First-and-10: The Improved Offensive Line, the Impact of the Big Dime, and 8 Other Thoughts Ahead of the Giants' Week 5 Game vs. Minnesota

1. I get the question every time the Giants make a roster move that doesn't involve Alex Tanney.

Why is Alex Tanney still on the roster?

I have two thoughts in response to this question. The first and most obvious one is that Tanney, being a veteran, offers valuable feedback and assistance behind the scenes to rookie Daniel Jones.

“But,” you’re probably thinking, “isn’t that what Eli Manning can do given he’s been in the league longer and has played a heck of a lot more than Tanney?”

Fair question. However, I think if you look beyond the current picture, the answer might make more sense.

Barring a significant turn of events, Manning will not be on this roster next year. Tanney, however, is signed through 2020 at a very cap friendly $1.037 million figure.

Assuming Manning is indeed an ex-Giant by next season, by keeping Tanney on the roster, the Giants will have a backup to Jones who knows Pat Shurmur’s system as well as Jones himself.

Don’t underestimate that intangible. If something ever happened to Jones where he couldn’t play, the last thing Shurmur likely wants to do is to put a quarterback in there who doesn’t have a solid grasp of the system. That’s where Tanney’s experience-- he’s been with the team and with Shurmur since the beginning--makes him valuable for the long-term.

Now, this isn’t to say that the Giants won’t add another quarterback to the mix--I believe they will. But Tanney, despite his third-string status, is a lot more valuable than most are giving him credit for, and that value is why he’s probably still on the roster.

2. Pro Football Focus tweeted an interesting stat earlier this week in which they pointed out how rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker has been “quietly improving” in his last two games since opponents have only targeted him five times.

As I responded to the tweet, the flip side is opponents have been going after Janoris Jenkins more over that same period, targeting him 18 times.

But let’s dig a little deeper into the stat and explore the why behind it.

Over the last two weeks, Baker has allowed three completions in five targets for 35 yards, but only 3 yards after the catch. Jenkins has allowed ten receptions out of 18 pass targets for 203 yards, 32 of them after the catch.

In that two-game span, Jenkins has allowed three touchdowns, but he also has two interceptions, likely the result of the increased targets.

Before I go any further, I want to give credit where it’s due. Baker has been playing better the last two weeks, and a big reason for this improvement is the coaching staff realized that the young man--who, remember, missed a large chunk of the preseason with a knee injury-- wasn’t quite as ready as he needed to be.

As such, the Giants changed up their scheme just a bit, leaving Jenkins to handle the opponent’s top receiver often all by his lonesome.

The deep help that generally would have been there was rolled more to Baker’s side, perhaps to help things slow down a bit for the rookie and enable him to build his confidence after a rough two-game start. This was most evident in the Week 3 win over the Bucs.

As noted in our look at the defensive tweaks made, the Giants last week played more personnel packages consisting of five, six, and seven defensive backs, which significantly helped both Baker and Jenkins and the Giants pass rush.

Here, via numbers researched from Sports Radar and my film study, is a breakdown of the effectiveness of the Giants reliance on 5, 6 and 7 defensive backs last in Week 4:

To round up the notable secondary performances for the Giants, DeAndre Baker has been quietly improving in his last two games.

Baker has only been targeted 5 times and allowed 35 receiving yards.
— PFF NY Giants (@PFF_Giants) October 1, 2019

Then last week against Washington, defensive coordinator James Bettcher further refined the tweaks by leaving Jenkins on one side throughout rather than having him follow the opponent’s top receiver regardless of what side he lined up.

The idea there was to let Baker get more comfortable with playing his angles from one side rather than to keep flipping him back and forth. Again, the opposing strategies have been to go after Jenkins more. Still, the subtle change also helped Baker settle down and begin to repair any fractures in his confidence resulting from his earlier season struggles.

As an aside, Bettcher likely won’t ever admit this, but the heavy reliance on the extra defensive backs was also probably a result of the injuries at linebacker.

Now while some will dismiss what the Giants did against Washington, the fact remains that this showing was yet another confidence builder for a defense that has taken more than its fair share of lumps thus far this year.

3. I have one more thought about Baker and the start of his NFL career.

Baker, as I’ve said all along, fell behind this summer when a knee injury wiped out most of his preseason. Baker isn’t one to make an excuse for his performance, but I’ll do it for him because it does make a difference for a rookie coming to the NFL.

And if you don’t believe me, well maybe you’ll believe Giants defensive backs coach Everett Withers' response to the question of how difficult it is for a rookie who misses a good chunk of the summer to jump right in.

Before telling you what he said, the question was explicitly about cornerback Sam Beal, who is working his way back from a hamstring strain.

But Withers’ response can apply to Baker’s situation given all the time he missed in the summer because of his injury.

