Can Giants Familiarity Yield Success?
New Giants inside linebacker Blake Martinez chuckled as he recalled meeting some of his teammates in person for the first time earlier this summer.
“Overall, walking in it was just having to see the guy’s face for the first time in person. Being like, ‘Oh sweet, that’s what you look like. It’s not just your face; I get your whole body now,’” he told reporters during a video conference call Thursday.
“Overall, it was cool to walk in and make it seem like we have been friends for the last six months.”
The Giants have been searching for that beacon of light in what’s been unchartered and, at times, choppy waters thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the league to scrap its traditional off-season programs and spring OTAs.
But Martinez credited the coaching staff and his teammates for creating an environment—a virtual one, mind you—that laid down a solid foundation for when everyone eventually did meet each other in person.
“I think overall we did a great job as a team making sure we took advantage of what we were given,” he said. “The Zoom meetings, being able to add in video games at nighttime with guys, (and) just chatting with guys after the meetings ended.”
That familiarity is just a small; part of the equation for a Giants team that is still getting to know one another and getting to know a new coaching staff that has brought its own schemes and terminology on offense and defense.
But even in those cases, it’s not as though the players are starting from scratch. On offense, quarterback Daniel Jones can take solace in knowing that he has his primary offensive skill players back with him for another year—receivers Darius Slayton, Golden Tate and Sterling Shepard, tight end Evan Engram and running back Saquon Barkley—many of whom Jones had a chance to work out with at different points over the off-season.
“Just spending time with guys, and getting together in the offseason a little bit—knowing how guys are going to get in and out of breaks is obvious and something you would expect, but that continuity helps,” he said.
“Also, just having a relationship with guys and me knowing how they learn and how they communicate as we all try to learn this system and try to work through it and make sure we’re on the same page—I think that continuity definitely helps with that process.”
With the Giants looking for Jones to take a big step forward as their starting quarterback in Year 2, that camaraderie with his skill position players is an important, yet underrated aspect of the off-season. Jones pointed to how, when he first came to the team as the sixth overall pick in the draft, he had to build relationships.
“Obviously we have a new staff and I’m certainly learning and going through that process like I did last year. There is a certain level of comfort in it being my second year and it’s been good,” he said.
The problem for Jones last year, at any rate, was that he never had all of his primary skill position players on the field at any given time. When the group wasn't dealing with injuries--and it was hit hard by the injury bug--it also had to deal with the four-game suspension Tate had to serve at the start of the season.
But that didn't stop Jones from excelling when he had most of his skill players in the lineup, As Bobby Skinner of Jomboy Media pointed out.
When Jones had at least four of his skill players in the lineup, he completed 60.1% of his pass attempts for 985 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions. Projecting that over a 16-game season, and Jones' numbers could hover around a 60.1% completion rate, 3,940 yards, 36 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.
On defense, well, the same can't be said of that unit as far as familiarity as of the projected 2020 starters, only Dalvin Tomlinson, Dexter Lawrence, Lorenzo Carter, and Jabrill Peppers are set to return from last year’s opening day.
But some members of the defense are familiar with new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who was the linebackers coach for Martinez and Kyler Fackrell in 2018 when they were with the Packers; the defensive coordinator for Montre Hartage with the Dolphins last year, and the defensive line coach for Tomlinson in 2017.
“He is a great guy who has grown a lot. You can just tell it’s a lot of pretty much the same techniques. I always catch him coming into the D-line room and talking to us all the time. We are his favorite group, I guess you could say, because he used to be a D-line coach.” Tomlinson said.
“He’s always teaching us different techniques that remind me of the stuff he used to teach my rookie year.”
Tomlinson, who also said the defense reminds him of his college days at Alabama, said that the familiarity with the concepts have made the defense easier to learn, at least as far as he’s concerned, and that should enable him to become highly productive in the system.
“I am super excited about the new defense. I want to be able to help in the run and pass game this year and just keep improving across the whole board. Help out and be disruptive in the middle as much as possible throughout the whole season.”
The Giants would undoubtedly like nothing better than to see all that familiarity come together for the good of the team.
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