Giants’ Penny a big part of Blue’s short-yardage success
Giants fullback Eli Penny was floored on Friday to see his first Zoom interview of the season blow past the 11 minute mark.
“Hey, ya’ll got a lot of questions for the fullback,” Penny, 27, said with a smile. “I appreciate ya’ll. This is really good, I appreciate ya’ll. It’s important.”
Penny deserved the attention, though, because he’s become an increasingly important player to this Giants team on both special teams and offense — especially in recent short yardage situations.
When Penny is on the field this season, the Giants are 8-for-12 (67%) on 3rd or 4th down and two yards or less, or goal to go situations from inside the 2, per Dan Pizzuta of Sharp Football Analysis.
That includes five of the Giants’ eight rushing touchdowns by running backs, including Wayne Gallman’s three goal line TDs the past two games against the Eagles and Bengals.
“I think those situations in a ballgame are all about mentality, all about want-to, and all about just beating your man one on one,” the fourthyear veteran said. “Just being a fullback and a dude who likes contact, who wants to initiate the hit. In those situations in the game, third down, fourth down, nut-cutting time, being physical and converting, everybody on the offense is like that, including the offensive line and tight ends. Yeah, I love my role in this offense.”
“Nut-cutting time” is Jason Garrett’s favorite way to describe short yardage, gottahave-it downs. And the Giants’ offensive coordinator said this week that Penny is a critical part of the Giants’ plan to move the line of scrimmage.
“They are hard situations, there’s no doubt about that,” Garrett said Wednesday. “There’s those nut cutting situations in football that you have to be good at. Eli has been a really good player for us. Whatever we have asked him to do, he goes in and plays and is effective. As a blocker, as a runner, he’s just a good football player. He’s one of those guys that as a coaching staff you’re always saying, we have to find ways to get him more opportunities.”
Penny has started to see more offensive snaps the last couple weeks. He saw no more than five offensive snaps in any game through Week 9, but he’s logged 11 snaps and a season-high 14 the past two games as the Giants’ running game continues to pace this offense’s ball control strategy.
The Giants are actually 7-for13 in short yardage rushing conversions when Penny is not on the field, as well, per Pizzuta, which reflects they’re effective overall in that situation as an offense.
But the increasingly heavy run packages have Joe Judge leaning more on Penny as a lead blocker lately, and in the last couple games it’s paid off.
The Giants’ 67% conversion rate on Penny short yardage runs compares favorably, for example, to the league average in 3rd/4th and short situations (69.4%).
The next step is to show Penny a little more of the ball himself.
Penny has only three carries for five yards and one catch for 11 yards on two targets, but he’s a capable weapon out of the backfield and at some point the Giants will need to introduce unpredictability into when he’s on the field.
If it’s a run, though, Penny said he’d love that, too.
Take all those 4th-and-short plays where Judge frequently keeps his offense on the field but eventually calls timeout and punts. Penny lobbied for the ball to keep those chains moving.
“I always want the ball in those situations because I feel like I’m just going to convert it,” he said. “I make it simple for myself. It’s just get one yard. That’s it. That’s not that hard to do. In those situations, I feel like I’m the perfect guy and I always want the ball in those situations.”
Even when he isn’t playing on offense, though, Penny is bringing value on Sundays in 2020. He has played the thirdmost snaps on special teams for the Giants this season (67%), behind only captain Nate Ebner (77%) and rookie Cam Brown (72%).
“It definitely added value to my (game),” Penny said of his heavy special teams role.
Penny ’s younger brother Rashaad, 24, a Seahawks running back, is on his way back from injury but won’t be ready to play Sunday.
“I wish he was ready to go,” