Five Things We Want to See in Giants' Preseason Game vs. Bengals

The Giants are looking to get a little better from last week's preseason opener. Here's a look at five things we hope they're able to accomplish Sunday night.

Author:
Andrew Parsaud
Publish date:
Aug 20, 2022 10:00 AM EDT

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New York Giants

The New York Giants walked into Foxborough last Thursday night and won 23-21 on a game-winning field goal from Graham Gano. Despite the win, there’s always room for improvement in the NFL, and the Giants will be the first to tell you that they have a lot of things to work on ahead of this weekend's preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night.

Here are five things we want to see from the Giants this week.

More Production From Kenny Golladay

The Giants’ highest-paid receiver made headlines in the preseason opener, but for the wrong reasons. Golladay had one catch on three targets for six yards. The numbers didn’t concern fans, but rather the way he played did.

The Giants' first-team offense opened the game with a 68-yard drive with multiple opportunities to score a red zone touchdown, something the unit has failed to do consistently over the last two seasons.

When the Giants were on New England’s 24-yard line, Kenny Golladay ran a go route near the boundary, and Daniel Jones took a shot to him downfield but, unfortunately, was incomplete. On Golladay’s red zone target, he ran a slant and dropped the ball, and would have likely been a touchdown if he caught it.

It is preseason, and players are just starting to get accustomed to playing games again. However, for the highest-paid player on offense, Golladay needs to start producing like one sooner rather than later, such as what he did during Thursday's practice with plays like the following.

Cornerback Improvement

The Giants cornerbacks had a rough going on Thursday night, especially second-year player Aaron Robinson. Robinson, who is currently slated to be the second outside cornerback across from Adoree’ Jackson, played two drives and was consistently targeted by Patriots rookie Tyquan Thornton.

Robinson was initially beaten off the line by Thornton but made a nice recovery to break up the pass. Unfortunately, the play was negated by an illegal contact penalty by Andrew Adams.

The play after, Kristian Wilkerson ran the same route and beat Robinson for a 33-yard gain. When New England reached the red zone, Robinson again made a nice play on a fade route in the end zone but got flagged for taunting after celebrating the play.

Thornton beat Robinson for a touchdown to cap off the drive, and Robinson was flagged again, this time for defensive holding.

Another thing that all of the cornerbacks need to improve on this week is limiting the explosive plays. They must also learn how to turn their heads and look for the ball. Usually, when following a receiver, the eyes are most important in telling that the ball is approaching.

Zyon Gilbert was an example when he allowed a 36-yard-catch to Tre Nixon. Tre Nixon made another play on the Giants cornerbacks on the same drive, this time against Darren Evans for 32 yards.

The young corners need to start making more plays when the opportunity presents itself.

Offensive Line Depth

The Giants' starting offensive line played decently on their first two preseason drives. All went well until left guard Shane Lemieux left the game due to a toe injury that could sideline him for the rest of the preseason.

Starting center Jon Feliciano left last Sunday’s practice early with an injury, and rookie guard Joshua Ezeudu is questionable for Sunday’s game due to injury as well. Jamil Douglas also left the first preseason game due to an ankle injury, and his status is also up in the air this week.

The Giants running game proved solid against the Patriots, and a big part of that was due to the offensive line play. Not just the starting line but every offensive line combination on the field helped the Giants rush for 177 yards on 5.4 yards per carry.

The longest run of the night came from Antonio Williams, a 19-yard rush, and he ended the night with 61 yards and one rushing touchdown. Gary Brightwell, Jashaun Corbin, and Sandro Platzgummer all contributed to a strong showing for the Giants' rushing attack.

If the Giants want to continue that momentum into Sunday’s game, more depth players will have to step up for the offensive line. Devery Hamilton the Giants' highest graded player per Pro Football Focus with a 90.1 overall grade.

Hamilton played 70 snaps against the Patriots and made a strong impression for the swing tackle job. Ben Bredeson, Max Garcia, Garrett McGhin, Eric Smith, and Roy Mbaeteka are some names that will get some more snaps over the next two weeks due to injury, and they have to make the most of this opportunity.

Daniel Jones Continues to Build Repertoire in New Offense

The big storyline from this offseason is how Daniel Jones will fare in his third offensive system in four years. Under Pat Shurmur, Jones thrived as a rookie, throwing 24 touchdown passes to 12 interceptions. The last two years with Jason Garrett was more of a nightmare, as Jones has thrown just 21 touchdown passes since his rookie year.

Now he has Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka in his ear helping him play to the best of his ability. Jones played two drives and ended the night going 6 of 10 for 69 yards. Jones looked fine in the pocket, went through his reads, acknowledged hot routes, and even used his legs to run for a first down.

Giants starters are expected to play against the Bengals. Jones, who might yield some first-team reps to Tyrod Taylor, according to Daboll, did everything right last week, and the big thing should be to continue to build confidence in this new offense.

Staying Healthy

The Giants' main problem seems to be being unable to get out of their way. Injuries have riddled this team for years and have already started trickling this year. Two big contributors on both sides of the ball--Kadarius Toney and Leonard Williams--did not make the trip to New England due to injury.

During the game, the Giants lost starting guard Shane Lemieux (toe), rookie Cor’Dale Flott (groin), and backup OL Jamil Douglas (ankle).

Going into this game, the Giants will likely be short on the offensive line, as well as defensive backs. One of the main goals is to come out of the second preseason game completely healthy with no more injuries to a roster that has already accumulated a good amount.