How To Beat The Rams

It’s no secret that the St. Louis Rams are not a very good football team. Their performance the past few seasons (last season especially) and their play in Week 1 against the Eagles once again proved the point that the Rams are at the bottom of the NFL.

However, as bad as the Rams have looked, they are still somewhat dangerous on offense, even if their defense isn’t exactly the best. With Marc Bulger and Steven Jackson headlining the offense for St. Louis, there are still big plays capable of being made, even if the Eagles defense (which is inferior to the Giants) held them to just a field goals in 60 minutes of play last week.

With that being said, thee are still things the Giants need to improve upon from Week 1 and this is a great time to expose the weaknesses of St. Louis and get off to a 2-0 start.

THROW THE BALL
Many people last week were upset that Tom Coughlin went away from the running game with Brandon Jacobs absolutely embarrassing the Redskins defense. But this week, running is fine, however passing is better. The last time these teams met, Plaxico Burress had 204 receiving yards and Eli Manning wsa throwing touchdown passes at will as the Giants racked up 44 points. It should be no different on Sunday. The Giants will get their chances for big plays, but keeping the ball in the air will be a good thing. Look at the Eagles 38 points from last Sunday.

WATCH STEVEN JACKSON
The 38 points the Eagles scored last week is a true indication of how bad the St. Louis defense is. But don’t let the three points the Rams scored fool you. This team has the ability to put points on the board. Whether or not they will, well that is a different story. But just because the talent is there is enough to be scared of what the Rams can do offensively. The key to their offense is Steven Jackson. When healthy this guy is tossed around in the same sentence as LaDainian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson, so it is important to contain him on the ground and make sure not to let him get down field an receive a pass. Shutting down Jackson essentially shuts down the Rams offense.

PLAY WITH DISCIPLINE
Ever since I can remember the Giants have a had problem with penalties. Whether it is the linemen going offsides or some idiot taking a penalty after the whistle, penalties have been a part of the Giants organization since the beginning of time. Last week it almost cost them big time with a roughing the kicker penalty and another penalty committed because everyone on the team thought they should attack an already tackled player 30 seconds after the play was dead. Tom Coughlin has shown that he will play the people even if they are dumb enough to take dumb penalties and he will not pull them off the field. A penalty at an inopportune time might not hurt them this week against the Rams, but at some point this season in a big game, it will. It would be good to start practicing disciplined play now.

DON’T LET UP
When the Giants led 16-0 last week, I honestly thought it might be 56-0 at the end of the game. But then the offense that looked so amazing the first 11 minutes took the rest of the night off while the defense was forced to hold off the Redskins late threats in the fourth quarter. I will give the Giants a pass given that it was Week 1 last week, but this is a perfect chance to dominate a game with the Rams as the opponent and playing 60 minutes of football is something the Giants need to make sure they do.

PUT SIX POINTS ON THE BOARD
The Giants scored one touchdown last week against a lousy Washington defense. This week they will face an even lousier defense and it is imperative they get better in the red zone. Once again I understand it was the first game of hte season, but putting six points up instead of three in the red zone can make or break a season at some point. The G-Men will get plenty of opportunities and almost every time they have the ball a chance to score, so why not tack on the points with touchdowns instead of settling for field goals again.