After a 1-7 start the New York Football Giants appear to have found their footing and perhaps a few answers to some key questions they’ve had for the better part of the last decade.
Joe Judge is one of three coaches from the Bill Belichick tree along with Mike Vrabel in Tennessee and Brian Flores in Miami who are making people reconsider their criticisms of head coaches to emerge from the Patriots system. Only time will tell, but as for now Judge certainly appears to have authentic and genuine Belichick-like qualities and it’s translating into competitive football in New York.
Rookie head coach Joe Judge presented himself to the New York media as having an “old school physical mentality”. The Giants locker room has appeared to adopt this same mentality and this team appears to have established an identity which the team and fans should be through the roof about.
The Giants are riding a four game win streak, and their last three losses have come by a combined 6 points. 10 of their 12 games this season have had a final score within a possession. This is a team who’s supposed to have torn it all down and hit the reset button and all they have to look forward to is another top 8 draft pick. Joe Judge and this Giants defense have other plans.
Now sitting at the top of the NFC East, the Giants have an opportunity to carry this momentum and pick up a win against an Arizona Cardinals team considered to be one of the most dangerous in all of football.
The Cardinals had Super Bowl aspirations coming into this season and are now fighting for their lives just to make the postseason. Their year hasn’t quite gone to plan however the combination of Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins along with Budda Baker on the other side of the ball is no walk in the park even if they’re sitting at just 6-6.
On the latest episode of Baldy’s Breakdowns from Radio.com, Brian Baldinger says “At all cost make him [Kyler Murray] throw the ball from the pocket and don’t let him escape.”
Baldy says the Giants game plan and execution against Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks last week is exactly what they’ve got to do Sunday against Arizona. In short, make Kyler beat you with his arm, not his legs.
In all six Cardinal wins Kyler has run the ball eight or more times. Five of their six losses Kyler ran the ball six times or less. The one outlier is a 34-31 loss to the Miami Dolphins where Kyler ran 11 times for 106 yards and the Cardinals still didn’t secure the victory.
Baldy and Jason La Canfora both give the Giants a good chance to win this Sunday when Arizona travels to MetLife Stadium. This is an important win for the Giants with a tough schedule to close the season.
The Giants remaining schedule is home against the Cleveland Browns, on the road in Baltimore, and they finish the regular season at home vs. the Cowboys.
Daniel Jones is hopeful to play this weekend as well which should give the Giants a boost offensively.
With the Washington Football Team breathing down their neck and also playing with confidence, it will be up to Joe Judge to maintain the Giants winning ways.
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