Prediction: Giants 26 Falcons 24
I’m not so sure the Giants are really the better team right now–when you look at Julio Jones, Matt Ryan, Dan Quinn trying to resurrect last year’s lifeless defense, I do like this team.
But with the fans’ support and–most importantly–playing outdoors at MetLife Stadium Sunday, I think the Giants have enough of a boost to take one from Atlanta in their home opener.
Generally speaking, I just don’t like picking dome teams on the road–unless, well, they’re in another dome–because I’m not exactly sure which team will show up. If this were Andrew Luck I would probably say otherwise, but–this isn’t a knock on Matt Ryan–he isn’t Andrew Luck. I don’t know if I’m getting the Matt Ryan that can carve through the league’s best secondaries, or the one who dropped a 24-2 schlacking at MetLife in the 2011 postseason. Ryan could put on a show, I’m just not so sure he will in the (given: September) elements.
That said, there are a number of things the Giants need to execute to beat a talented Atlanta team–that which I think they will. Should they come out on top, Rashad Jennings needs to run like the Rashad Jennings we saw in Dallas. He hit holes, he ran hard. He’s not the most talented runner I’ve ever seen, but if you block in front of him, he will give you yardage. It’s just a matter of him running with that same authority he ran with against the Cowboys.
And as for the rest of the team… if they could eliminate some of those mental errors they were making against Dallas, this will be a much sharper game. If Dwayne Harris steps into the number three receiver role and doesn’t drop three passes like Preston Parker did against Dallas, that could change the pace of the game. Should Landon Collins correct at least one or two of his rookie mistakes, that could end a potential scoring drive for Atlanta. And if they approach this game with the same (surprisingly high) confidence they played with against Dallas, I do think they have a real shot at earning their first win this Sunday.
I expect a better offensive performance with Harris getting more involved and I expect Matt Ryan to run a little more as the Giants face a significantly worse defensive line from Dallas’. The Falcons are still a good team, but the Cowboys are much better in my eyes. If the Giants limit those big plays like they did against Dallas and get more consistency from their skill positions on offense, they will take this game. And I expect them to.
Next: Atlanta Falcons Vs. New York Giants: Complete Coverage
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