Ways Giants Took Big Leap Forward in 2022
As cliche as it may sound, no franchise in the NFL should be as thankful for the difference a year can make than that of the New York Football Giants.
One season ago, as the team stepped off the losing-ridden field at MetLife Stadium with a 4-13 record and eighth losing campaign in the last decade, all that could be remembered were the low moments that characterized the fragile state of the organization.
The famine that was getting points on the board, the return of the familiar injury bug that took out big players on both sides of the ball, and at the top, the questionable play calling, including the infamous quarterback sneak on third down from inside the 5-yard line in the season finale.
Yet, with the swift change of regimes and a 9-7-1 record a year later, there suddenly was a renewed energy and culture within the franchise that took it to heights nobody imagined possible in the first year of a rebuild. Despite playing with house money the entire way, Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll had the Giants winning football games at a record pace and against some of the more talented rosters throughout the entire league.
Their fast start saw numerous pieces break countless personal, organizational, and NFL-wide records in that span, and it was even enough to push them into their first postseason appearance since 2011. Their first playoff victory since the team last hoisted the Lombardi trophy back in Super Bowl 46.
On Saturday evening, all of the Cinderella pixie dust surrounding the Giants’ miraculous 2022 season ended at the hands of a divisional foe that was simply light years ahead of where they want to be. Falling mercilessly, 38-7, to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Divisional Round, New York and its fanbase earned their most needed reminder that the team is on the right path to relevance again. Still, there is more work left to contend with the elite organizations of the current day.
Nevertheless, the work Schoen and Daboll did accomplish in under 12 months to rejuvenate the Giants has set the tone for the direction of the franchise moving forward and recaptured the attention, love, and respect that the city has always demanded from the rest of the NFL. The duo embraced an eviscerated salary cap situation and depleted roster from the previous regime and worked the gymnastics necessary to turn them into a locker room that competes on the field every Sunday.
At the most important position in the sport, they took a beleaguered quarterback in Daniel Jones, surrounded with one of the most revolutionary minds in offensive systems in Mike Kafka, and elevated him into one of the best dual-threat gunslingers and ball protectors in the league. They also revived the career of an injury-tested Saquon Barkley to make him one of the top comeback rushers, and they created an aggressive defensive unit that’s starting to scare the opposition with its impactful blitz packages from defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.
Statistically, the former coworkers in Buffalo inherited the Giants’ bottom-of-the-barrel production effort sitting near last in several offensive and defensive categories. They transformed it into more competitive rankings in 2022.
After spotting 31st or below in points, yards, turnovers, and first downs the season prior, New York grew to a median 15th and 18th in the overall numbers and returned to one of the cleanest teams in the entire league. Their passing metrics took a bit of a hit late in the year but the rise of the running game bleached that out with rankings of eighth or better in all the major categories.
Now, as their storybook first chapter comes to its painful yet remarkable conclusion, the Giants' focus shifts towards an offseason of shedding the dead weight on their roster, getting healthy before camp, and making the important and wise transactional moves to set the team up for sustained success.
With an expected rise in the salary cap and an estimated $54 million in cap space as of this writing, progress will continue to be defined by difficult decisions and incremental growth. Ultimately, the result will hopefully be a winning product that again fills the bleachers in East Rutherford and places Big Blue in a position to contend for football supremacy.
It will be an exciting, monumental offseason for the Giants in the months ahead, but before it begins, there comes the time to celebrate the biggest numbers and players defining New York’s 2022 season.
Daniel Jones: Dictating the Future
Even as the endless debate between supporters and dissenters of the quarterback raged into his third season with the organization, the New York Giants and their new regime never took their eyes off Daniel Jones under center.
From the moment Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll came in as the team’s new leaders, there was a belief that the new environment could bring out the best in the gunslinger’s intangibles and turn him into one of the staple pieces on the offensive side for years to come.
Turns out their inclinations regarding Jones weren’t just fallacies waiting to be blown up by another disastrous campaign, as the 25-year-old would put aside his prior deficiencies and chief the most productive operation in the team’s recent history behind the highest-rated annual performance of his very young career.
