the red zone (17th in the NFL).
Both stats are concerning. On offense, the Giants have averaged 18.7 points per game and have left at least 16 points on the field this year after a promising-looking scoring drive stalled.
That defensive stat is especially concerning considering the Saints offense has converted 88.9 percent of its red zone opportunities, second in the NFL. New Orleans is currently averaging 24.3 points per game and has benefitted from its defense's ability to force turnovers (six interceptions and one fumble for a +5 turnover ratio).
The bottom line is that the Giants need better production from their offense and defense inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
More from Giants Country
- Week 4 Opponent Breakdown: New Orleans Saints Offense
- Six New York Giants Storylines to Watch in Regular Season Week 4
- How the New York Giants Might Replace ILB Blake Martinez in the Lineup
- How New York Giants Can Create 1 x 1 Pass Rushing Opportunities on Defense
- Joe Judge Defends Team's Conditioning Program
- New York Saquon Barkley Remaining Patient Despite Slow Start
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