Does Giants' Offensive "Gumbo" Recipe Have Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen?

Jameis Winston praises the creativity of Matt Nagy's coaching staff, but are they trying to cram too much in too soon?

The New York Giants are blending together multiple philosophies on offense. But has it become too complicated? | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Making a gumbo might seem as easy as throwing together a bunch of high-quality ingredients in a pot and letting the flavors blend, sort of like what the New York Giants are doing on offense.

But in reality, a good gumbo takes time and a degree of discipline to find the right blend.

The Giants’ attempt to create their own “gumbo” by using bits and pieces of the recipes of multiple assistant coaches who have prior coordinator experience with other NFL teams has proven to be a challenge as the offense looks to smooth out the inconsistencies it has encountered and get into a rhythm.

The Giants offense, headed by coordinator Matt Nagy, has been inconsistent this summer, with quarterback Jaxson Dart trying to find a comfort level working under center, getting used to new receivers, and operating on a whole new level that barely matches what he did in college or his rookie season.

This is not to say that Dart is the sole reason for the offense’s inconsistency–credit has to be given to the defense, which has thrown a lot at their teammate in an effort to help him become the best version of himself–but it’s fair to wonder if less is more in this instance.

Backup quarterback Jameis Winston believes the intention behind the offense is “exciting” given the creativity of those coaches with prior coordinator experience contributing to the build: Nagy, senior offensive assistant Greg Roman, quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan, and tight ends coach Tim Kelly.

“I think that's a great example of the leadership that (Head) Coach (John) Harbaugh has, that he's letting his coaches build a system that is very unique to all of them.

“I can compare it to gumbo,” Winston said. “There's just so many good mixes in there. You’ve got the old school, you’ve got the new school, and you’ve got just this melting pot of greatness. So, it's really fun.”

It’s also somewhat concerning after Nagy revealed that the team was about halfway through all its installs with a little more than a month to go before the start of the regular season. But Harbaugh tried to downplay the notion of the offense being behind the curve.

“That's normal,” he said when told of Nagy’s comment. “He says halfway through. I would say probably the truth of it is he's probably like five percent through because throughout the course of the season, a lot of the things that you do–how do you define the install? Is it the plays, or is it all the ways you can run the plays, and all the personnel groups you can run, and all the formations you can run them out and hide them in?

“You've watched Matt Nagy, and you've watched the offenses he's been a part of. They hide their plays all the time, but they have core principles in the offense. So, I would say most of our core principles are in, but some of our methodology is going to be basic methodology to get the plays in; it's not in yet.”

While one can appreciate the team’s desire to find the right blend for their “gumbo,” it's also fair to wonder — given that the Giants need a fast start to the season — whether the offense will eventually need to scale back and simplify things if the inconsistency continues.

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