4 reasons the NY Giants will take down the Cardinals in their Week 2 matchup

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.

3. The Giants will have a fire lit under them after an embarrassing loss

After the way in which the Giants were dominated and embarrassed on national television, we have to imagine that the team will have a fire lit under them. New York was very clearly not prepared for the Cowboys and took this game lightly. This time around, we're confident that Brian Daboll will have the Giants ready to play from the start in Week 2.

New York was utterly embarrassed to the point where the Cowboys' pass-rushers were making jokes about them on the sidelines. This is unacceptable and we hope that Daboll shows the team this clip in order to make them understand just how bad this loss was. In no world should players like Osa Odighizuwa and Dorance Armstrong dominate any team's offensive line.

While the Cardinals don't have a great defensive line, they have some guys who could give New York issues. Last weekend vs. the Commanders, Arizona posted six sacks. The Giants gave up seven to Dallas. Will a repeat nightmare for the NY offensive line be on the way? We don't think so.

Wink Martindale is going to call on his defensive superstars to play at a high level. Lost in last week's loss was that cornerback Deonte Banks had a strong showing in his regular season debut. Tre Hawkins III had a rough go, but he'll have a fantastic chance to bounce back vs. Arizona.

2. Josh Dobbs is the Cardinals starting QB

Now, with the utmost amount of respect for Josh Dobbs, there's no chance the Giants can lose to a QB of his caliber. Dobbs is a great guy, don't get us wrong, but realistically he isn't a starting QB. This is something the Giants just have to take advantage of in this week's game.

In his three career starts, Dobbs has completed 61 of his 98 pass attempts for 543 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions while fumbling a ridiculous seven times. We already mentioned how good the Giants' defense looked against Prescott, so it's fun to imagine what they'd do to a QB of Dobbs's caliber.

One thing the defense must do better, though, is rushing the passer. If the pass-rush can make Dobbs panic early on, the Giants could force him to make some mistakes and possibly turn the ball over. This would give New York all the momentum they need to take over the game similar to how the Cowboys did last week.

Dobbs is prone to making mistakes and the Cardinals offense is not going to help him out. They failed to score an offensive touchdown last week and this is something the Giants' defense MUST take advantage of if they wish to win.

1. Daniel Jones will learn from his mistakes and play well

Last week, we saw Daniel Jones resort back to making some of the mistakes he's made in the past that had fans questioning whether he was the Giants' franchise QB. His two interceptions vs. Dallas were rough to see, especially the one he tossed to Stephon Gilmore. Jones had no business letting that pass fly.

With a week of practice and learning from his Week 1 mistakes, look for a much better version of Jones facing off against the Cardinals. The Giants need this, as they can only rely on Saquon Barkley so often. Hopefully, for the sake of both of them, the offensive line will actually hold up this week.

Jones has played with a poor offensive line his entire career. However, they cannot continue to play as poorly as they did against the Cowboys. Considering that the Cardinals had six sacks against the Commanders last week, this could be a problem. With Andrew Thomas' status up in the air for this one, his absence could be a major problem for Danny Dimes.

There are few excuses outside of the offensive line for Jones to not be successful this week. He's making big-time money, so it's time for him to make some huge plays and lead the Giants to what should be an easy win. If he has another day to forget, then the haters will be out in full force, especially after he only tossed for 104 yards last week, with the two interceptions we mentioned above. Luckily, we think Jones will be much better this weekend and power the G-Men to a strong victory.

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