Jones, the franchise’s former No. 6 overall pick, was arguably the most polarizing figure on the Giants’ roster and the biggest pariah in the entire New York market for his first three seasons at the professional level.
As his major statistics continued to drop from a solid rookie outing in 2019, the most espoused critique of his game was his inclination to lose control of the football, especially in big moments when contact arose from the background. By the end of year two alone, the Duke product tallied 22 of his 34 total interceptions, a consecutive feat that didn’t even factor in the fumbles that seemed so commonplace when a potential victory was on the line.
Working with offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, Jones suddenly lost what was weighing him down and unleashed hidden dual-threat abilities en route to a career-best season for Big Blue.
In 16 games played this fall, his first fully healthy stint since being drafted, Jones accumulated a peak 317 completions on 472 passes (67.2%) for 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five interceptions, all numbers except the second being the most phenomenal in the aforementioned span.
Along with those heroics through the air, Jones added to his astounding resume with another career-best in the rushing department, rushing 120 times for a total of 708 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 5.9 yards per carry and 44.5 per game to raise his professional collection to 1,702 yards and 12 scores.
The mark finished fifth among active quarterbacks for annual production. Also, it sat in the vicinity of names like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts to bring Jones into the discussion for one of the top mobile quarterbacks in the entire NFL.
Jones made a solid effort to cut down on his lost balls and add increased protection to his throws under duress and the success turned the Giants into one of the cleanest operations throughout the 2022 season.
The background work began to show in 2021 as he snipped down the turnovers from 10 to seven despite playing behind an abysmal and depleted offensive line. By the time Week 18 rolled around, Jones had the interception number down to an incredible five that helped rank New York second in the turnover category.
Among his top performances at large, none would pop out better than the four contests that helped the quarterback lead his team closer to contention into the playoffs and the league’s record books.
Against the Jaguars in Week 7, Jones notched 19 completions for 202 yards and a touchdown to pair with 11 rushes for 107 yards and a score on the ground in the Giants’ 23-17 win, both lines making him the first signal caller with 200 yards passing and 100 yards rushing in a single game.
More notable than that showing, his most brilliant competition would happen in the Wild Card round against the Minnesota Vikings, a team that allowed him to rack up 334 passing yards, 8.0 yards per play, and a touchdown with their swiss cheese defense in a close affair in Week 16.
Leading the huddle to their first postseason victory on the postseason stage in eleven years, Jones thrashed the Vikings’ defense to 24 completions for 301 yards and two touchdowns, including 17 carries for 78 yards and a long of 15 yards in the play action game. The feat led him to make postseason history by becoming the first quarterback with at least 300 yards, two touchdowns, and 70 rushing yards (including no interceptions) in a single playoff match.
What will make things interesting about Jones’ record season is how it affects negotiations for a new contract with the Giants as their attention turns to retaining key players during the offseason.
The organization elected to defer picking up their star’s fifth-year option last spring and let things play out in 2022 to see if he could be the franchise quarterback they envisioned him to be three years earlier. Left without a new deal, Jones was forced to bet on himself with an eye-popping campaign, and now he’s delivered to put the pressure on the front office at the negotiating table.
We know that Joe Schoen has already expressed the Giants’ extreme desire to bring Jones back for the 2023 NFL season. Still, he acknowledged the business side of things and the severity of the situation regarding making the right financial decisions around impending free-agent players. If one had to make a bet on it, Jones would seem like the surest candidate to receive a new deal in the coming months, given what he’s done this past season, and that’s because the team understands what stands in front of them as long as the right system and pieces remain in place.
The Resurgence of Saquon Barkley
When the unforgettable Achilles tear kicked in during Week 2 of the 2020 season, it felt like the world—and his career—had turned upside down for running back Saquon Barkley.
After the New York Giants star ball carrier made it through a grueling rehab to return in the following year, his comeback would only be stunted by an ankle injury in Week 6 against the Cowboys.
Returning to the field again this fall in the “best shape of his life,” the 25-year-old rusher proved he still has plenty in the tank as the featured player in the Giants’ backfield.
