New York Giants determined to surge back as improving Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit – NFL Preview
After losing their season opener against their National Football Conference (NFC) East rivals Dallas Cowboys, the defending Super Bowl champions New York Giants are going host the improving Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2 game in hopes to get their first
win of the 2012 season on Sunday, September 16, at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants’ defeat against the Cowboys was marred with struggling performance of the former on both offence and defence as they struggled to find their rhythm.
The Bucs have drastically improved this year, thanks to their new coach Greg Schiano, who has brought much-needed discipline into the unit. Also, they have marked positive start to the season after beating Carolina Panthers and they pose a serious challenge
to the defending champions as well.
Tampa Bay’s defence did well to contain Cam Newton-led Panthers as they gave away only 10 points, with the first scoring move from the Panthers coming in the second half.
The Bucs are aware that the Giants are going to come hard on them. Tampa Bay’s defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said of the Giants:
"They're coming off a loss. After you win the Super Bowl, that's not how you want to start the season, so you know they have a lot of pride up there. They're going to come out storming, and they play a hard brand of football. What they
are going to do is run the ball. The line of scrimmage battle is going to be key this week.”
Giants played their first game on September 05 and this gives them a gap of 10 days to prepare for the game against Buccaneers. Their major flaws against Cowboys were fumbles and missed opportunities and even though quarterback Eli Manning found his rhythm
in the second half of the game, the Giants could not outscore the Cowboys.
Giants head coach Tom Coughlin hopes that the players will enter Week 2 game with new energy and prove that they are well capable of defending their title. Since it is a very rare feat, many analysts believe that Giants will not be able to defend their title.
Furthermore, the nature of NFC East is very competitive this season in presence of Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Robert Griffin III-led Washington Redskins. Hence the Giants need to properly find their rhythm and consider this game as an opportunity to
start a winning streak.
When asked what the players got during the off days, Coughlin said while advising his players:
“Didn’t like what we saw for the most part in the first game. Renewed vigour. Vigilance. Unselfishness. Do your job. Understand. Listen. Pay attention to the details. Follow the details through in the chaos of the game.”
If the Giants are able to run the ball effectively they have strong chance of overcoming Tampa Bay.
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