Jaguars constructed a simple NFL game plan to beat New York Giants

When you have enough talent in the NFL, you can game plan not to lose, which is exactly how the Jacksonville Jaguars stymied the New York Giants in Week 1.

In losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-15 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, the New York Giants hopefully learned lessons they can utilize for the remainder of the season. First let’s get this out of the way, Blake Bortles or not, the G-Men don’t have as much talent as the Jags, and that was proven on Sunday. The size of the gap is yet to be determined.

With that revelation as a starting point, it sheds game film review in a different light.

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In fact, in reviewing game film, one will see that the Bortles versus Eli Manning quarterback play was likely a push on a rainy September afternoon, with one big exception. Bortles pulled off a 41-yard bootleg to get Jacksonville out of harm’s way in the first quarter. It’s a play that the New York Giants will never be able to utilize as long as No. 10 remains their signal-caller.

Keep in mind that the Jaguars didn’t play their “A” game on Sunday either, but did just enough to win, especially after losing running back Leonard Fournette to a hamstring injury. Defensively, the Giants were good. As head coach Pat Shurmur pointed out on Sunday, the defense did not allow a point in the second half against the Jaguars.

Per the team’s official website:

"“It was excellent team defense in the second half. To hold any team at any level pointless in a half is terrific. They battled and they fought hard, and they did what they needed to do on that side of the ball.”"

The question becomes: How good is the New York Giants defense?

Keep in mind, the opponent wasn’t “The Greatest Show on Turf”, and the Jags were missing their top offensive threat, Fournette, for a good portion of the game. Coming up on Sunday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys have a similar offense to Jacksonville’s, except that Ezekiel Elliott remains one of the top 2 halfbacks in the NFL.

The Jags were determined not to let Bortles give the Giants a short field with a turnover, especially after his first half interception. Therefore, Jacksonville’s offensive game plan became plain vanilla. It will likely mirror what we’ll see out of Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.

Don’t sugarcoat it

Offensively, the New York Giants missed several opportunities. Even supporters of quarterback Eli Manning have to concede that he absolutely missed big throws – two to Odell Beckham alone. We’ve long known that Manning needs to operate in a clean pocket, and he certainly didn’t get that against Jacksonville.

Also, at this point, tight end Evan Engram seems to be more sizzle than steak. He led the league in drops by a tight end last season, and looks primed to repeat that feat this season. And the offensive line performance must be improved.

But, according to Shurmur, the offensive line’s work should be graded on a Bell Curve. Per Giants.com:

"“We battled a really good defense. You’re looking at a top-10 defense and we battled them and I thought they fought throughout the game. We can probably all point to individual bad plays by everyone, me included, so I feel like they battled and we’ve just got to go back and correct the mistakes that maybe showed up and get ready to play Dallas.”"

Perhaps, it was the quality of the defense the G-Men faced that caused the missed throws, so this week becomes an important proving ground. No matter how good anyone thinks the Dallas Cowboys defense is, they are not in the same class as the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s reasonable to demand solid improvement along the Big Blue’s offensive line.

Also remember, the New York Giants offense missed big plays because the Jaguars defense forced them to miss big plays. The Jags defensive game plan was basic, stuff the line of scrimmage, so running back Saquon Barkley couldn’t find running lanes, and don’t let Odell Beckham, Jr. beat you.

In all, that concoction means that Jacksonville relied heavily upon their talent to carry them through this contest. And that was the right call for Doug Marrone and the Jaguars.

Talent is not infallible, and we saw that on Barkley’s 68-yard touchdown run, and OBJ even had 111 receiving yards. Both Barkley and Beckham worked their tails off for most of the contest, and give them credit for battling, but the odds were stacked against both players. The game was won in trenches, where the Jags forced the issue.

But let’s not automatically assume that the offensive line improves by leaps and bounds this week either. They will have to work their tails off against linebackers Sean Lee and Jaylen Smith, as well as edge rusher Demarcus Lawrence.

New York Giants fans have constantly heard about improvement, especially along the offensive line, going on four seasons now. Yes, that roughly the amount of time that Ereck Flowers was drafted and inserted into the starting line-up. As the Pro Football Focus grades show, he wasn’t the only issue, but pointing out other deficiencies doesn’t improve his play either. After all these years, Flowers still remains an issue. This week, there will be no excuses, the game plan can be replicated, and Dallas is not as talented as Jacksonville.

Any questions?