In a season that saw him appear in 16 games and finish atop the best-producing running backs in the NFL, Barkley re-sparked the Giants’ faded rushing attack with a whopping 295 carries for 1,312 yards (4.4 average) and 10 touchdowns, his best outing since his 20188 rookie campaign. The line marked his third 1,000-yard performance at the professional level after consecutive shows in his first two seasons alone. He also had 57 receptions for 338 yards and an average of 5.9 yards in the receiving game.
While he ranked top-5 in the league in three of the aforementioned categories and 25th among active running backs in average yards per carry, Barkley also helped the Giants tally an average of 5.2 yards and notched their fourth-ranked rushing total at 2,519 yards and four touchdowns in the same span. New York’s 4.8 yards per rush sat at fifth-best by the end of official scoring, and they carried the 18th-most yards at 5,676 after dismal numbers one year prior.
Above all that, what made the Penn State product’s fifth season in blue so remarkable was the early frequency with which he collected such game-impacting performances to lead the Giants into their winning ways. In the team’s first nine games, Barkley eclipsed the 100-yard rushing line four times, including two contests in the first month that contributed to some of their closest victories.
Two outings crossed 150 yards on the final stat line and featured some of his highest carries totals and rushing averages throughout 2022. Opening things up against the Titans in Week 1, Barkley had 18 carries for 164 yards (9.1 average) and a touchdown to lead the Giants to an upset victory off a decisive two-point conversion in the final minutes.
Eight weeks later, in a narrow 24-16 escape from the Texans, he followed up with 35 attempts for 152 yards and another score to put himself at the top of the position standings during the given period and solidify this old form was back.
In various ways, Barkley would contribute to weekly numbers, which included three more games with at least 11 carries and 63 yards in the second half of the season.
Out of the backfield, he would either gash up the middle for inside zone plays or extend to the outside, find his lane, and bring back the old burst to take the Giants’ drive right into a payday. New York would also feature their starting back in the wildcat on several occasions, most recently during the divisional loss to Philadelphia when Barkley took the snap and pitched it to Matt Brieda for the team’s lone score.
Regardless, the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year would finally earn his sweet taste of the comeback after nearly two full seasons of watching from the sidelines and listening to pundits debate over his future with the Giants and the NFL.
Barkley always knew his injuries weren’t the death toll to his career, and he proved it with the best season of his professional tenure after barely scrapping 600 yards and two touchdowns in 2020-21 combined. He was once again a threat that opposing teams talked about and a weapon the Giants look forward to having in the future.
That is, if they can work out the important financials with the running back in the offseason. With the 2022 season over, Barkley enters free agency with an unrestricted status and a heavy desire to remain with Big Blue for the rest of his career. The Giants had their initial negotiations with Barkley during the team’s Week 9 bye week, but neither side could come to an agreement, and the discussions were shelved until games were finished being played.
Now, the time has come to return to the negotiating table, where Barkley understands he won’t “reset the market” but desires to be in a range slightly above what the Giants initially offered which was reported at around $12 million per year. Looming large are the contracts of Daniel Jones and other notable players on both sides of the ball, making things complicated for Joe Schoen in how to dish out around $60 million.
Both sides know what Barkley has meant to the Giants’ brand over the years, and this season has shown them more about the impact in the backfield as long as things continue to improve within Brian Daboll’s system and roster. They hope to get a deal done in the next few weeks so that more flashy runs will light up MetLife Stadium in the future.
Defense Reinvigorated
For all their improvements on the offensive side under Mike Kafka, the New York Giants defense also saw respectable growth with Wink Martindale in 2022.
Last season, despite the inability of the offense to put points up at a competitive pace, the grit of the Giants defense kept them within manageable deficits in several of their contests. In a 4-13 campaign, six of their games ended as one-score affairs and had largely to do with the unit keeping teams out of the red zone at a premium rate. New York ranked 16th and 14th, respectively, in passing and rushing touchdowns allowed in 2021 and owned the ninth-best opposing red zone scoring percentage at 52.1%.
