The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Cardinals and Giants.

Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

NY GiantsRank@ArizonaRank
-5.5 Spread5.5
22.75 Implied Total17.25
0.032Points/Gm16.022
40.032Points All./Gm20.014
65.014Plays/Gm58.024
55.05Opp. Plays/Gm65.017
2.631Off. Yards/Play3.629
4.818Def. Yards/Play3.86
43.08%16Rush%43.10%15
56.92%17Pass%56.90%18
54.55%30Opp. Rush %43.08%16
45.45%3Opp. Pass %56.92%17

  • The Giants were 29th in success rate per offensive play (28.2%) while Arizona was 31st (27.0%) in Week 1.
  • 45.8% of Arizona’s set of downs led to a third and long (needing seven or more yards), the highest rate in the league Week 1.
  • Arizona converted 1-of-11 of those third and long situations.
  • The Giants had just four offensive plays gain 10 or more yards in Week 1, the fewest in the league.
  • The Giants averaged a league-low 1.7 yards per passing play in Week 1.
  • The Giants allowed pressure on a league-high 64.9% of passing plays in Week 1 after a league-high 41.9% rate in 2022.
  • New York created pressure on just 20.0% of drop backs, tied for 31st in the league in Week 1.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Daniel Jones: Jones was buried against the Cowboys on Sunday Night.

He was pressured on nearly two-thirds of his drop backs while completing 15-of-28 passes (53.6%) for 104 yards (3.7 Y/A) with a pair of interceptions.

He did rush 13 times for 43 yards to negate the turnovers for fantasy, but it was far from enough to prevent a QB29 (4.5 points) scoring week.

Things should be better for Jones in Week 2 as he regularly performed as his matchups went a year ago.

Jones had seven QB1 scoring weeks last season. Those came against the Jaguars, Colts, Lions, Bears, Vikings, and Commanders, while he got one over on the Eagles through rushing to keep us honest.

The question will be, is Arizona a true cupcake?

Arizona did not make it a breeze for Sam Howell a week ago. Howell had 10.1 passing points, which was 18th in the league.

Jonathan Gannon deployed the same approach he always has. Play a ton of zone, don’t blitz, and make it hard for teams to throw the ball vertically.

He does not have the same defensive line to create pressure as he had in Philadelphia, but Arizona pressured Sam Howell 31.7% of the time in Week 1, which was middle-of-the-pack (18th).

The Cardinals blitzed just 7.7% of the time (31st) and played man coverage 16.9% of the time (21st).

Gannon also has familiarity with Jones, whom he was more aggressive with.

In three matchups a year ago, Gannon played man coverage 32.9% of the time against Jones compared to a 26.0% base rate. He blitzed Jones 27.9% of the time, the sixth-highest rate for an opponent last season.

To add on, it appears that Andrew Thomas is going to miss this game.

That said, this is still not the Eagles’ defense from a year ago.

I fully expect Jones to play better than last week and we are catching Jones indoors as a favorite.

I am hesitant to smash Jones as a locked-in QB1 as we reveal more truths about this offense and this defense, but I would go back to him in 2QB formats since the rushing ability is still in place.

To continue reading this article

and gain access to The Worksheet and all of Rich’s regular content, including positional rankings and chats, click below to purchase our season-long fantasy package.

Purchase
Already a Subscriber?Log In

More Week 2 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet:

Sharp Betting Packages
NFL, NCAAF, Props & More