The Giants can defeat the Ravens if they have a season reboot

The Giants can defeat the Baltimore Ravens(3-2) if they have a reboot to their season.

The alternate view — that the Giants will suffer their fourth consecutive defeat seems persuasive on the surface, but cannot hold water when examined with a modest amount of rigor.

Yes, the Giants have looked atrociously bad in the last three games. It looks like they are on the path to another losing season. Luckily, however, the Giants are only in their sixth week of the football season where small adjustment scan go a long way.

Here is a key argument presented for why the

Giants will most likely lose. The Ravens have a superior running game that they have not yet been able to take full advantage of. Running backs such as Terrance West who has rushed over 300 yards in just under 70 carries should provide support of this claim.

The Giants have a response. It’s that they have been making adjustments to their defensive line and secondary. They promoted Coty Sensenbaugh to corner back and Deontae Skinner.

Will Beatty is prepared to play with all of the energy he can muster after suffering an injury earlier in the season. No longer will Michael Hunter be on the starting roster. Donte Deayon will likewise not play. These adjustments will have the effect of creating a surprise for Joe Flacco and company as they rely on assumptions of a scouting report that is based on a Giants defense from Week 5.

Another view is that the Ravens have an underutilized capacity for throwing the ball deep down the field successfully against other AFC teams.

In reality, most quarterbacks in the NFL nowadays have this touted capacity but chose not to use it based on offensive philosophies that call for greater discretion and caution. The fact that Joe Flacco threw a 66-yard pass to his receiver against Buffalo is not as impressive as it seems statistically speaking. Manning can throw deep passes into the end zone if he so chooses to his trio of wide receivers to match or even best Flacco.

There is the jaded view of looking at the Giants pass rush as weak because of how Ereck Flowers performed against the Packers last week. 76.4 is not bad, but what makes it bad, it is said, is that it
is supported mostly by non-pass rushing tackles of 46.5.

"Luckily, a perfect remedy for the pass rush looms this Sunday; the deplorable pass-blocking tackle combination of Ereck Flowers and Bobby Hart. Of the 76 offensive tackles ranked on Pro Football Focus, Hart is 56th with a below-average 60.5 pass blocking score. Flowers’ overall rating does not look so bad at 76.4. After delving deeper however, his rating is held up by stellar run-blocking and not his abysmal pass-blocking (49.2)."

The Giants proved that they can play together effectively in Weeks 1 and 2. There is no reason why a week’s rest and discussions with offensive and defensive coordinators would not change fans expectations for how Flowers and others will perform. Not to affirm in any way what has been said by republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump that today’s football players are begin treated with the equivalent of kid gloves — which is completely false and slanderous — Flowers is one of the tougher players in the league given his size and pummeling play at the line of scrimmage.

Per Endzone.com’s Alex Caine, the Giants will not apply pressure to Flacco because they rank last in the league in sacks.

There is something wrong about this way of thinking of statistics. It places too much emphasis on the worst case scenario, namely, that the Giants will think of themselves as the worst pass rush team in the NFL; hence they will be cadavers against the Baltimore offensive line.

The more realistic way to look at the world if you are JPP or anyone else on the Giants offensive line is to think that the opposition is probably suffering from fatigue and injury just as the Giants’ players have.

The team has experienced two losses this year, and knows what it likes to feel down in the dumps after a loss. The team recently and abruptly loss their offensive coordinator Marc Trestman to a snap excision by the Ravens to let him go.

Trestman is one of three coaches to be given a final paycheck this season alone.

From this point of view, the Giants can compete at or above the Ravens defense or offense because they can use the potential that allowed them to be starting NFL players. It doesn’t hurt that they had productive seasons in the past.

"Vernon and fellow defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul have failed to get to the opposing quarterbacks this season. Last year the Giants ended the season with 23 total sacks (29th in the NFL). This year they have four total sacks in five games (32nd in the NFL). They are on pace to only have 13 sacks for the season."

On balance, the Giants can prevent the Ravens from scoring, as predicted 28 points to 13 on Sunday if they remember that they were once a great team with great expectations.

Remember not so long ago, Manning’s three touchdowns against the Cowboys in week 1 and his 110 quarterback rating.

Remember not so long ago, Sterling Sheppard’s rumors of being rookie of the year.

Memories fade. The Giants may be able to look into the past and realize that they have the ability to come out on top of the Ravens 21-13.