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The New York Giants are welcoming the Denver Broncos into their stadium for Week 1 and it's shaping up to be the most boring close game in NFL history. The Giants led by Daniel Jones are taking on the Broncos led by Teddy Bridgewater. Both teams have a chance to be playoff teams after missing out last season and both have a solid chance to win this game. While both teams have a chance, the Broncos are favored over the Giants by 2.5 points. Can the Giants overcome that?
Here are 4 bold predictions.
The Giants beat the Broncos
Starting off hot here as the Broncos will likely be the better team throughout the season, but the season opener will go to the Giants. Denver is starting a new quarterback and welcoming a load of good players back from injury including Courtland Sutton and Von Miller. Those players will be good throughout the season but Week 1 will require them to shake off some rust while playing the Giants at home.
While the Broncos have a lot of change and adjusting to do, including at quarterback, the Giants are running it back with Daniel Jones and an improved offense. Having home-field advantage and with Jones making his important year three debut, the Giants will come out rolling. If their opponent was anyone better than the questionable Broncos then this prediction might be different but things are setting up in the Giants.
Sterling Shepard leads the Giants in receiving
While the Giants have a couple new weapons on offense in Kyle Rudolph and Kenny Golladay, it will be the veteran Shepard that leads the team in receiving yards. Shepard isn't your typical league veteran at just 28 years old, but he's a veteran in the Giants organization. This will be his sixth year with the team and he's been relatively consistent, never playing less than ten games in a season and usually bringing in around 55 receiving yards per game.
Kenny Golladay is likely to have the most attention on him from the Broncos defense, Darius Slayton is more of a big play guy, and the tight ends figure to split time. This should set up nicely for a solid game from Shepard for the Giants. He isn't expected to go for 100 yards and two touchdowns, but just getting around 60-70 yards should get the job done against this Denver defense.
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Saquon Barkley will rush at least 15 times and finish under 60 yards
Barkley has played in 31 career games for the Giants and 13 of them have seen him go for less than 60 rushing yards. In those 13 games, only four have seen him rush at least 15 games. This prediction is relying on that happening for the fifth time. An improved Denver defense mixed with perhaps the worst offensive line in the league for the Giants plus Barkley coming off an ACL injury won't make for a super fun day for Barkley. It might be more likely that he finishes with under 60 yards than him getting 15 or more carries.
Can the Giants win with Barkley not having a very productive day? It's possible, especially if the lack of rushing success is due to Denver focusing all in on the run and leaving the passing game open. Daniel Jones' stock has never been lower than it is right now so Denver could underestimate him. Of course, underestimating someone requires that player to go out and perform. The Giants season likely relies heavily on how much Jones improves. Can he take a leap in his third year and earn the fifth-year option?
The Giants defense generates at least three turnovers
For the Giants, turnovers have been a major issue since Jones took over. It sometimes seems like Jones is focused on the world record for most interceptions in a career and he might just pull it off. If the Giants want to counterbalance the turnovers from Jones then they have two options. One, hope that he is suddenly done turning the ball over or two, generate turnovers themselves. A game where every drive ends in an interception would be extremely entertaining and maybe we'll get that this week.
James Bradberry is returning after a career year at cornerback so the hope is that he continues to improve. If the Giants hope to generate turnovers then they'll need help from newly drafted edge rusher Azeez Ojulari and the veterans lining up alongside him. The Giants defensive line was among the worst at pressuring the quarterback last season so that absolutely needs to improve. If it does, then countering the turnovers from Daniel Jones could be a viable plan.
