Following one of, if not the worst season-openers in franchise history, the NY Giants are set to face off against the Arizona Cardinals on the road. The Cardinals are looking like they could be a bottom-feeder team in the NFL this season, so there are no excuses for the Giants to not win this game if they wish to be a playoff squad once more.
New York cannot take this game lightly - the Cardinals aren't very good by any means, but the Giants cannot afford to fall into another trap. Despite this, we have all the confidence in the world that Week 1 was a fluke and the Giants will enter Week 2 ready to dominate the Cardinals. With that being said, here are four reasons New York will defeat Arizona this Sunday.
4. The Giants defense will step up
Despite the ridiculous 40-0 blowout the Giants were handed last Sunday, the team's defense held up surprisingly well. For example, the Cowboys only scored 10 points in the first half against New York's defense and Dak Prescott struggled to find open receivers for the majority of the game. Keep in mind, this was against the Cowboys, who are levels better than the Cardinals.
Last week, the Cardinals managed to score 16 points without an offensive touchdown against the Commanders. Both Washington and the Giants have similar defenses, and in all honesty, there's a real chance that the Giants have the better core. This makes for what should be an easy matchup for New York defensively.
The Giants defense managed to hold Dak Prescott to just 13 completions on 24 attempts for 143 yards and zero touchdowns last week. Considering that they're going up against Josh Dobbs, a much worse QB than Prescott, the Giants' secondary should feast.
Alongside this, the Giants pass-rushers will be hungry following a quiet week. We doubt that Kayvon Thibodeaux will register zero pressures again. Although Azeez Ojulari will likely be missing this game with his hamstring injury, look for Jihad Ward to make a splash with extensive playing time.