What To Watch For In New York Giants NFL Week 1 Matchup

For the New York Giants to be successful this season, they’ll need to discover whether their newly-reconstituted offensive line can provide Daniel Jones protection in the face of aggressive blitzing, time enough to make plays and maximize the effectiveness of rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers.

The good news is the Giants get to test that proposition Week 1 against a defense built to maximize pressure — the Minnesota Vikings led the NFL in blitz percentage last season, at 51.5%, more often blitzing than even the Wink Martindale Giants in 2023. So even as Daniel Jones is still working to make good decisions at game speed — it didn’t happen in his one preseason appearance against the Houston Texans, which is either too small a sample size to matter or a harbinger of doom, depending on who you ask — he’ll get a chance to prove one side or the other right immediately.

“I think going up against Wink (Martindale) and all of the different pressures he brought, you’ve got to have answers and things to get to offensively,” Jones said of how his time in Giants practices in past years have prepared him for the opener at MetLife Stadium on Sunday at 1 PM. “This system, this defense, puts a lot of pressure on the offense, on the quarterback, and you’ve got to see it, understand what’s happening and be prepared.”

New York has put together a roster designed to prepare Jones, with Nabers’ debut the most noticeable but hardly the only effort to upgrade. There is depth where once the Giants had merely a starter and hope. Devin Singletary leads a varied running back room after the departure of Saquon Barkley. Injury-prone Darren Waller has retired, so it will be Daniel Bellinger combining with the intriguing rookie Theo Johnson at tight end.

And the right side combo of Greg Van Roten and Jermaine Eluemunor promises to bring both continuity — they were teammates in Las Vegas last season, for the Raiders — and the potential to give Jones time he and his replacements after he was lost for the season due to injury simply didn’t have last season. New York was fourth-worst in quarterback pressure percentage last year, 26.4% of all dropbacks. The Raiders? A league-best 15%.

“They had some familiarity with the offense in (Las) Vegas,” Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka told reporters on Wednesday. “So, (they’ve) getting in and really getting caught up on our terminology. But those guys have been a great addition and they’re veteran guys who’ve played a lot of football and we’ll certainly lean on those guys as a unit to play well on Sunday.”

Giving Jones time is just part of the equation, of course. He’ll have the opportunity to take advantage of faster skill-position teammates, but it will still be up to Jones to make the decisions and the throws to maximize those opportunities. His head coach, Brian Daboll, doesn’t want him to be too timid to make a mistake, either.

“You might call five, six shots a game and throw it to the (running) back four or five times, based on what the defense is doing,” Daboll said Friday. “What I want him to do, which I want all the players and the coaches, all of us, is to make the best decision, whatever that is. If it is a 40-yard, 50-yard bomb or if it’s an intermediate throw or taking a check down or throwing it away or taking a sack if there’s nothing there and not jeopardizing the ball. Making sure we try to stay in rhythm on offense. That’s the job of a quarterback. He handles the ball on every play. Make the right decisions, get us to the right plays if he needs to and turn it loose when he needs to turn it loose.”

And it will be Daboll himself calling the plays. As was clear through the team’s offseason plan, the goal is to give Jones and Daboll a clear shot, to see whether 2022 or 2023 was the true indicator of the talent level here for the Giants. Now it’s time to find out.

“That’s what really, I’d say, the first few weeks are in the National Football League,” Daboll said. “We’ve done everything we possibly can do. We’ll have a good day today. Friday, situational football. Go out there and try to compete and play as tough, physical, and smart football as we can.”