How Giants Coaches Can Help the Offensive Line

It's only the second week of the 2023 NFL season, but what a horrible first week for the New York Giants, who the Dallas Cowboys manhandled to the tune of 40-0 on Sunday Night Football.

The game, played in sloppy wet conditions, was marred by errors made by the Giants that spotted the Cowboys free points. But even that sloppiness couldn't hide the biggest ongoing issue and one we identified as a cause for pause in our Giants season preview: the play of the offensive line.

The Giants offensive line was responsible for 25 of the team's 27 quarterback pressures against the Cowboys on Sunday, with the right side--guard Mark Glowinski and tackle Evan Neal--accounting for 17 of those pressures.

"After a game like (Sunday) night, every area we’ve got to draw our attention to," head coach Brian Daboll said when asked about the unit. " But that’s what we’ve got to do as a coaching staff; that’s what we’ve got to do as players. We’ve got to improve in, I’d say, a number of areas and try to take the next step the upcoming week."

Daboll has never been one to make knee-jerk reactions as far as personnel decisions go. In all honesty, those clamoring for a trade or a new offensive lineman to be added might want to stop and consider that if there was a better option out there, chances are he would have been added to the team already.

(The Giants reportedly put in a waiver claim for an offensive lineman after the final training camp roster moves were announced, but with them being so low in the order, they didn't get who they wanted.)

The Giants offensive line, remember, didn't get many game snaps together in the preseason, where the speed of the game just cannot be replicated in practice. While some might point to that as an issue, the fact is that some of the problems with the individual performances of Glowinski and NEal have carried over from last year.

In Glowinski's case, he struggled to hold up in one-on-one matchups, frequently losing contact with his man. His run-blocking wasn't much better, as he looked slow coming out of the snap. The Giants only mustered 45 yards on the ground on nine carries running right (right guard, right tackle, and right end).

Neal? He picked up where he left off last year, and that's not a good thing. At times this summer, he still looked like he was trying to get comfortable in his stance. And in Week 1, he looked top-heavy, heavy-footed, and not very flexible.

At times, he looked like he was moving just a split second before the ball was snapped, yet he was still being beaten.

So what choices do the Giants have to fix the unit, barring making a trade (unlikely to happen) or biting the bullet and bringing in someone from the outside?

Max Protect

The obvious answer is to keep a back or tight end in to help with blocking, whether it's full-on blocking or simply throwing a chip. The benefit is that it allows them to counter against some of the better pass rushers coming up (hello, San Francisco) by putting in an extra man to slow down the rush.

"That's something (to consider) when you're game planning," Daboll said. "The more guys you in, the fewer guys you have out, the more coverage they play. So I think it's a balance between whether you're helping on a chip, getting five guys out, using a run action, and getting the run game going a little bit. I think everything plays into that."

While max protection is not something that a team should do on every down, if the quarterback is going to be running for his life anyway against better pass-rushing units on obvious passing downs, what's one less receiving option down the field if it means giving Jones will get an extra split second or two to scan the field, set his feet and throw to one of the speedsters the Giants got him?

Rely More on the Running Game

When a team falls into a hole, they naturally lean more into the passing game to play catch up. But against the Cowboys, a strong case could be made that the Giants gave up way too soon on the running game in an attempt to get something going.

The Giants averaged 3.9 yards per attempt on the ground versus 1.7 yards via the pass. In the first quarter, they ran the ball on 12 of their 17 plays, ending the quarter down 16-0.

But rather than stay with the run, the rushing attempts faded away. New York ran 46 more plays the rest of the game but only ran it 13 more times, including nine times in the second half once they were down 26-0. If the Giants were looking for a spark, why not stay with the run at that point to try to chip away and maybe try to slow down the pass rush?

Offensive Line Shake Up

The obvious and most extreme step the Giants can take is to shake up the offensive line. But don't expect the Giants to do that just yet unless prompted to by injury.

"What you do is you, you kind of evaluate the whole body of work and also obviously the first game," Daboll said when asked when he might start thinking about any changes. "You don't sit and just wait around if you think you need to do something. We have those discussions--we'll probably have 'em all the way up until Friday night, which is why it's an important week of practice for some of these younger guys."

One guy to keep an eye on is second-year man Joshua Ezeudu. Since coming to the Giants as a third-round draft pick last year, the thought has been for Ezeudu to step in and play left guard. But when he could not beat out Ben Bredeson, the Giants coaches took Ezeudu back to his college days when he played tackle.

At North Carolina, Ezeudu, per Pro Football Focus, played 124 snaps at right tackle during the 2020 season. The following year, he played 275 snaps at left tackle.

"He's been practicing there for a while," Daboll said, later clarifying that it has been the last couple of weeks when the team switched into in-season practice mode, thus limiting reporters from viewing the entire practice.

"We practice him, we move guys around, and he's certainly an option at that (left tackle) spot, too."

This might be something for down the line, but if Ezeudu continues to hold his own at tackle, Evan Neal struggles at right tackle, and Mark Glowinski struggles at right guard, might a future lineup of Ezeudu at right tackle and Neal at right guard be in the cards?

Do Nothing

Daboll showed last year that he wasn't afraid to make a change after one week, swapping out receivers Kenny Golladay and KAdarius Toney with other options after the first two developed attitude issues.

The likelihood of that being the case with the offensive line is slim, however, as it could simply be a matter of letting a unit that didn't have a lot of reps together in game situations get comfortable with one another.

"You always want to have more reps," Glowinski said when asked if he felt the unit got enough work in together. "I think you also have to be ready, if it’s even a walkthrough, making sure they make the most of those reps. Even the ones you’re not in, putting yourself in the position when you’re watching the film to be in those spots as well just making sure you’re in the right position to succeed."

The problem with doing nothing and letting the line jell is that it may have to do so this coming weekend without Andrew Thomas, who is dealing with a hamstring and who just so happens to be their best offensive lineman.

That said, this will probably be the coaches' main course of action (or non-action, as it were).

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