Giants Offense Looking For Jump-start in Crucial Year-end Stretch

The New York Giants offense hasn't quite become the juggernaut that many people envisioned it would be under the direction of offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and head coach Brian Daboll, both of whom came from two of the league's best offenses (Kansas City and Buffalo respectively) before landing with the Giants.

Although the Giants have seven wins, those have mostly come thanks to the offense being one score better than the opponent. The Giants, ranked 20th in points per game (20.5), have also been unable thus far to score over 27 points in a game this season, and in their last six games, they've averaged 19.5 points per game, posting a 1-4-1 record.

But if the Giants want to get in--and stay in--the postseason tournament, the offense will need to kick things into high gear and cut down on missed opportunities, such as what it experienced in the first meeting with the Washington Commanders that ended in a 20-20 tie.

Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka is confident that his group can do just that in this upcoming critical second meeting against the Commanders, which, assuming it doesn't end in a tie, will determine the head-to-head tiebreaker in the division.

“There was a lot of good feedback, a lot of stuff that you can look at," Kafka said about that first meeting. "The areas of improvement that we are focusing on right now in the run game, the passing game – look at some of the things we did well, trying to build on. Look at some things that may not have gone as well, try to fix those, make those corrections, and apply it to practice this week.”

Continuity is a big priority. In the last meeting, the Giants scored on four straight drives between the second and third quarters before shutting down. And they have also continued to be a slow starter in their games this season, falling behind in the scoring early on.

“Just got to do a better job with execution, play calling. All those things tie in together," Kafka said. "We talk about as an offense that we are all in this thing together and that we’re working our butts off each week, each day in practice to perfect those fundamentals, perfect those schemes and those techniques. That way, when you get in those situations again, we can go and operate.”

One of the main reasons the Giants offense hasn’t produced as much as one would hope is continuity among the personnel. Injuries have bitten hard at certain positions, specifically at wide receiver. Sterling Shepard and Wan’Dale Robinson tore their ACLs, Richie James missed one game with a concussion, and Kenny Golladay was gone with a sprained MCL for multiple weeks.

They’ve had to rely on Darius Slayton, who has stepped up nicely with more playing time. Newcomer Isaiah Hodgins, claimed off of waivers from the Bills during the bye, has turned into one of their biggest targets with 17 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns in five games with the Giants.

The offensive line has also been bitten hard by the injury bug. They’ve had five different starting left guards (Ben Bredeson, Shane Lemieux, Nick Gates, Josh Ezeudu, and Jack Anderson).

Right tackle Evan Neal missed a few weeks with a knee injury, replaced by Tyre Phillips. And center Jon Felciano missed a game, subbed for by Gates.

Kafka said he's been pleased with how the offensive linemen have handled the injury-related lineup changes.

“I think we’ve done a nice job with the guys who have gone in there with the next-man-up mentality," he said. "Coming in, playing tough, working to get our assignments right, and sticking together.

"I think that’s one bright spot that we look at from that o-line and when you look at all the position groups. Guys have had to go through that. Tight ends, receivers. It’s been a great job by our assistant coaches and coaching staff getting those guys lined up.”

Although the Giants have been hit hard by the injury bug every year, Kafka and head coach Brian Daboll will not use that as an excuse. Rather they look to take what they have and try to get the most out of it.

“We want to make sure that we have our best personnel groupings, our best people to do those jobs," Kafka said. "We evaluate it every week. We talk about it in depth – which guys in which spots and if it’s going to help us an offense score points, get yards, all those things, get first downs, skip third downs.

"We talk about a lot of that. Not to say that this week may or may not be like that, but that’s things that we talk about. If we can get those guys in more spots to be successful, we will.”

Getting players into the right position is one thing, but getting optimal efficiency from the groups is quite another. It has been the challenge for a Giants offense that has lost the time of possession battle the last several games and has found scoring hard to come by.

Kafka understands the importance of scoring, but at the same time, he's not one to force things on every drive.

“I think you always want to score every time you touch the football, but you also have to understand the flow of the game," he said. "There’s never a play call where you’re like, “This play is not going to score.” That’s not the mentality you have. You’ve got to be able to manage the game and call the game that you see is going to get the offense to be the most successful."

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