Giants vs. Jaguars: 6 things we learned What did we

learn about the New York Giants on Sunday? We learned that the thing that seemed most worrisome heading into the season http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-connor-barwin-jersey , the offensive line, is still a major problem for the Giants.In a 20-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, GM Dave Gettleman’s rebuilt hog mollies were the Giants’ Achilles Heel. Jacksonville has a great defense with a number of dynamic players in its front seven. The Giants were never going to dominate this group, but what we saw Sunday is just not going to cut it.“We battled,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “You’re looking at a top 10 defense and we battled ‘em. I thought they fought throughout the game. We could probably point to individual bad plays by everyone, me included. “I feel like they battled. We’ve just gotta go back and correct the mistakes.”Ereck Flowers is still Ereck FlowersA switch from left tackle to right tackle can’t hide the simple reality that Ereck Flowers is the weakest of the weak links on the Giants’ offensive line. Flowers was penalized for tripping on the Giants’ first offensive play, negating a 5-yard completion. He was then penalized for holding, negating a 34-yard pass to Evan Engram and putting the Giants in a second-and-20mess at their own 4-yard line.Flowers got the Giants off to an atrocious start, and he made the MetLife Stadium crowd restless right from the beginning.It didn’t get better. Flowers gave up one of the two sacks of Eli Manning, helplessly watching Lerentee McCray beat him to the inside. On the game-altering pick 6 by Myles Jack it was pressure allowed by Flowers that forced Manning to step up and into a path where Jacksonville defensive tackle Abry Jones could tip the pass.Eli is in serious dangerManning was sacked twice. The official NFL stats have him being hit six times. He was under pressure constantly. The Giants went from taking a number of deep shots early in the game to throwing more short, quick routes as the game wore on.Take out the spectacular 68-yard run by Saquon Barkley, most of which he did on his own by breaking three tackles, the Giants rushed for 46 yards on their other 22 attempts, 2.09 yards per attempt. There were 6 runs for no gain or negative yardage.Without watching film it is difficult, other than Flowers, to point fingers at specific players. Left tackle Nate Solder had a holding penalty. Rookie left guard Will Hernandez surrendered a sack. Right guard Patrick Omameh was the blocker when Abry Jones got his hands up to deflect the pass that turned into a tipped Pick 6.“It was a tough battle,” Solder said. “If we would’ve kept it in manageable down and distances, we prevented ourselves from a lot of plays because we were getting the penalties and stupid things that we control — like I had that holding. That was totally in my control and I need to clean that up.”In the post-game, Manning tried to take some of the heat off his linemen.“This might be the most talented defense and front four we go against all season. They’re good,” Manning said. “Those guys coming out the first game, I thought things settled down in the second half and they did a good job. Picked up some of the blitzes and hit some nice plays, big plays. I am proud of the way those guys competed and played. We had a chance to win the game.Let’s look now at some of the other things we learned on Sunday.Saquon is pretty goodSunday is probably how it’s going to be with Saquon Barkley. He didn’t do much for a loooong time. At halftime he had 6 carries for 12 yards, 1.5 yards per rush, and hadn’t caught a pass. In the third, quarter http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-b.j.-goodson-jersey , runs of 8 and 5 yards, but nothing extraordinary.Then, in the fourth quarter, this:Barkley electrified the MetLife Stadium crowd by breaking two tackles at the line of scrimmage, somehow staying in bounds while avoiding a third, and going 68 yards for a score to give the Giants a chance.The young man is special. No doubt about that.Pass rush problemsTo their credit, the Giants kept Jacksonville’s offense off the scoreboard in the second half. As expected, though, with Olivier Vernon sidelined the Giants had difficulty putting any pressure on Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles.The Giants ended up with a sack and four hits on the Jacksonville quarterback. While he didn’t throw down the field often, when he did he generally had plenty of time to do so. Return issue hasn’t been solvedThe Giants churned through Kalif Raymond and Hunter