New York Giants Week 1 Biggest Story Lines

One of the biggest storylines for the New York Giants ahead of their Week 1 regular-season opener--who will be the offensive play caller--has been resolved. And to no one's surprise, head coach Brian Daboll is staying with offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who filled the role back in the spring, doing a solid job of it.

"He knows how to get the guys matched up," said receiver Wan'Dale Robinson. "He’s going to get us in a groove and get us going. Knows when to take the shots and things like that and get us in the best plays each and every play."

But there are still plenty more storylines that are developing ahead of the Giants' official launch of the Brian Daboll-Joe Schoen era, so let's run down a few of them and anticipate how they'll play out.

Summer of Saquon

Saquon Barkley is now two years removed from his torn ACL and has looked every bit like the dynamic runner that the Giants fell in love with back in 2018.

Throw in this progressive offense designed to get Barkley into space some more and the added incentive of being in a contract year and determined to quiet his critics, and all signs point to Barkley being on the verge of a breakout season.

That all being said, all the preseason hype is just that until the results start showing up on the field. The Giants and Barkley seem to be in a position to make it happen, but as we have seen before, all it takes is something unexpected like an injury to turn everything upside down.

Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Daniel Jones' Big Tour

This coming season will either be quarterback Daniel Jones' redemption tour or his farewell tour. The theme will depend on how well he has mastered the more complex and very different offense installed by head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.

While it can't be ignored that the Giants declined Jones's option year--they had to, given the number of unknown variables at the time--the team is no doubt hoping this will be a redemption tour.

Besides atoning for screwing Jones every which way, from not providing him with a solid offensive line, playmakers, or stability in coaching, the Giants probably don't want to have to start over again next year with a rookie quarterback.

Although there would be benefits to doing so, there are also unknowns. The biggest is what it would take to get into a position to draft the quarterback--Schoen probably doesn't want to have to engineer a blockbuster type of trade to move up--they wanted and then having that young signal caller having to start from scratch in building chemistry with his receivers.

Who's the Starting Left Guard?

Daboll may or may not know who will be the team's starting left guard this weekend, but if he knows, he's not ready to say.

"We have a week here to move guys in and out and let those guys compete," Daboll said.

Part of that could be due to the team adding Tyre Phillips and Jack Anderson to the mix and the coaches wanting to get them on the field to see if either would be a better option than Devery Hamilton, who closed out the summer at that spot. They could also be waiting to see if Joshua Ezeudu, who dealt with an injury issue in the preseason, is healthy enough to play.

Whatever direction the Giants go in, offensive line coach Bobby Johnson and assistant Tony Sparano Jr have their work cut out for them to get the new starter ready and in sync with the rest of the offensive line.

Will the Edge Rushers Be Ready?

Giants outside linebackers Kayvon Thibodeaux (MCL) and Azeez Ojulari (leg) are rehabbing from injuries that caused them to miss the back end of the preseason games. Initially, it was forecasted that both might be ready for Week 1, but that was based on a best-case scenario depending on how they responded to rehab.

So how has that gone?

"I’ll say they’re day-to-day just like last week," Daboll said. "They’re getting better, and we’ll re-evaluate it tonight."

Daboll has been careful not to attach any timeline to an injured player to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on players to rush back before they're ready to make their head coach look good. That would also apply to guys like receiver Kadarius Toney (leg), who has been trying to ramp up from his ailment.

But let's stick to the two edge rushers here. With the Titans being a run-heavy team, there probably isn't as much pressure on both Ojulari and Thibodeaux to be ready this week, though certainly, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale will take them both if they are.

At this point in the week, the initial feeling is that Thibodeaux is "likely" another week away from being ready, while Ojulari's status is still unclear.

Stopping Derrick Henry?

Titans running back Derrick Henry is healthy and ready to go after dealing with a foot issue last year.

In case you're wondering, he's still very much as dangerous a back as any out there on the NFL landscape.

So how can the Giants, who decided to part ways with inside linebacker Blake Martinez last week, a guy who led the team in tackles two years ago and who was arguably the most experienced at the position, stop Henry?

"The guys we have on the roster, we have confidence in," Daboll said. "Those spots are interchangeable, the inside linebacker spots. Again, whether it be (Inside Linebacker) Tae (Crowder), (Inside Linebacker Micah) McFadden, (Inside Linebacker Austin) Calitro, we have confidence in the guys that are on our roster."

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