“Playing the game is so much different from being in meetings and getting the information on tape and that type of deal,” he said.

This is what I’ve been saying all along abut Baker--mental reps are all well and good, but there is no substitute for live game reps.

I think as he gets more reps, he’s going to become the player they think he’s capable of becoming.

4. My fellow beat writers (I’m looking at you Chris Bisignano) always like to kid with me about the Giants punt returner and how I was vocally opposed to the Giants having safety Jabrill Peppers back there returning punts.

(You’ll have to forgive me; I still am against it as I lived through the Jason Sehorn, and I’m still mentally scarred by the disbelief that the Giants allowed such a valuable player at the time to take on an added risk.)

But I get it, football comes with a risk, regardless, and sometimes you have to bite the proverbial bullet and go with a decision which maybe you don’t necessarily want to make, but is in the best interest of the team at the moment.

According to the Giants’ unofficial depth chart, safety Jabrill Peppers is listed first up on the depth chart, but I’m sorry, I am having a hard time seeing him being used in that role one a full-time basis.

Instead, the idea of Corey Ballentine as the punt returner intrigues me. Ballentine doesn’t have a lot of experience in the role, but he told me this week he’s been practicing the position daily.

This leaves me to believe that the Giants deep down probably don’t want to overtax Peppers or newly reinstated receiver Golden Tate with the added responsibility, and they think that Ballentine can deliver both ball security and return ability.

5. I love what Daniel Jones has brought to the offense in terms of mobility and decision making and all the things you need a quarterback to do.

But the one thing I wish he’d do better is to learn to slide feet first when he takes off with the ball.

Several times now, when Jones has taken off with the ball in traffic, he dives headfirst, which leaves him susceptible to taking a shot to the head or neck.

Above is an example from last week’s game; jump to the 1:25 mark in the video where Jones dives headfirst.

Head coach Pat Shurmur was asked about Jones’ sliding style Monday, and if he would prefer that the rookie slide feet first.

Yeah, I mean those are acceptable slides now if you go headfirst. If you give yourself up, they are not supposed to be able to hit you. It’s like baseball now. You can slide headfirst, or you can slide feet first. That’s kind of an acceptable body language not to get whacked. You always want to protect yourself if you can.

Shurmur is correct in that it’s a foul if a defender hits another player giving himself up in the head/neck area. While the majority of players try to abide by that rule, all it takes is one rogue to risk the 15-yard penalty.

So yeah, the bottom line is that hopefully sooner than later, Jones starts to become more comfortable sliding feet first to reduce his chances of sustaining a blow to the head and neck by a defender.

6. Remember when general manager Dave Gettleman said he had a plan for the franchise and he was mocked by virtually everyone, including, he once joked, his wife?

It took a while for the plan to take root, but the Giants are starting to see the fruits of the seeds Gettleman planted.

Want some examples? Okay, remember how the Giants passing offense was doomed after the trade of receiver Odell Beckham Jr?

Guess who among the Browns and Giants receivers and tight ends leads the group in receptions (27), receiving yards (331), and touchdowns (2) after the first quarter of the season?

Give up? It’s Giants tight end Evan Engram, who also has caught 73% of his pass targets to Beckham’s 61.8%, and who has 188 yards after the catch to Beckham’s 129.

On the defensive side of the ball, remember when the Giants traded away Olivier Vernon, their only legitimate pass rusher?

According to Pro Football Focus, Markus Golden, the veteran “replacement” for Vernon has played 111 pass-rush snaps, while Vernon has played in 110 pass-rush snaps. Vernon has 15 total pressures to Golden’s 13, but Golden has 3.5 sacks to Vernon’s 1.0.

Again, it’s just four games, and a lot of football is left, but so far, the majority of the decisions for which Gettleman was roasted seem to be working out in the Giants’ favor.

7. The Giants’ base defense is supposed to consist of three down linemen, four linebackers, and four defensive backs.

There is one alignment that Bettcher has been favoring more and more, and one that has worked wonders in terms of masking the issues the team has at linebacker due to injuries.

It’s a package that usually consists of one defensive lineman and anywhere from five to seven defensive backs.

Defensive coordinator James Bettcher said the heavy defensive back sets reflect a core belief he has.

There are certain moments in the game where you want speed on the field. You want guys that can tackle in space, that can cover. Also, whether it’s a pressure scheme or something, those are guys that they are coming at the ball pretty fast, making offensive linemen or guys that are in protection make decisions. You are trying to find roles for guys that deserve to be on the field.

This reliance on more defensive backs has not only helped cut down on the damage behind done down the field, but it’s also helped the Giants pass rush to become a little more productive.

The influx of defensive backs covering receivers now forces opposing quarterbacks to hold onto the ball a lot longer.