Sharp in the preseason, finding both wanting as kickoff and punt returners. They were awarded Kaelin Clay off waivers. At least Sunday that didn’t work out very well. Clay had 3 punt returns for just 4 yards. He also gave away the Giants’ final chance to win the game, muffing a punt that was recovered by Jacksonville at the Giants’ 21-yard line with just :45 seconds left.Cody Latimer returned one kickoff for just 15 yards.Odell is “pretty healthy”That is how Shurmur assessed him after watching Odell Beckham Jr. in his first game since fracturing his ankle in Week 5 of last season. Beckham caught 11 passes for 111 yards, along the way smashing Anquan Boldin’s record for receptions in the first 50 games of an NFL career. Boldin had 314. In 48 games, Beckham now has 324.For the most part Jacksonville kept Beckham in front of them, not allowing him much yardage after catches. The one time Beckham did get behind the Jacksonville defense Manning overshot him on a play that had the potential to be a 33-yard touchdown.“I feel like every day at practice Eli and I have been getting open and finding ways to separate. Now it’s about putting all the pieces together, he needs a little bit more time, we need to find a way to make those catches on third down. We need to find ways to keep drives alive, we went into the first game and unfortunately the ball didn’t roll our way. Like we said, it is a good starting point,” Beckham said.“It’s close, it’s football, though. We had those, if he can sit back in there just a little bit longer, just set his feet and get rid of it. It’s a collective thing, I can run faster Womens Odell Beckham Jr Jersey , the O-line can block better, it’s just something we all have to get on the same page with. First game, I’m proud of this team, I’m happy to be back. I’m happy to be a part of this team, I’m looking forward to the season.”Something to build on?Beckham still seemed upbeat despite the loss. Reality is, the Giants were underdogs in this game for a reason. The Jaguars are good. They have a dominant defense and an efficient offense that avoids mistakes. It was no accident they reached the AFC Championship Game a year ago. The Giants are a team trying to find itself after a 3-13 season that led to massive changes in the front office, coaching staff and roster.There are no moral victories in the NFL. You either win or you don’t, and each opportunity that slips aways makes climbing the mountain to the playoffs more difficult. Still, Beckham wasn’t the only Giant who thought there were good things the team could take from Sunday.“I told the players that the important part of this game that we can work with is they hung together, they played hard from the first snap to the last, we just didn’t make enough plays in the end to win this game, especially a one-score game throughout. We’ll get that fixed and again, this is a new team, we’ve got new systems,” Shurmur said. “I’m certainly hugely disappointed that we lost for our fans, and our ownership, and for those players in the locker room. I’m disappointed we lost, but there’s a lot of good in that locker room and they’re going to hang together, I really believe they will and will come out 鈥?against Dallas.Manning was also positive.“I’m encouraged just because I have seen the way we work and the men we have in this locker room. The talent that we have and guys taking care of each other,” Manning said. “Just encouraged by the whole situation. We can get things going and we can play at a high level. We will make it work.” It’s already the time of year when bye weeks and injuries start to make weekly roster decisions increasingly difficult. Those two things have wiped out nearly an entire position group already (more on that later). Hopefully you have a deep enough roster to get through this initial wave of potential hardship.For those facing some difficult decisions this week, here’s start/sit for Week 5:Running backStart: T.J. Yeldon, Jacksonville JaguarsLeonard Fournette is out, so Yeldon should get the majority of the snaps and carries for the Jaguars — though Corey Grant should play more, though who knows if Jacksonville will actually pull that trigger. Yeldon’s yardage totals haven’t been overly impressive in games this season — he peaked at 58 rushing yards against the New England Patriots in Week 2 — but he should get the volume as the lead back. Kansas City’s defense is pretty much an open road and in two of Yeldon’s four games, he’s seen seven targets to go along with two receiving touchdowns.Start: Chris Thompson Womens Janoris Jenkins Jersey , Washington RedskinsChris Thompson’s usage hasn’t been consistent