Statistical Issues the Giants Need to Improve on Offense in 2021
Playoff-bound? That's what the New York Giants franchise is hoping to be when the dust of the 2021 NFL season settles, and the playoff berths are determined.
The Giants, as we all know by now, underwent a massive roster revamp in the off-season. They currently have 13 players that were once first-round draft picks, either for the Giants or for another team.
They loaded up on edge rushers, cornerbacks, and wide receivers, three-position groups that last year were passable but not entirely up to snuff in terms of allowing the coaching staff to accomplish everything they might have wanted to do.
And they have a solid foundation in place that was first implemented by head coach Joe Judge and has continued to be solidified by the players themselves.
Will all that lead to the Giants reaching their goal of getting into the postseason tournament?
Again, that is the hope, and it looks to be a realistic one given the structure in place. But the structure is only one part of the picture, as there has to be an improvement in several major statistical areas.
Where are some of the areas that the Giants need to take a significant step forward?
To answer this question, I went back to look at the final 2020 team and league averages to determine where the Giants were most glaringly under the league average on offense and defense. Based on those numbers, here are the most glaring takeaways.
In this analysis, we're going to look at the offensive side of the ball; tomorrow, we'll look at the defensive side of things.
Offensive Red Zone Conversion
Giants: 36.36% | NFL: 41.64% (-5.28% difference)
If you want to start anyplace with why the Giants were the 31st ranked scoring offense last year, you can start with their inability to punch the ball into the end zone from inside the opponent's 20-yard line, which was simply abysmal.
According to Football Outsiders, the Giants averaged 4.32 points per red-zone trip. If the Giants want to become a scoring juggernaut, it all starts with cashing in on the so-called "scoring chip shots" that many consider red zone opportunities to be.
Offensive Sacks Allowed Per Pass Attempt
Giants 9.67% | NFL: 6.30% (-3.37% difference)
Over the last five seasons, the Giants have allowed 165 quarterback sacks, an average of 33 per season.
While not all of those sacks are on the offensive line---missed blitz pickups by the running backs and the quarterback's holding of the ball for too long have also contributed to the high rate--there's no little question that this number needs to be reduced.
The Giants are banking on that happening. The general feeling is that the offensive line will not only have a full year of working together in this offense (which will lead to more of a comfort level), but in addition, the stabilized coaching situation should go a long way toward getting this group back on track.
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Offensive Passing Yards Per Game
Giants 189.1 | NFL 240.2 (Difference: -51.1)
If you want to know why the Giants spent like crazy on players like receiver Kenny Golladay, look no further than this stat.
The Giants struggled to run deep passing concepts for multiple reasons, including offensive lie protection, but probably more so due to the receivers' inability to separate deep down the field.
The irony in this stat is that throwing deep has been a Daniel Jones strength of which the team just hasn't been able to take advantage.
According to Pro Football Focus, last season Jones completed 20 out of 43 deep pass (20+ yards) attempts (46.5%) for 652 yards and six of his 11 touchdown throws, a 15.2 yards per pass attempt average. Further, among those deep pass attempts, he had two dropped balls and 18 batted passes.
While those numbers by themselves don't look that impressive, let's compare them to his intermediate throws between 10-19 yards. Jones went 48-81 on those pass attempts for 730 yards, no touchdowns, and four interceptions with five batted passes and six drops.
But in going back to the big picture, had the Giants been able to pull to within the league average, maybe that would have meant at least another score for the league's 31st ranked scoring offense (and for an offense that over the last five seasons has only scored an average of 34 offensive touchdowns per season).
Offense: Average Fumbles-Lost/Game
Giants 0.7 | NFL: 0.5
While it might be tempting to point the finger at Daniel Jones as this team's biggest culprit for the ball security issues, I went back and looked at the last five years and found that over that period, the Giants had 50 lost fumbles, an average of 10 per season.
Having gotten that out of the way, let's hone in on last year, where per Team Rankings, the Giants averaged 0.7 fumbles lost per game, the fifth-highest average in the league.
If you're looking for a silver lining to this stat, there are a couple to be had. First, the Giants finished better in 2020 than they did in 2019 when they were averaging 1.0 lost fumble per game, which led the league in lost fumbles.
Zeroing in even further, the Giants cut down their average fumbles lost from 0.7 to 0.3 over their last three games of the season, making them one of the most improved teams in that statistic over that time frame.
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