New York Giants: 5 keys to victory against Jacksonville
No. 1 – Control the clock
Time of possession (ToP) is a box-score statistic that is often overlooked but it certainly shouldn’t be. The New York Giants absolutely stunk at possessing the football last season and quite frankly, just struggled to extend drives and avoid three-and-outs. The Jaguars were quite the opposite.
According to teamrankings.com, the G-Men ranked 29th in the NFL with an average 28:26 ToP mark while Jacksonville ranked fifth with a 31:31 ToP. It’s not rocket science: The team that possesses the ball longer has more control of the game and a better opportunity to score. Call Bortles a check-down, game manager all you want, but he took advantage of his defense’s ability to keep opposing offenses off the field.
The Giants, on the other hand, had a non-existent ground game, injuries all throughout the roster, and a third-down-conversion rate that ranked 30th in the NFL at 32.6 percent. All recipes for disaster in terms of time management.
This season should be different, and the more they keep their offensive weapons on the field and their opponent’s offensive weapons off of it, the more success they will have.
Next. New York Giants O-line faces tough test in Week 1. dark
It won’t be easy Sunday.
Nothing on this list will be against the Jaguars talented team. But if the new regime wants to make a bold statement to convince the fans all is right again in New York, then there is no better time than now to do so.
*All team and player stats courtesy of ESPN.com and Pro-football-reference.com, unless otherwise noted.