The New York Giants are experiencing thier fist real growing pains during the Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen regime. With Big Blue going to the playoffs in 2022 the expectations were high for 2023. After three games the Giants have been outscored 98 to 42 and only controlled the game in two of 12 quarters.
With a lot of football still to play, the Giants can still find away to a winning season but changes need to be made now, not later. A sense of urgency and a slight attitude adjustment from the players and the coaches is needed. Enclosed are the keys to a Giants turnaround.
Run the Ball
Running the ball still opens up the passing game and with the lack of profiency in “pass blocking” from this offensive line, the Giants need to get smash mouth and manufacture yards. Currently, Saquon Barkley is recovering from ankle injury, however, management kept Matt Breida over DeVontae Booker over Wayne Gallman. So, if Breida is the best candidate for the job, it time for him to earn his money and give him the ball.
Against the 49ers, Breida had 4 carries for 17 yards…and people want to know why the offense stinks! San Francisco played man on every 3rd down and sat on the Giants short routes all game knowing the Giants had no interest in letting Breida work. Seattle is a top 7 defense against the run but that doesn’t mean the Giants should just abandon pounding the ball. Seattle will expect the Giants to quit on the run game. It’s on tape.
It’s time to play power football, line up Daniel Belinger at H back, pull Bredeson or Ezeudu and lose the predicability. Run the ball and shove it down thier throat.
Create Confusion, Create Space
Mike Kafka the Giants Offensice Coordinator seems to stuggle making adjustments in-game. As pointed out by former Bengals & Patriots wide receiver Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson earlier this week, the Giants need to create space for these wide receivers to work in. While Slayton, Campbell, and Hyatt have speed, unless you create confusion and create space, these receivers aren’t getting open on simple, straight releases.
If you watch the 2nd half of the Arizona game, you see the Giants set up the safety with a crossing route right before throwing deep to Hyatt for 58 yards. The safety bites on the underneath route, leaving Hyatt to burn by the corner into the space once occupied by the safety and quick release by Daniel Jones. The Giants need to drive deep routes to excecute “double moves” on the defensive back. Creating confusion, creating space.
The Seahawks are terrible against the pass, ranking 31st in the league. After pounding the rock, get Jones moving, rolling him out hitting Waller & Bellinger in the flat. It’s a simple way to move the chains and set up Jones to take off in space.
Safety Dance
Change the scheme or change the player. Xavier McKinney was once thought of as a “Pro Bowl” calibur player. He excelled in 2021 playing high safety with most snaps coming in a zone defense. In fact, he played 807 of 1133 snaps playing deep center field for the Giants. However, with every passing year and every passing week, Wink Martindale has XMC in the box or in the slot 46.9 % of the time. The results have not been good.
McKinney is just missing tackles. Could this be a result of his hand injury from 2022? Over three years McKinney averages 7.45% missed tackle rate. Currently after 3 games #29 has super sized to 14.3%. Against Seattle, Martindale needs to either change the scheme and play more zone with McKinney at the top or replace him with Dane Belton, moving Pinnock down in the box were he excels. Dane Belton who had a spectucular camp and pre-season only received 1 snap vs. the 49ers and it’s time to put him on the field and let him grow.
Pass Rush
On any NFL team it is hard to manufacture sacks from the defensive line. They often have someone head up on them taking away any leverage, they are often double teamed, chipped and cut by Offensive Lineman. Sadly, this is how the Giants are built. However, every year, Rams Defensive Tackle, Aaron Donald destroys centers, guards, and running backs on the the way to being the best player at the position.
What fans over look is the amount of results Donald gets from his teammates. In 2022, Bobby Wagner, Aaron Darnold, Michael Hoecht and Leonard Floyd combined for 25 sacks. Wink has talent on this defense between Lawrence, Williams, Thibodeaux, Ojulari, McFadden and Okereke but something needs to change to increase opportunities for match ups, so regardless of what fans know or don’t know about assignments, you can’t win without playmakers. Pressure will not be manufactured up the middle with Lawrence and Williams exclusively.
And while Wink Martindale might be nervous about his rookie corners in coverage, the conservative approach is not working. It’s time to turn up the heat and hit paydirt with your backers and edge rushers. Kayvon Thibodeauex was brought here to disrupt. Dropping him into coverage is not the best use of his skill set. He needs to get his hands dirty, set the edge and pull down 7 or 8 tackles against Kenneth Walker. Bring more heat in the A gap with McFadden and bring Pinnock off the edge.