The New York Giants and (0-1) Arizona Cardinals (0-1) will square off on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona.
Not only are both teams looking for their first win of the season, but they’re also looking to redeem themselves from their performance last week. The Giants had the most humbling and putrid outcome of Week 1 as they were dismantled by the Dallas Cowboys, 40-0. The Cardinals only mounted 210 yards of offense and committed nine penalties during their 20-16 loss to Washington.
Despite both teams being ranked at or near the bottom of the NFL Power Rankings, both teams will put forth better results on Sunday. Here are five bold predictions for Sunday’s game.
Daniel Jones will throw two touchdowns and run for another
Last week against the Cowboys, the Giants gained just 171 yards in total offense. Daniel Jones struggled mightily, completing just 15 out of 28 passes for 104 yards and two interceptions.
Playing against arguably the best defense in the league contributed to much of Jones struggles as he was under duress all night. However, some are fearful that Jones will resort to being a turnover machine as he was in his first three seasons.
But Jones and the rest of the offense will have a bounce game on Sunday, and he’ll resemble the player he was last season. Expect him to throw two touchdowns against the Cardinals and run for another touchdown.
James Conner will have over 125 all-purpose yards
Often there can be overreaction to how a team fares in their first game of the season. But if you watched the Cardinals game against Washington, and saw the lack of playmakers on the roster, you can see they are expected to be one of the NFL’s worst teams.
The Cardinals have a versatile running back in James Conner, who had some success last week with 62 rushing yards on 14 carries. Look for Arizona to get him heavily involved on Sunday as a runner and pass catcher. As a result, he’ll have at least 125 all-purpose yards.
Saquon Barkley will have his first 100-yard rushing game of season
Due to the blowout last week, Barkley was limited to just 12 carries for 51 yards. The entire offense wants to redeem themselves for how they performed last Sunday, especially the offensive line.
Barkley will be back to his usual role this week as the team workhorse. The Cardinals defense was stingy against the run last week giving up 92 yards on 28 attempts. But Barkley is a different caliber of a runner than what the Cardinals faced last week. The 26-year-old running back will notch his first 100-yard rushing game this season.
Arizona’s defense will sack Daniel Jones at least four times
If Arizona is going to pull off the upset, their front seven is going to have dominant New York’s offensive line. Fortunately for them, New York’s offensive line was abysmal last week giving up seven sacks, and Andrew Thomas is dealing with a hamstring injury and his status for the game is unclear.
Arizona’s defense sacked Washington quarterback Sam Howell six times last week and two of those were by linebacker Dennis Gardeck. Expect another impressive performance by the front seven as they’ll sack Jones four times on Sunday and pressure him often.
New York Giants’ D will force three turnovers from Joshua Dobbs
One of the many things Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale emphasized this season was creating more turnovers. The defense was unsuccessful last week but this week they’ll face quarterback Josh Dobbs who fumbled three times last week and lost two of them.
Dobbs will be making his fourth NFL start on Sunday, and he was traded to Arizona just three weeks ago. Martindale’s aggressive and exotic schemes will cause all kinds of confusion for the 28-year-old quarterback. Expect the secondary to come away with two interceptions and for Kayvon Thibodeaux to have a strip sack as New York will force three turnovers.
Prediction
Considering how difficult New York’s next four games are, this is as close to a must-win game as it gets for Week 2. Expect the team to redeem themselves after last week’s performance and win their first game of the season. New York Giants 24, Arizona Cardinals 13