However, the franchise still had issues with limiting opposing production throughout the remainder of the field and getting pressure on the backfield to force decisions into turnovers on the other end.
According to Pro Football Reference, Big Blue ranked 21st in total yardage allowed last year, including 25th and 22nd in rushing yards and average yards per carry. They also sat in the 20s in attempts, first downs, and fourth down conversions allowed in that span, making it difficult to get the lowly offense back onto the gridiron.
Along came Martindale this season, one of the most renowned defensive coordinators in the NFL due to his time in Baltimore. The Giants defense became a well-oiled machine with good improvements in both phases of the opposing offense. More importantly, the group turned into a complete terror on the front lines, causing havoc in the pocket thanks to a system filled with heavy blitz packages and high-volume pressure looks.
By the end of the 2022 season, the Giants were a prideful bunch, thanks to the impact of their new coach and their annual defensive numbers rising from the doldrums to one of the more prominent attacks down the stretch. At the close of Week 18, they ranked 17th in total points and 25th in total yards allowed, a significant increase in the former stat year over year.
While they couldn’t lower the number of first downs allowed from 25th last fall, New York improved to 17th, 14th, and 9th overall in their major passing categories and took their running stats into the upper teens and early 20s in the same areas.
The most damaging work by Martindale’s crew took place in the trenches and behind the line of scrimmage, where they were one of the highest blitzing units in the entire league. The Giants led the NFL with an astounding 43.9% blitz rate that came heavily from the interior and outside linebacker spots. Yet the pressure wouldn’t just come there as the team topped the league in Cover-0 looks (9.6%) and quarter personnel packages (13.1%) to get some defensive backs involved in the action.
No matter who was coming through the middle to blow up the adversary’s play in the backfield, the results of the Giants’ blitzing feast were fruitful and left the opposition scrambling for answers every week.
As a team, they compiled 1,215 tackles, including 779 solo takedowns, for 41 sacks, 271 sack yards lost, and 73 tackles for loss. In addition, they forced throws in risky areas and made solid plays on balls let loose, tallying 75 passes deflected, six interceptions for 97 yards and one touchdown, and 22 forced fumbles, including 13 recovered on and ground and one returned for six points.
While having his drastic impact on the overall product, nothing would be more telling of Martindale’s force than the select players on the Giants roster he helped morph into All-Pro caliber studs.
At the forefront of these men was Dexter Lawrence, the team’s fourth-year nose tackle who, in his career-best campaign with 68 tackles (seven for loss), 7.5 sacks for 50 yards, three passes deflected, and two forced fumbles. The 2019 first-round pick became a fan favorite for his impeccable power rushing skills and lovable sack celebrations, earning a Pro Bowl nomination for blowing linemen backward into the quarterback and finishing top-40 in sacks and fumbles in the pocket.
Beyond Lawrence, safety Julian Love, defensive edge Kayvon Thibodeaux and linebacker Jihad Ward also had impeccable seasons under their coordinator’s tutelage. Thibodeaux, who was selected 5th overall last April by the Giants, rose to the occasion in Washington with a strip fumble and touchdown that led the team into a big victory for their postseason hopes and finished his rookie year with 49 tackles, four sacks, five deflected passes and two forced and recovered fumbles. Love led the defense in tackles and turnover metrics in his contract year, and Ward was a vocal leader in the huddle to push the group in its brightest and lowest streaks of the season.
After years of having a mediocre offense and a defense constantly gassed from working hard to keep the team afloat every Sunday, the Giants seem to have something special brewing on the latter side behind the leadership and mind of Martindale. As the organization heads into the offseason, a few of their key names will enter the free agent pool, and the hope is for New York to bring back as many as fit the financial needs of the present time.
Of the players on that list, names like Love, Ward, Landon Collins, Fabian Moreau, and Jaylon Smith assume to be closer to the focus point of the team’s discussions for new contracts this spring. The reality is not everyone can stay under the restrictions of the salary cap, so the goal is to bring back the guys who best fit the mold and culture of the team and that can mentor any incoming talent into the system to keep it growing and dominating ahead.
