How the Giants offense will adjust without Saquon Barkley

The Giants are facing anywhere from four to eight weeks without Saquon Barkley, their top playmaker on offense. Here's a look at how they might how will they adjust without him.

With Saquon Barkley out an estimated 4-6-8-10-99 weeks (pick one), the Giants offense is going to have to evolve into a different animal. 

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing (reference Sunday’s 22-point second half). 

It is Daniel Jones’ team now and will be for the next decade (apologies to Barkley but the quarterback is the most important player on the field and it’s not even close). 

This offense has lost its jaguar, but it has gained an eagle. The temptation will be to let him fly.

So how will this offense immediately adjust to the loss of Barkley? 

First, let’s look at how defenses (specifically, Washington, this Sunday’s opponent) might try to defend Jones.

Step 1: Take away tight end Evan Engram 

This is Defense 101. Engram is the one remaining explosive guy on that offense. Look for Washington to follow Engram everywhere he goes, and punish him with everything they’ve got. Make him earn every catch, make him hurt on every block.

Step 2: Stop the run

Why bother, you say, when the backs are not named Barkley? 

Because once you take away any threat of the run, and you take away Engram, you leave Jones with a dinner table of scraps and crumbs, and a whole bunch of hungry hounds licking their chops at the prospect of a rookie quarterback having nowhere to go with the ball.  

Step 3: Recognize your enemy's strength

To complete the perfect storm this week, Washington's front is the strength of their defense. 

They will be looking to pin the Giants' ears back with their talent and attacking the pocket like crazy with the intent of forcing Jones to get rid of the ball quickly because when a young quarterback--heck any quarterback--hurries with his decisions, he will make mistakes.

Conclusion?

Washington will try and live in the Giants' backfield. If you think Jones was under duress against the Bucs, wait until you see the pressure Washington brings this week. It’s not going to look pretty.

Wait, did someone say, "But..."?

There is a risk to being overly-aggressive. The gamble Washington will be taking is that this rookie quarterback has already shown he can make people pay if given even an inch of time or space. 

Jones showed Sunday that he will hang in there, he will give his receivers time to get open, and he will take a hit to make a play. 

He will also avoid pressure, give himself time to look downfield, and when necessary, make plays with his feet. He will not be a fun guy to defend.

On the Giants' side of the ball, the coaches need to have more of a plan than hanging all their hopes on the arm, feet, and head of their rookie quarterback.

Here’s what they could do:

Step 1

Come out throwing often, and throw it short. You can always run the ball later once the defense tires, but get them tired first with a lot of dropbacks, focusing on quickly getting the ball out of Jones’ hand before the rush has a chance to get there, and relying on his superb accuracy to keep the chains moving.

Step 2

If Washington clamps down on the short stuff, you have to make them pay with big plays. 

This is easier said than done. The coaches have to have some double moves in the playbook, and they must encourage Jones to go up top, preferably along the sidelines where fewer mistakes happen, where back shoulders and fly patterns are so difficult to defend, and where the officials tend to give receivers an inordinate amount of love.

Step 3

Put Jones on the roll, move his pocket, and sprinkle in the occasional Run/Pass Option. 

In other words, keep Washington's very good front guessing. Slow down their rush by making them think.

Step 4 

Use tight end Evan Engram as a decoy, especially in the first half. Have him draw the secondary deep as often as possible. Get his tongue hanging from doing sprints--whatever it takes. 

Open up the short and intermediate spaces against Washington's average secondary and hope your average receiving corps plays well. If Jones’ wideouts don’t step up, well, it was nice knowing you.

Step 5

Ultimately, the coaches have to keep Jones’ jersey a lot cleaner than it got in Tampa Bay. 

If that means giving left tackle Nate Solder help, do it. If that means lining up three tight ends (including Nick Gates) and running dives, do it. 

These coaches can’t go all "Mike Martz" on their quarterback and leave him exposed to the wolves. They have to protect their franchise quarterback. Allowing Jones to take too many hits is not only plain mean; it’s foolish.

We wish we had the confidence in Pat Shurmur and staff to do the smart thing here, but they are in the business of winning games. 

They have a young stud on their hands. They will want to use him, but they can’t get greedy. Football is a team game. You can’t put it all on the shoulders of one player. 

They have to spread the ball around, throw to the fullback, use unknowns like Garrett Dickerson (if he's active) up the seam; let Jonathan Hilliman (if he's called up from the practice squad) out of the backfield; and let Wayne Gallman tough it out between the tackles. They can’t lay it all on Jones.

The great unknown is how this offense will evolve under Jones. Nobody really knows him, which is to the Giants’ benefit. 

He is a multi-threat quarterback who, to these eyes, brings a  lot to the table. He looks like he will make the players around him better. 

Already, receiver Sterling Shepherd looks better. Those scraps and crumbs will soon find that if they work harder at getting themselves open, their quarterback has the ability to get them the ball. 

All of a sudden, everyone’s excited. That’s what a franchise quarterbackcan do for a team. It can raise the bar, so let’s see how high it goes.