Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
A multi-step plan to jumpstart the Giants
The New York Giants have not gotten off to the start they wanted, not by any means. For the third straight season, they have fallen into an 0-2 hole to start the year.
Fans might have been able to accept a hard-fought loss to start the season, but back-to-back losses has everyone frustrated.
Making matters worse, the Giants have just not looked competitive in either of their games so far – at least not after their first drives of the game.
The root cause of many of the Giants' problems can't be fixed mid-season.
Simply put, they lack talent at some positions or need young players to develop at others. Those issues need to be addressed with off-season investments and time.
But that doesn't mean the team can't make any adjustments to improve their play now, in 2019.
Let's take a look at some ways the Giants can get their team running more smoothly.
Getting Traction On Offense
While the cliché might be that “defense wins championships” when it comes to football in 2019, the offense is the more important side of the ball.
Good offense allows a team to control the flow of the game, put pressure on opposing offenses and help out their own defense, and be consistent on a weekly, monthly, and season-to-season basis.
Personnel-wise, the Giants are what they are. Beyond getting Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate back, their offensive personnel won't be changing barring a shocking (and unlikely) mid-season trade, a la the Cowboys picking up Amari Cooper in 2018.
But that doesn't mean that the Giants are stuck with what they have been calling for their offense. There are changes they can make to how they use the players they have that can help make the offense more effective.
Lean On Evan Engram And TJ Jones in the Passing Game
So far tight end Evan Engram has been, by far, the Giants best-receiving weapon.
Through two games he has averaged 3.55 yards of separation and caught 17 of 22 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown.
His ability to play multiple positions--tight end, fullback/H-back, slot receiver, and wide receiver--as well as his rare blend of size and explosive athleticism, make him a match-up problem for whoever is covering him.
The Giants re-signed Jones following Sterling Shepard's concussion and he made his presence felt against Buffalo.
He had a phenomenal 5.77 yards of separation and while he isn't a rare athlete, he seemed to play at a different speed than the Giants' other receivers.
Jones has a combination of quickness, agility, balance, body control, field awareness, and mental processing that lead to a play speed the Giants' other active receivers don't have.
Both Engram and Jones have impressive upsides as ball carriers.
Last year Engram was second among all receivers in the NFL in yards after the catch, trailing only George Kittle.
We also saw what Jones is capable of with the ball in his hands on his 60-yard punt return.
The Giants want to include run-after catch and screen plays in their offense, so it would make sense to put the ball in the hands of players who have the potential to be dynamic in the open field.
If the Giants are going to throw the ball, they should try to prioritize the targets toward the players who can make the most of them.
Take A Second Look at Other Personnel Packages
In the pre-season, we saw a variety of personnel packages from the Giants.
In addition to the standard 11-personnel package, we also saw a high frequency of two-tight end as well as two-back sets. At the start of the regular season, the Giants have relied on the three-receiver set almost exclusively.
In the first week, the Giants played an 11-personnel package on 83 percent of their offensive snaps (per SharpFootballStats), the second-highest rate in the NFL.
Given the plays called to start the Giants' games, it makes sense: 11-personnel is a fantastic personnel grouping for running the ball as it forces defenses into smaller defensive packages and spreads them out.
But considering their lack of success throwing the ball, the Giants have to ask themselves whether a three-receiver set puts their best players on the field.
The Giants' receiving corps isn't great at full strength and it has been depleted since the beginning of training camp.
While players like Rhett Ellison, Wayne Gallman, and Paul Perkins might not be game-breakers, it is worth asking whether or not they are better than the Giants' third and fourth wide receivers.
21 (two running back) and 12 (two-tight end) sets aren't as effective as 11-personnel as running formations, but they are both more efficient passing formations.
Defenses typically respond to heavy offensive personnel packages by putting heavier base defensive personnel packages on the field and keying on the run game.
That allows the offense better athletic match-ups and options to create separation as the defense tries to match linebackers on an addition tight end or running back.
With Evan Engram's athleticism and versatility, the Giants could easily force a defense expecting a two-tight end set to try and defend a psuedo-spread look out of base personnel.
Likewise, with a 21-personnel package, in this case, I would take a page from Alabama's playbook and use two actual running backs in the backfield, not a running back and a fullback.
While the presence of a fullback more firmly puts the idea of a run play in the defense's collective mind, Both Gallman and Perkins are capable receivers who have the ability to truly threaten a defense, as well as present threats as ball carriers and present a whole suite of possibilities to the defense when sharing the backfield with Saquon Barkley.
Let Saquon Barkley Run Routes
So far, running back Saquon Barkley has been targeted on 13 passing plays, but they have almost exclusively been quick passes out of the backfield.
Barkley is a perfectly capable route runner who has the ability to not only threaten as a receiver out of the backfield on angle and wheel routes (both of which should absolutely be staples in his offensive workload), but also as a slot receiver and a wide receiver.
To date, the Giants have very rarely used him as anything other than a check-down option out of the backfield. Barkley has reliable hands and as much explosively dynamic athleticism as any receiver in the NFL.