from game-to-game, but there is a pattern. When Washington is ahead, Thompson doesn’t get a lot of work. But when they’re trailing, such as the 21-9 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2 (still weird), he’ll get more time. In that Colts game, Thompson had 13 receptions for 92 yards on 14 targets. This week Washington will play New Orleans and while the Washington defense should be good enough to not let the Saints completely run away, the game script should lend itself to more Thompson touches.Sit: Alfred Morris, San Francisco 49ersEven though the Arizona Cardnals have given up the most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs, this isn’t a great game for Alfred Morris. Matt Brieda significantly out-snapped Morris last week against the Los Angeles Chargers 38-14. The running backs weren’t very involved, either. Brieda and Morris combined for 13 rushing attempts and six targets. Arizona’s defense has been improving — they’re 11th in DVOA — and without knowing how the workload split is going to look, it’s best to stay away. Sit: Dion Lewis, Tennessee TitansDion Lewis should be a bigger part of the Tennessee Titans offense. Maybe he will be eventually as the unit seems to be putting more pieces together and figuring out what they want to do. But Lewis had just four rushes and nine targets against the Philadelphia Eagles. Those targets ended with nine receptions and 66 yards, which made him a passable play for PPR, but left more to be desired. It’s also fair to wonder how much run Lewis will get — especially in the passing game — if the Titans take an early lead against the struggling Buffalo Bills. Wide ReceiverStart: Keenan Allen, Los Angeles ChargersI’ve brought this up before, but I firmly believe in the idea of starting your studs. Keenan Allen is a stud. Yes, he hasn’t had 100 yards receiver or a touchdown since Week 1 and he’s been battling some health issues, but Allen is still a stud. He’s still getting volume — 10 targets last week — and he could break out with a big game at any point. The Oakland Raiders have allowed the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers, which could be the matchup Allen needs to get his numbers back to where they’re expected.Start: Calvin Ridley, Atlanta FalconsYou’re riding this out. At some point, the Calvin Ridley Experience is going to slow down — he has five touchdowns while safely being third among wide receivers in snaps played on the Falcons. Over the past three games, Ridley has played 55.6 percent, 61.8 percent, and 54.3 percent of Atlanta’s offensive snaps. But, he’s clearly been involved when he’s on the field. He has five targets Womens Landon Collins Jersey , five receptions, and four touchdowns inside the 20 over those three games. While the Falcons have figured out their red zone offense, they’ve made Ridley a big part of it. He might be a good option to try to sell high before some touchdown regression hits, but if he’s on your roster, you’re starting him.Sit: Devin Funchess, Carolina PanthersAfter an up and down start to the season, Janoris Jenkins has been pretty good containing opposing No. 1 wide receivers. Micahel Thomas, the league’s leading receiver, was held to just four receptions against Jenkins last week. Devin Funchess gets that matchup this weekend and while the Panthers offense has been quite good, throwing to wide receivers has not been a strength. In a game where the Panthers are likely to rely on the legs of Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey, Funchess is unlikely to see meaningful volume.Sit: Sammy Watkins, Kansas City ChiefsThe main event of this matchup is going to be Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey however often they’re matched up. That will leave Watkins with A.J. Bouye, who is still quite good, or even Ramsey if the Jaguars choose to stay with their cornerbacks on sides. While Watkins has been able to break through with some big plays, he hasn’t been the big play threat in Kansas City. He’s only seeing 12.5 percent of the Chiefs’ air yards, which is around the likes of Danny Amendola and Jermaine Kearse. There’s always upside here in a high-powered offense, but if you have a better option, it could be safe to stay away from this matchup.Tight EndStart: Anyone who is healthyBetween the injuries and bye weeks (Trey Burton), it’s nearly impossible for anyone to have a legitimate start-sit issue at tight end this week. If you do, good for you, but you probably have too many tight ends on your roster. If you have any tight end who has the possibility of seeing even some volume in the passing game this week, start him.