After starting the year 0-2, the New York Giants made a change. They benched veteran and future Hall of Fame quarterback Eli Manning. In his place, they put first-round pick (sixth overall) Daniel Jones.
Since making that move, the Giants have won two straight games. Now 2-2, they will face off with the Minnesota Vikings (who are 2-2 themselves) in Week 5.
Although they are the home team, New York finds themselves as the underdogs in this matchup.
With that in mind, what do they have to do to win?
If New York is to defeat Minnesota in Week 5, here are four reasons why they'll pull it off.
New Life
The Giants have looked like a completely new team since Daniel Jones took over at quarterback. They've had more dynamic plays, as a result of the playbook being opened up.
It's not just the quarterback, though. This move has definitely brought life to the team. For example, after looking absolutely helpless on defense for the first three weeks, they looked great in Week 4.
Now, you could argue that it was against the Washington Redskins, who are 0-4. However, Washington's offense wasn't the problem for most of the year. In fact, they even scored more points against the elite Chicago Bears defense (15) than they managed against the Giants (3).
With that in mind, New York looks to have turned a new leaf in this season. Now they face off with the Vikings, a team that's got a lot of issues right now.
The Giants appear to have found their identity and it's breathed new life into the team. This will help them against a Minnesota team that would love to get a fresh start.
Kirk Cousins Issues
The Vikings have looked really bad when it comes to their passing attack. It looks almost as if the coaching staff doesn't trust him at times.
Then when they do trust him, he's yet to deliver.
In four games he's thrown for just 735 yards. Cousins has three touchdowns compared to two interceptions and four fumbles. Meanwhile, he has a grossly low 29.2 QBR.
It's not just like it's an issue on the field either.
This week, superstar wide receiver Adam Thielen seemed to call him out. I mean he called him out but didn't call him out but definitely called him out.
Head coach Mike Zimmer appeared to fire some shots at Cousins as well.
Now, Stefon Diggs isn't denying the rumors that he's unhappy with his usage in the offense and that's causing some issues
Seriously, talk about disfunction at the highest-level of disfunction.
Janoris Jenkins
Janoris Jenkins is meant to be the star of the cornerback group for the Giants. He had struggled in 2019 up until Week 4 though.
In Week 4, Jenkins picked off two passes and could be getting into a groove again. If that truly happens, then the Giants suddenly have a seriously good number one cornerback.
Jenkins is someone that can intercept a quarterback at any moment. And once he does that, he can take the ball to the house.
However, he's not simply a route-jumping cornerback. No, he's not an elite-level coverage corner. He's not bad by any stretch of the imagination though. Jenkins will be up to the task of covering Diggs or Thielen.
I'm not saying he'll completely lock them down, but he can certainly contain them. Especially with all the issues in the Minnesota passing game at the moment.
Having Jenkins back at the top of his game means a whole lot for the Giants moving forward.
Golden Tate
The Giants had a really nice offseason acquisition, signing wide receiver Golden Tate. However, he was suspended for the first four games of the year.
He's back now, and Tate could be a fantastic addition to the offense. If nothing else, he'll definitely help Jones as he's a veteran target who has had some really big years in the past.
Last season, Tate racked up 74 receptions for 795 yards and four touchdowns. That's a really good year for most players. However, for Tate it was actually a down year.
It was the first time since 2013 that Tate didn't reel in at least 90 receptions. It was also his lowest amount of receiving yards since 2012 and just the second time in five years that he didn't post at least 1,000 receiving yards.
This year, Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard are showing that they have superstar potential. Now those two youngsters will benefit from having a star veteran on the team. He'll take the pressure off of them and will likely take defensive eyes off them as well.
Even if he isn't the superstar he once was, Tate is still really good. He's going to make life easier on all the young players and adds another serious threat for defenses to worry about.
Tate could definitely be a major factor in the outcome of the game in Week 5.
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