You've arrived at the Football Office -- a National Football League blog, with game picks, analysis and commentary!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Let's Build a Bridge -- 2012 Season Opener

The Giants will win this game. The last thirteen Super Bowl winners have won their season openers. They are playing the Cowboys. In New York. They will win. Let's briefly state why, no matter what Jerry Jones thinks, the Giants will win this game.
Eli Manning is better than Tony Romo. Besides the obvious reasons of two Super Bowl rings, Eli is clutch. Romo has shown that he can be (see the 49ers game last season), but he has also proven many times that he has a tendency to fall apart (see the Lions game last season). As far as other offense weapons, the Cowboys have a better running back in DeMarco Murray, but the Giants have better receiving options. They also have a stronger offensive line, which will be key in protecting Eli from DeMarcus Ware. Not only do the Giants have an edge on offense, but also on defense.
The Cowboys' scheme is so complex that most of the players couldn't even pick it up successfully last year. A second year in the system will do wonderfully for the players that are returning, but the Cowboys have also added several new pieces, notably Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, to the secondary. These will probably be good moves in the long run, but they both have only had an off season to pick up Ryan's scheme and one is a rookie. Eli may have a field day, but I don't expect him to run all over them. But almost all of New York's defense is returning from that Super Bowl team, which is unusual (many players are normally lost to free agency after winning a Super Bowl). The whole defensive line is intact which has always been the strongest part of this unit. They will take advantage of the Cowboys suspect offensive line and have Tony Romo running all night.

Overall, the Giants are a stronger, more complete team. I'm not saying all of this means they will repeat as Super Bowl champions, but I do believe it means that they will beat the Cowboys tonight. Their slogan for the season is "Build the Bridge." The first brick falls tonight.

No comments:

Post a Comment