Bobby Johnson Breaks Silence on Giants' O-line Struggles
Did the decision by the New York Giants coaching staff to rotate offensive linemen right up until the end of training camp, thus reducing the opportunities for live reps between the eventual starting five, contribute to the poor play of the unit against the Dallas Cowboys?
“I’m not going to say yes or no to it,” said offensive lineman Mark Glowinski, who had the worst game of his NFL career against Dallas. “You always want to have more reps. I think you also must be ready, if it’s even a walkthrough, to make sure they make the most of those reps. Even the ones you’re not in, putting yourself in the position when you’re watching the film to be in those spots as well just making sure you’re in the right position to succeed.”
Giants offensive line coach Bobby Johnson disagreed.
“I don't think so. I know a lot of people think that, but I'm just saying that the same thing could be said of if you get a guy injured, and they miss time, and then they go back in. It's just, that's the nature of the league,” Johnson said. “So, I don't think that was a culprit.”
Whatever the culprit, Johnson knows that he better figure out a solution fast to fix an offensive line that, per Pro Football Focus, finished dead-last in pass-blocking efficiency (67.0) and tied for first in most quarterback pressures allowed last week.
Johnson and the Giants could be looking at having to play Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals without left tackle Andrew Thomas, who’s been nursing a hamstring injury.
Then there is also the matter of right tackle Evan Neal, last year’s seventh overall pick in the draft, who once again had a rough showing against the Cowboys, the same as last year when he struggled to shut down the Dallas pass rush.
However, Johnson disagreed that Neal’s issues are the same as a year ago.
“He's improved. He's put a lot of time in and continued improving. So, I just disagree that it was the same as last year for him, but it doesn't matter because we're a group. We're not a collection of individuals. And obviously, it wasn't what we wanted, and we're going to try to improve that in the next opponent.”
Johnson, who has always been a straight shooter with his players, has taken that same approach to get the group to play better moving forward.
“Just like any game, you kind of go back and look at what you did wrong,” he said. “What was the cause of it? You know, more often than not, you find out it's more you than the opponent. And then you move on to what you did well, and then you move on to the next game.”
Johnson wouldn’t go into specifics regarding the mistakes he saw on film, but instead stressed it’s all about moving forward.
“As the coach, what can I do differently to help the guys prepare? And that's what I've moved on to this week is to say, ‘Okay, what, what issues presented by this opponent?’ And that's what we've done. We've moved on to that. You gotta address what the upcoming opponent is because that (Dallas) game was how many days ago? We play the next opponent sooner. So that's where we're at.”
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