Giants Must Be Perfect in This One Game Against Tampa Bay

The New York Giants look to end their five-game losing streak and get their first home win this Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And if the Giants are going to do that, their passing offense will need to step up to ensure the league’s eighth-best offense doesn’t go on a scoring tangent that matches or exceeds the 27.9 points scored per game.

Facing a Tampa Bay offensive line led by rookie Graham Barton, the Giants’ defensive front has the opportunity to cause havoc. Left tackle Tristan Wirfs, who was listed on the Bucs’ injury report this week with knee and foot injuries, was downgraded to questionable Saturday and is unlikely to play.

That’s not good news for a Bucs team that has seven sacks in its last four games and is averaging 2.4 sacks per game, the 15th highest in the league.

Meanwhile, the Giants are moving outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux and adding to their pass-rushing arsenal of Dexter Lawrence II, Brian Burns and Azeez Ojulari.

Although the Giants’ sack production has slowed down a bit over their last four games, they still have 10 points above that number and still rank first in the league in sacks/pass attempts (13.09%).

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield has found new life in Tampa Bay, but has been sacked 24 times this season, thrown nine interceptions and had two turnovers; experienced 12.9% of the pressures it faced. self made. The Giants’ defense hasn’t forced many takes this season; eight to be exact, which puts them at least 29th in the league.

Mayfield doesn’t like pressure like other quarterbacks, but he has shown that he can work under pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, Mayfield has been pressured on just 24.8% of his passes this season, but he has completed 62.5% of his passes under pressure, throwing an interception for a touchdown in that situation.

Despite Mayfield’s ability to get the ball out quickly (his pressure rate is the second-lowest in the NFL behind the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa), the Giants still need to take advantage of the Bucs’ broken offensive line.

Mayfield has averaged 2.57 seconds to throw this season, according to NextGen Stats, and 11 of his league-leading 23 touchdown passes have come in 2.5 seconds or less.