Let’s go in reverse order.
The Very Ugly- the Offensive Line. There was a tweet circulating that summed up this past Sunday’s PFF OL rankings. Ezeudu 65th/65. Neal 64/65. Peart 63/65. Mayfield 70/70, McKethan 65/70, Glowinski 55/70, Bredeson 30/31. Yah that is disgusting. We have to find some hope in this. With Thomas out, Ezeudu moves over to LT. Peart did not develop as a Round 3 pick. Schmitz is out. So Bredeson moves over to Center. Bredeson is not true backup/Center. Then we have a practice squad player in Mayfield who is thrown in in desperation, because Lemieux is (bad and) hurt. It is our worst nightmare. We specifically discussed in preseason that the Giants OL had NO DEPTH. So what happens when the Giants lose their two best linemen, the Center/protections is missed AND Neal is still a liability? Very ugly, that is what happens.
The Bad- Joe Schoen needs to take a lot of responsibility for the OL. Yes, he has drafted 4 players (Neal, Schmitz, Ezeudu and McKethan) and brought in Glowinski in the past 2 offseasons. Sorry, not sorry, not enough. You know I said it. OL OL OL.
The Bad- What the hell happened to the coaching staff in 2023? I still believe in Daboll. Yet he must take his lumps for turning a team that was an overachiever last season to an underachiever this season. We singled out the Coaching as a reason why we believed the Giants would go over 7.5 wins this season. This assumption has been a big failure. We saw the overachievement, the development of players like Hodgins, the schemes of Kafka, the halftime adjustments, and the way the team was resilient despite a lot of injuries. Just checking- it was Daboll who was the NFL Coach of the Year last year, right???!!! This season, they are physically outmatched on both sides of the ball, they have not adjusted the offense inter/intra season, they are subjecting Jones to too much battering, the Defense is missing a crazy amount of tackles, and the mental mistakes/penalties are too frequent to look at just the players (as the cause). The comeback vs AZ turned out to be a canard. Daboll had his team ready to play last season. This season, he has put out a shoddy product that is not competitive.
The Bad- OL Coach. It is one of our keys to winning in the NFL. Are the Giants sooo bad at drafting through Reese, Gettleman and even here with early Schoen, that they cannot get a pick coached up and solid at OL? The only one who has made it is 1.04 Andrew Thomas. Schmitz was doing well before getting hurt. We have to note that Hernandez and Flowers became very serviceable Guards after they left the Giants. I wish I knew exactly what was/is going on here. There is a lot debate whether it is drafting or coaching. Or both.
The Bad- The pummeling. Of Daniel Jones. Jones is LITERALLY getting sent into David Carr land. Those are the comparable stats. It is shell shock. Are any of you surprised that he got hurt last weekend? With that front 5, I run the ball 50x, pass out of play action and save my QB for another day, when….
The Good- The eventual return of LT Andrew Thomas. At risk of oversimplifying the dominoes this year, everything went to sh*t when Thomas went down on the first drive of the first game. Jones made the jump once he had the confidence that his blind side was protected. Goodbye blind side, goodbye Jones, and goodbye Jones offense. Yes, Jones must do better w/o a good OL, but he is under siege. I ripped Jones in the last post. He played better vs MIA. The hope here is that when Thomas comes back, he will put Jones in a better place to compete.
The Good- an uptick in Evan Neal. It is only one game, but despite that awful PFF grade mentioned above, I trust Dan Schneier and Nick Falato on their worst day more than PFF on their best. Falato: “I felt like Evan Neal took somewhat of a step forward to where he looked competent, he was more in position, and he was more deliberate and decisive with his punch. He is framing his blocks much better….. He just looked more confident. Especially with his hands. He looked more decisive with his hands. He was quick to engage. Neal was a little more aggressive with his hands.” Schneier: “The low of low plays are sooo transparent and pushed around social media. They are really bad plays by him. It almost kind of frames who he is entirely… Even when he can put out pretty good game film.. generally speaking, he was just in a better position more times than he has been all season long…. It is not perfect yet, and he still can have a final bad drive with Tyrod in the game….I feel like Evan Neal did take a step forward in this game. He was in better position this week.”
Summary: Yes, it gets late early around here. If Thomas and Schmitz can get back, and Neal can trend to “competent,” the Offense will come back. The Defense played fine vs SEA (albeit one blown coverage). They got 3 turnovers vs MIA and could have been in the game if not for the Offense. If the Giants can simply clean up mistakes, make tackles and run the ball until Thomas comes back, that will have to be enough.