Brandon Jacobs: Get the Ball to Him Early and Often

(Photo by: Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

With the Giants' 2008 season ending unceremoniously with a home playoff loss to the rival Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants will need to find new ways to move the football for 2009. After Plaxico Burress was suspended, the Giants' offense struggled.

My solution to this? Give the football to Brandon Jacobs early, and give it to him often. 

With Jacobs, it's not about the yards per carry (even though that number has consistently been around 5.0 for his career), but rather about him tiring out opposing defenses.

Everyone has seen Jacob's size enable him to fall forward for three yards, and make a positive gain out of a seemingly dead play.

When December came around (think Week 16 against Carolina) no one wanted to tackle Brandon Jacobs, which helped pave way for Derrick Ward to rush for 216 yards on only 15 carries. 

With Jacobs bull-dozing would-be tacklers, opposing teams will have to try and stack eight defenders in the box. This will then open up the deep ball for Eli Manning to the WR playing on the perimeter.

Ultimately, the Giants will be able to make morebig plays down the football field, and teams will respect Eli Manning a little more.

If the Giants are able to get consistent production out of Jacobs, it would help their time of possession. This means that other teams will have to try and throw the ball a lot to get quick scores.

When the Giants' defense can single in on a passing game, the pass rush will be relentless by sending Justin Tuck, Osi Umeyiora and Mathias Kiwianuka.

The point being, giving the ball to Brandon Jacobs early and often will bring about great success for New York in 2009.

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