By the Numbers: Where the 2020 Giants Must Improve Statistically
With a 4-12 record, there's no doubt that the New York Giants were bad in just about every major statistical category.
One could easily write a book about all the statistics the Giants must improve, but what we've done instead is seek to prioritize what numbers must end up ranking in the top-half if not the top 10 of the league if this Giants team is to turn its fortunes around.
Third Down Conversion Rate
This goes without saying, as longer the Giants offense can stay on the field, the less stress it will put on a still young and developing revamped defense.
Last year, the Giants converted just 37.3 percent of their third downs conversion rate in 2019. That number wasn't too far off from the NFL average of 39.02%, but it could have still been a lot better.
Per Football Outsiders, the Giants finished 15th in 3-and-out drives with a .203 percentage. While not still in the top half of the league, the Giants need to be better.
Having a fully healthy Saquon Barkley will help the Giants improve on that number in 2020. Barkley suffered an ankle injury early in Week 3 last season and wasn't quite the same even after he returned.
But now that Barkley is healthy, having a dual-threat running back like Barkley should help the Giants pick up those scrappy first downs to extend drives.
Additionally, Evan Engram’s return should give the Giants a significant weapon on third down. Engram missed the second half of the 2019 season due to a foot injury, but if he's healthy, he's expected to play a significant role in the offense this year as a vertical threat and a potential seam-buster for the offense.
Touchdowns Per Drive
Along with extending drives, the Giants struggle to punch the ball into the end zone last year was downright embarrassing.
They finished 26th in the league on drives accumulating in a touchdown, despite having scoring success on 4.8% of their red-zone appearances.
Field goals rarely win games, so it goes without saying that the Giants need to visit the opponent's end zone a little more often than they did last year.
Turnover Differential
The Giants turned the ball over 33 times in 2019 but had just 16 takeaways. This -17 turnover differential was tied with the Los Angeles Chargers for the worst in the league.
The Giants aren't good enough to give away more possessions than they take away to win games in 2020, and the turnover differential is a number that has to be significantly better in 2020.
Offensively, taking care of the ball was a significant issue for Daniel Jones last year. He accounted for most of the Giants’ giveaways, with 11 lost fumbles and 12 interceptions.
In his sophomore season, Jones will need to be smarter and not be so loose with the football. He's worked on various drills to ensure he cuts down on the lost balls, but he reverted to some old habits at the scrimmage this summer.
These included locking in downfield and being unaware of the pressure around him as he waited for a receiver to be open.
To make matters worse, he took his left hand off the ball on one drop back, making it too easy for the defense to knock it loose. Then on a scramble, he failed to carry the ball high and tight, instead of swinging it out there where he again lost the handle.
This isn't all on Jones, however. The Giants' defense barely came up with turnovers, coming up with a 1.8% interception rate, 27th in the NFL.
The recent signings of defensive backs Logan Ryan and James Bradberry, and the drafting of cornerback Darnay Holmes gives the Giants new potential playmakers with the ball skills to boost the team's turnover differential in 2020.
And the emphasis placed on stripping the ball among the front seven should also hopefully create more opportunities.
Opponents Yards Allowed Per Drive
Earlier, we mentioned the Giants offense failing to sustain drives. Well, the opposite proved to be true for the defense, and that isn't a good thing.
Last year, Giants opponents allowed an average of 33.20 yards per drive to opponents, 20th in the NFL. And with that, opponents were scoring every 2.3 drives, which was 25th in the NFL, officially putting the Giants defense int eh same category as a sieve.
A big problem on defense was that former coordinator James Bettcher seemed too married to the scheme and not committed enough to adapting to the talent he had.
The attempt to recreate Bettcher's Cardinals defenses by bringing in so many of his former players was shortsighted and is thought to be a big reason why Joe Judge didn't retain him.
This year the Giants added some speed to the unit, which should help, and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham is thought to be planning more press-man coverages with single-high safety looks to help put the players in positions of strengths.
Sacks Allowed
Jones may have been careless with the football at times in 2019, but he was also under pressure a lot. He was sacked 38 times, while Eli Manning was sacked an additional five times in his four starts.
Rookie quarterbacks usually struggle to adjust to NFL pass rushes as it is because they often hold the ball longer than they should, which was frequently the case with Jones.
Add to that an inconsistent offensive line on top of that and can cause them to get even more flustered.
Giants’ general manager Dave Gettleman clearly recognized that he needed to get someone to block for his young franchise quarterback. and drafted offensive tackle Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick this year to protect Jones’ blindside.
It will be interesting to see just how much of an impact Thomas will have right away. Gettleman has spent much of his tenure with the Giants trying to rebuild the offensive line.
This unit was not one of the team's strong areas in 2019, but Thomas was drafted to change that this season.
Pass Rush
The grand prize for a team's pass rush is sacks, but pressures and other forms of disruptions are just as good, especially if they result in incomplete passes or turnovers.
However, the Giants' defense struggled with its overall pass rush, finishing 30th, per Football Outsiders. Per Pro Football Focus, they only managed 280 pressures all of last year, whereas teams in the playoffs were well over 300 pressures on defense.
Markus Golden was one of the few bright spots of the Giants' pass rush in 2019, as he led the team in sacks with 10. His return will be a boost to the defense, but the Giants' other pass rushers will have to step up.
Besides Golden, no other player on the Giants recorded more than five sacks last season. As a team, they only recorded just 36 sacks. Opposing quarterbacks usually had plenty of time to look for open receivers, partially why the Giants allowed an average of 264.1 passing yards per game in 2019 and had the fifth-worst passing defense in the league.
The Giants are counting on Lorenzo Carter to step up and make his presence known in the pass rush. Carter had himself a strong camp this summer and unofficially led the team in pressures and sacks, but that production must transfer to gameday if the defense is to be successful.
Expect Leonard Williams to play a larger role in the pass rush than he did last year. Although he only had 0.5 sacks in eight games played for the Giants in 2019, Williams recorded 11 quarterback hits. Dexter Lawrence could also be a significant factor for the pass rush in his second season.
Time of Possession
One of the many reasons that the Giants were 4-12 last season was that their opponents frequently won the time of possession battle. The Giants had an average possession time of 28:43 minutes per game in 2019, while their opponents possessed the ball for an average of 31:56 minutes.
On the surface, this may not seem like a huge difference. However, this over three-minute difference per game is significant because, as noted in the other categories, it meant the defense was on the field too much and the offense, not enough.
Something that should help the Giants win the time of possession battle more often this season is the presence of new offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. When he was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, they usually controlled the ball effectively.
Garrett typically kept his offense on the field as much as possible by prioritizing short-yardage plays and picking up first downs with regularity. That's where Engram and Barkley staying healthy comes into play. As mentioned before, Engram and Barkley will be huge in the Giants' efforts to pick up third downs.
There will also be more pressure on Jones to cut down on his mistakes, as they would often put the defense back onto the field prematurely last year.