According to Pro Football Focus’ “time in the pocket” stats for quarterbacks, the personnel strategy has made a difference. Here is the breakdown. (I calculated the average time in the pocket for both of Washington’s quarterbacks.)

Quarterback	Avg. Time in Pocket (seconds)	Sacks	Interceptions
Prescott (DAL)	2.25	0	0
Allen (BUF)	3.03	3	0
Winaton (TBY)	2.66	4	1
Keenum/Haskins (WAS)	3.105	3	2*

*The Giants recorded four interceptions in this game, but only two were a result of applied pressure.

8. I want to share an observation I’ve noticed about the leadership in the Giants locker room this year.

In the past, this team had mostly leaders who, for lack of a better description, served as the unofficial spokespeople of the locker room--the guys you knew you could go to for a quote and who were of the select few who had their finger on locker room’s pulse.

These days the leadership is much more balanced to where gone are the days of the larger than life personalities, replaced by a core group of leaders who share ownership of the responsibility.

There are the team-elected captains, of course--Michael Thomas, Zak DeOssie, Alec Ogletree, Antoine Bethea, Saquon Barkley, Nate Solder, and Eli Manning, a blend of personalities that when put together can best be described as a grounded group.

But several other young leaders are starting to emerge not so much because they’re gifted orators, but because their teammates look to them as examples of how things should be done.

Two guys that come immediately to mind--and there are others--are receiver Sterling Shepard and tight end Evan Engram.

Shepard, in particular, has come a long way in his growth as a leader.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been as vocal as I have been lately, but if I feel the need to say something, then I’m going to say it,” he told me this week.

“I’ve never been one to hold back my words. If I feel like in my mind that people need to hear it, then I’m going to say it.”

Engram, who is probably more reserved than his more outgoing teammate, is also emerging as a young leader.

He was selected to break down the team’s huddle at midfield before last week’s game against Washington (a role previously held by defensive captain Alec Ogletree) and delivered a fiery verbal showing that uplifted his teammates.

As is often the case with the more reserved leaders, teammates will follow one or more aspects of said leader’s routine.

In Engram’s case, several of his teammates have hired the tight end’s private chef to prepare their meals, perhaps hoping that they’ll benefit from the nutrients that thus far have worked for Engram.

9. I get a lot of questions about why defensive backs Ballentine and Julian Love aren’t getting snaps with the defense.

My take, from talking to people, is that Love, who is learning a new position (free safety) and Ballentine, a late Day 3 draft pick who is making a big jump up from a smaller college program, have a little steeper of a learning curve than most of their fellow rookies.

If you don’t believe me, then consider the answer to this very same question asked of defensive backs coach Everett Withers Friday, in which he replied, “Those guys will continue to work and get better, we’ll find roles for them. Both of those guys are getting reps in practice, but they only give you 11 spots on defense, so you can only play 11 guys.”

The coaches, remember, play the 11 guys on any side of the ball who give them a chance to win. In time, Ballentine and Love will be among those 11 best on defense.

As intelligent as both players are, it does take time to learn a new position, and when you have to learn it on the fly at the NFL level, that’s a tough challenge.

Combine that in with the coaches’ approach of wanting to build up the players’ confidence (which means they’re not going to toss them into the deep end without so much as a life raft) and you’re left with little choice but to bring them along at a pace that’s comfortable and which builds confidence for the players.

10. Remember how the Giants offensive line used to be an Achilles heel?

Well, after seemingly countless attempts to fix this unit, it finally looks as though they finally got it right.

According to Football Outsiders, the Giants offensive line is ranked ninth in run blocking and 10th in pass protection, having allowed just seven sacks through four games.

Of note, the Giants offensive line has a 6.3% power rating (measuring the percentage of runs on third or fourth down with two yards or less to go that were converted, good enough for eight overall.

According to Giants’ offensive line coach Hal Hunter, the unit, as good as it’s been on the whole, is far from being a finished product.

“One thing that you have to do every week is you have to show up ready to play every single week because everybody’s got a good defense. We’ve played really good defenses, everybody has good edge rushers, and you have to be on top of your game every single week. We’re doing some good things.”

The offensive line hasn’t been perfect, and there are some notable issues upfront. But Hunter made an excellent point which, if you read between the lines, is very telling.

“Part of what’s helping us, and it’s not by accident, that the offense is designed to kind of help the offensive line, and the quarterbacks are doing a great job with this,” he said.

“The running back makes us look better. We have played better, and I think it’s attributed to the guys, their work ethic, their toughness, and their attention to detail.”

My interpretation of this is that having mobile skill position players--quarterback Daniel Jones and the quick-footed Saquon Barkley at running back--are a big reason behind the offensive line’s success.

Why? Because now they no longer have to hold their blocks indefinitely on a drop-back or while the running back looks to find a crease to exploit.

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