Time will decide which faces are chosen for that mission by Joe Schoen and company, but at least they know Martindale has developed a decent party to pick from.
Redzone Scoring Improves Nearly 20%, Ball Movement Up
Among the many statistics that saw improvements for the New York Giants in 2022, one of the most notable was the upward spike in the overall red zone scoring percentage.
Over the past few seasons, punching the pigskin over the goal line when inside the opposition’s 20-yard line has been a massive issue for the New York Giants to overcome.
In 2021, their woes hit their lowest point in a long time, with the team ranking dead last in red zone success rate at 44.7% by converting 17 of their 38 total visits. Big Blue also hung pretty deep in third and fourth down conversion percentages in that same span, making it even more difficult to pass the pylons when the extra distance was required to get there.
The franchise’s disconnect so close to payday could have resulted from a number of factors. One idea that got pointed out most was the play calling in the short field that never took advantage of the team’s best playmakers in the big moment. In a few other instances, failure to complete a catch or ball protection fighting to reach the goalline would thwart any successful efforts, bringing the defense back on the field to face the full-distance stop.
This fall, with the implantation of a new offensive system under signal caller Mike Kafka, the famine inside the red zone turned into a feast as the Giants success rate within the 20-yard line jumped as high as 20% by the end of the 2022 season.
Per Pro Football Reference, with the help of their 15th-ranked scoring offense and top-5 rushing attack, New York finished their latest campaign with the seventh-best red zone scoring percentage in the NFL at 63.3%. They converted 31 of their 49 total visits while allowing the fifth-lowest opposing percentage of 49.2%, their best combination of the past five seasons.
Getting closer to the red zone to fulfill these numbers became easier with Kakfa’s system. The Giants elevated their third and fourth down conversions to 22nd and 21st in the league, respectively, including 10-21 (47.6%) on the latter attempts. This aggressiveness on late downs fueled many of the team’s extra trips to the home run and lent to a few of their greatest red zone performances on the season.
At the start of the schedule, the Giants marched into Tennessee and upset the Titans 21-20 behind their 2-3 red zone success rate. Even with that solid margin, nothing would top their efforts than the additional visit on the 2-point conversion by running back Saquon Barkley to finish off the thrilling victory to open up the year.
Then, in London against the Packers, New York reached the endzone three times thanks to scores from Daniel Bellinger, Gary Brightwell, and Barkley to put a stunner on Green Bay that let the league know the Giants were on a legit comeback.
No performance would stand taller than the Giants 4-5 red zone conversion percentage against the Colts in Week 17, as Big Blue posted a whopping 38 points and drubbed the opponent to their first playoff berth in the last six years.
With every score in the red zone came an increase in the Giants' average points per-drive ratio. In 2021, the team scored on 27.5% of their drives which was 30th-best in the league, and averaged 1.31 points per possession to sit dead last in that category. One year later, with an offense that finished at 7.3% drive turnover percentage, New York had those numbers at 37.3% and 1.95 points per drive, positioned 15th and 16th, respectively, by the end of Week 18.
For as much as they improved their scoring and ball movement capabilities this season, the Giants know there is still work left to match up with the elite offenses every year, some of which they were able to hold down with defense this past fall.
While they cut down opponents' average points per game against them from 24.4 to 21.8 points, that number was about the same mark their offense accomplished in the same 17 games. They also crossed the 30-point line twice, with both contests coming in the final four weeks after holding a 43-game streak without reaching the mark.
Part of that solution could come from the pieces the Giants assemble in the offseason as they seek to secure at least one wide receiver to bolster the weapons in Daniel Jones’s arsenal. The additional benefits of having a dual-threat quarterback will also boost that effort, with Jones finishing second on the team in rushing with 708 yards and seven touchdowns in 16 games.
Either way, the NFL is increasingly becoming a place where high-powered offenses are challenging the old “defense wins championships” mantra of the past in the quest for the league’s ultimate recognition. The Giants must acclimate to that trend while continuing to fortify the strength that is their defense, or else they will be left in the antiquated dust.
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