While I am not advocating a transition to wide receiver, using him around the entire offensive formation can create some unique opportunities and match-ups for the Giants to exploit.
For instance, in the two runningback formation suggested above, the Giants could motion Barkley from the backfield to the slot or out wide.
In doing so, they would not only expose the defense's coverage call (as offensive pre-snap motion tends to do), but also potentially create a situation where a linebacker is forced to play cornerback and cover Barkley out wide in space.
Use Play-Action
To quote my friend Dan Pizzuta of SharpFootball, play-action is like a cheat code for the NFL. It isn't a new concept--Bill Walsh advocated using play-action frequently as the safest way to attack a defense downfield and slow a pass rush.
Four teams used play-action far more than any other in the league in the first week of the season--the Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Tennessee Titans.
Each team put up at least 35 points and won by a minimum of two touchdowns. There, of course, isn't a direct correlation between play-action and a dominant win, but faking a hand-off forces a defense to honor their run fits and creates wide-open throwing lanes.
Play-action isn't dependent on “establishing the run” and can be as effective on the first play of the game as it is on the fortieth. Regardless of who is throwing to whom, the passing game is just easier when the defense thinks the offense is running the ball.
How to Tighten Up The Defense
While the offense is the more important side of the ball, the Giants absolutely have issues with which they need to contend on the defensive side of the ball.
So far the Giants have been inconsistent in generating pressure and the pass coverage has been downright poor.
Much of the Giants' issues on the defensive side of the ball come from their relying on a number of young players who simply have to take their lumps as they adjust to life in the NFL. But the Giants can still try some things to help out their defense.
Let DeAndre Baker Play Press-Man
So far this season the Giants have been playing more off-man and zone coverages than we might have expected from them.
Part of that might be to help hide some of Antoine Bethea's athletic limitations, but also perhaps to keep DeAndre Baker from situations where he doesn't have to turn and run with NFL receivers.
However, Baker has seemed confused regarding his responsibilities in zone coverage and quarterbacks have been using the cushion in off-man for easy completions.
In the preseason we saw instances where Baker was in man coverage and was forced to hold receivers who got a step on him.
He is going to have to walk a fine line in the NFL between aggressive physicality and team-hurting penalties. However, he is at his best when he is able to disrupt routes and use his instincts and ball skills to make plays on the ball when the offense's timing is off.
This doesn't mean the defense as a whole has to play more press-man (though it might not hurt to give Janoris Jenkins more of those opportunities), and the team could use hybrid coverages that mix both man and zone coverages.
That is a strategy used by both the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears to allow players who excel in man coverage and those who excel in zone coverage to be on the field at the same time and create confusion and uncertainty in the offense.
Blitz More
The Giants' pass rush was virtually non-existent against the Dallas Cowboys, but showed up in week two against Buffalo. Whether it will stick around or was the product of playing an offensive line that had been completely rebuild and was playing just its second game as a unit remains to be seen.
But regardless, more pressure will only help the defense, and the defensive secondary in particular. Blitzing is always risky as it takes a defender out of coverage and puts more strain on the remaining coverage players.
However, if the Giants' secondary is going to struggle to cover anyway, they might as well send them after the passer and try to force mistakes, rushed or off-target throws, or get sacks.
The Giants don't have to call exotic blitzes that dial up pressure from unexpected sources--and with the confusion and communication issues in the secondary, those calls come with the potential of blowing up in the Giants' faces.
Instead, something like Mike Zimmer's double A-gap blitz schemes or the venerable Fire Zone blitz could help improve the Giants' pass rush.
A double A-gap blitz would take advantage of the strength of the Giants' defense (the defensive tackle position, by showing blitz on either side of the Giants' two best defenders in Dalvin Tomlinson and B.J. Hill and cause confusion along the interior of the offensive line.
Likewise, Fire Zone blitzes are simple replacement blitzes that send five rushers while dropping a lineman or EDGE into coverage to fill a void the offense might have believed to be vulnerable.
These blitzes have been in use for decades but are still effective and could perhaps help the Giants cover the vulnerable middle of the field.
Find snaps for Julian Love
For the second week in a row, the Giants have not gotten Julian Love on the field on defense. Love is being transitioned from a pure corner to a slot/safety hybrid, likely in the hopes of him succeeding Antoine Bethea as the free safety.
That can be a difficult transition to make, particularly when it is made at the NFL level rather than in college. But the Giants should still try to find instances in which he can get on the field to try and help the defense.
One potential adjustment could be for the defense to employ something like Iowa State's “3-3-3” or “Air Raid Killer” defense. That defense uses three defensive linemen, two EDGE players, one true linebacker, and three safeties (as well as two corners).
That set would allow the Giants to play Love in the free safety position and play Jabrill Peppers and Antoine Bethea closer to the line of scrimmage where they have had their recent success.
It would also give the Giants the speed on defense they have been missing while also being able to stand up to spread offenses with gap integrity in run defense and the ability to send pressure in the passing game.
