Will the New York Giants give the Rams a tougher battle than anticipated in Week 2? With a combined record of 7-27 over the past two years, one would think not, but if you look a little deeper at the Giants then the outcome may not be as cut-and-dry as an easy win for the Rams.
Giants: Worst to First?
The Giants are my choice to go last to first in their division this year. This team should look nothing like the Giants we’ve grown accustomed to over the last decade. The changes they’ve made are plentiful, and they all seem
to be upgrades.
Former Ravens coach John Harbaugh took the helm, bringing in a new coaching staff to reshape both sides of the ball. Only one coach from the original Brian Daboll era remains with the Giants (Charlie Bullen, who will serve as the Run Game Coordinator and Outside Linebackers Coach) but the headliners of this completely revamped staff are Matt Nagy as offensive coordinator and Dennard Wilson as defensive coordinator.
Nagy was the offensive coordinator of the KC Chiefs from 2016-17, left for the head coaching position with the Chicago Bears, then returned to KC as the OC where he helped the Chiefs win a Super Bowl in 2023 and reach another in 2024. While his reputation as a head coach is not great, he’s made his mark as an offensive coordinator and will attempt to do for Jaxson Dart what he once helped do for Patrick Mahomes.
Even if Dart is not Mahomes, at least Nagy should have good advice to pass along to the young signal caller.
Dennard Wilson is entering his first season as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants after spending the previous two seasons in the same role with the Tennessee Titans. He brings 14 years of NFL coaching experience to East Rutherford. In 2024, the Titans’ defense allowed 311.2 yards per game and 177.3 passing yards per game, both of which were the second-lowest marks in the league. However, the Titans also allowed 27 points per game, which was the third-worst.
Wilson has yet to coordinate a great defense, but maybe he hasn’t had players as good as he has in New York.
On defense, the front office made a splash by drafting highly rated linebacker Arvell Reese with the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft. He’ll join a defense that already has some high-profile stars, such as Brian Burns.
Burns: The Carolina Panthers traded star pass rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants in March 2024. Shortly after acquiring him, the Giants signed Burns to a massive five-year contract extension worth up to $150 million. Burns is coming off the best statistical season of his career, tallying 16.5 sacks, 31 quarterback hits, and being voted to his 3rd Pro Bowl while garnering 2nd-team All-Pro honors.
Burns was drafted by the Panthers in 2019 with the 16th overall pick.
Abdul Carter: Outside linebacker Abdul Carter recorded 66 pressures as a rookie, 13 more than NFC sacks leader and Giants star edge rusher Brian Burns. And Carter, the third overall pick in the 2025 draft, is just getting started. He finished 5th in DPOY voting.
Kayvon Thibodeaux: Was highly rated coming out of college, and the Giants drafted him 5th overall in the 2022 draft. So far, he has not lived up to expectations, but the G Men did pick up his 5th year option.
Tremaine Edmunds: Released by the Chicago Bears on March 5 to clear $15 million in salary cap space. The team could not find a suitable trade partner before the league’s new year and chose to move on from his bloated $17.9 million cap hit, incurring only $2.4 million in dead money. The Giants signed him to a three-year, $36 million contract with $23.7 million fully guaranteed. He was originally drafted in the first round by the Buffalo Bills.
If you’re paying attention, that’s five linebackers the Giants have under contract, all drafted in the first round! Wilson must be grinning from ear to ear.
Giants Offense
On offense, Cam Skattebo says that he will be able to return by training camp after he suffered a gruesome ankle injury early last season. Jaxson Dart returns for year two after a decent rookie year statistically. A completion percentage of 63.7%, 15 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. That represents a very low interception percentage of 1.5%. In the four games that Dart and Skattebo were on the field together, they finished with a 2-2 record. Without Skattebo they were 2-6.
There is zero reason to doubt that if Skattebo had been healthy for the full season, the Giants’ record would have been much better.
His aggressive, bowling-ball rushing style is exactly what Harbaugh craves in a lead back. Had he stayed on the field, New York likely would have finished much better than 4-13 and leaned heavily on a physical ground game.
The Giants have also added to the targets Dart will have by bringing in veterans
Odell Beckham Jr.: 45 targets in the last 3 years, clearly rolling the dice.
Darnell Mooney: While Mooney hasn’t had a 1,000-yard season since 2021, when he posted 1,055 yards as a member of the Bears (whose head coach was current Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy), Mooney projects to challenge Darius Slayton, the longest tenured member of the team, for the team’s WR2 role.
JuJu Smith-Schuster: When the Giants’ home page touts his historical numbers, I can’t see him making a significant difference this year.
Calvin Austin: Was probably signed more for his return ability than his receiving numbers with Pittsburgh, where he caught fewer than 40 passes each of the last two years.
Darius Slayton and third-round rookie Malachi Fields join the party to see who can hold down the fort until Malik Nabers returns to action. Nabers is expected to miss at least the first two games of the season.
The Rams’ Edge
The LA Rams have made significant changes in both coaching and player personnel, but I think the change they’ve made in offensive philosophy will have the most impact in week two. The Rams are in the process of retooling their offense as they fully embrace the 13-personnel formations they introduced over the last 11 games of last season. The ’13’ means one running back, three tight ends, and a single receiver formation, which creates coverage mismatches against the current brand of defenses built to combat the smaller wide receivers utilized in 11 personnel formations with only one TE on the field and three receivers. 11 personnel packages have been the most prevalent schemes in the NFL for several years now.
Over their final eleven regular season games last year, during which the Rams’ use of 13 personnel increased significantly, from zero snaps in the first 5.5 games to about 50% by year’s end, the average points scored per game jumped from 23 per game to just under 35. Average offensive yards per game increased by almost 10%.
The Giants won’t be a cohesive unit
Because the Giants basically cleaned house, replacing almost every coach, there will be a learning curve for everyone, coaches and players alike. Given that John Harbaugh’s background is in special teams, he relies heavily on the schemes designed by his coordinators, who in the defense’s case, is the afore mentioned Dennard Wilson. Wilson will be so involved with bringing his assistants up to speed, learning the strengths and weaknesses of his players and teaching everyone his own ideas that he’ll be unable, I think, to devote much time to planning for the unique offense LA will have in place for their week 2 game. The vast majority of their practice time will be spent learning the scheme for the 11 personnel offenses they will see most often. If the Rams don’t implode, this could be a blowout.
This is going to be a fun team to watch grow. However, with so many new parts to bring together, I can’t see them being a cohesive unit by week two. Rams will take this one.
