NFL Opener; Giants vs. Cowboys

It's finally here. The opening day of the NFL season. This year, my favorite team, the New York Giants will be a part of the opening ceremonies, as they hoist another Super Bowl banner. As we all know the Giants added their fourth Superbowl last season, and as a result they will get the honor of playing in the inaugural game. Their opponent? The Dallas Cowboys. For as long as I can remember I have been brought up to hate the Cowboys. They are a huge division rival, and their lack of postseason success over the last decade has really been a joy to watch for me. I guess I owe a debt of gratitude to the Cowboys, as it was their sloppy play that gave the Giants a Week 17 victory. This jump started started them on a playoff run that ended with the Lombardi Trophy. Now none of that matters. A new season is upon us, and once again it's anyone's year. So below are a few things the Giants have to do tonight to start this season off right.


Run the Ball:

Kevin Boothe; Got to be one of the most awkwardly
shaped dudes on the entire planet. 

I love to see Eli throw the ball, and I love to see our receivers catch it, but last year the Giants lost a lot of games they shouldn't have. This includes Washington twice and Seattle, and one big reason for that was a lack of balanced offense. This means that this year, we need to run the ball.

The Giants remain very inconsistent at left tackle, with the whole Will Beatty situation, and I believe because of that it will be very hard to run the ball to the left side. Kevin Boothe has proven himself, and is now the full time starting left guard, but even if he continues to play well, it will be extremely difficult if Beatty or tonight's starter, Sean Locklear, can not block the likes of Demarcus Ware.

A couple of new and important additions to the Giants run game are first round pick David Wilson from Virginia Tech, and former Cowboy Martellus Bennett. Now the first new addition adds a change of pace from the powerful running of Bradshaw. Wilson is being dubbed by his teammates as, "the fastest running back they have ever seen." He will use his speed and jukes to fight for extra yardage, and everything about this guy just screams big game potential.

Martellus Bennett may improve the run game for a less obvious reason. Bennett is a blocking first tight end, and if the Giants want to run the ball effectively, Bennett should see a lot of snaps lined up on a on the end as a blocker. I would imagine that tonight during running situations that the Giants will use Bennett to double team Ware with the left or right tackle, depending on where Ware lines up.

On a side note I would just like everyone to know I think Demarcus Ware is one of the most overrated players in the NFL. He plays outside linebacker, and doesn't do anything but rush the passer. He has no cover skills and is only decent agains the run. Half of the sacks he gets come when he is lined up against a tight end, so all in all I am not really that impressed with his game.

Kill Romo:

I'm serious. Just kill him. Get everyone in there and hit him enough times so that he won't want to get back up. For years the Giants have relied heavily on their pass rush to win tough, and close games, and this year should be no different. Tonight we have got to get to Romo, and we have to rattle him. Take him out of the game mentally, put him on the ground and make him afraid. We did it last year in both Dallas and in New York, and it limited his entire game.

People say the Giants have a weak pass defense, well I say the pass rush is part of our pass defense. If we get to Romo before he has a chance to throw it, or before his receiver completes his route, that's a win for us. That's what I'll be looking and hoping for tonight. Now the Giants will be without veteran defensive tackle Chris Canty until week 6, which will hurt our run defense. This makes me think that that the Cowboys will try and establish the run early, to keep our defense on it's toes. Hopefully our linebackers, and guys like Linval Joseph, and Rocky Bernard will be able to stop DeMarco Murray early and force long third downs. Over/Under 3 sacks.

Limit Stupid Mistakes:

This is a really big game for the Giants tonight. We are probably the worst team in the league when it comes to bringing back punts or kicks. I have seen us return one punt/kickoff for a touchdown over the last five years. One. But you know what? I don't even care about that. Just hold onto the ball. The reason I am talking about this is because I saw about five muffed punts during the preseason. I mean nobody could hold onto the ball. That can not happen tonight if we expect to win the game. We can't give them the ball inside our twenty because we didn't field a punt the right way. It will destroy our defense.

Another area where we can improve on is the penalties. Last season, the Giants did a pretty good job keeping the penalties to a minimum, and we need it to stay like that. Having these replacement refs can either hurt us or help us. I feel as though they miss more penalties than the real pros do, but they also throw flags a lot where they are not needed. All in all, if we keep the turnovers and penalties at the minimum we should be fine.

A lot of emotions will be flowing in MetLife Stadium tonight, and I expect the Giants to be high off of that. Once that banner goes up and the game starts, our guys should be so fired up that even if Dallas is perfect we can still stop them. I'm counting on this team to hush all of offseason haters and utilize all of the crowd's energy to power us to victory tonight. That is all.