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The New York Giants fumbled four times in their 28-20 opening-week victory over the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday night.
Usually, when a team is that sloppy with the football, they lose. The Giants were fortunate. They recovered three of those lost balls, and the one they lost didn’t come back to hurt them.
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But they can’t keep playing fast and loose with the football. Head coach John Harbaugh knows that and is taking measures to tighten up ball security.
“One of the things that is non-negotiable is ball security,” he told reporters via his Monday Zoom call. “We’re putting the ball on the ground entirely too much. It’s got to change. We’ve got to make the change on that. Every single ball carrier has got to make sure that it gets better, and it’s up to us as coaches. We’ve got to drill it. We’ve got to teach it. We’ve got to make sure that we do it better because the ball’s on the ground four times, and that’s just not even close to being acceptable.”
Two of the fumbles were committed by running backs Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Cam Skattebo. Tracy has had fumbling issues on and off throughout his Giants career, so it was no surprise to see him lose the ball, but Skattebo credits the Dallas defense with making a good play on him.
“Yeah, I mean, the guy had a great punch out,” Skattebo said this week. “The guy that hit me, hit me in the elbow; the same thing with Zay (Isaiah Likely) kind of came from behind. I think it’s less of the ball security and more of the ball focus. I think we’re less focused on the ball, and you’re right: ball security — we need to hold it high and tight. But the focus of how important the ball is, is what we need to focus on. And I think throughout this week, I think the focus on making sure we know we have the ball in our hands is something that we need to work on. He’s demanding that we take care of it.”
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Running backs coach Willie Taggart, a veteran of both college and NFL wars for over a quarter of a century, has the players drilling with weighted footballs during practice.
Their mantra is “D.G.A. Everybody’s dreams, goals and aspirations are in that football. Everybody’s. Joe Blow riding his bike down the street is counting on you to take care of the football.”
The Giants face the Los Angeles Rams on the road as heavy underdogs this Monday night. Turnovers are a surefire way to appease the Rams bettors.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants’ RB coach using extreme tactic to cut down on fumbles
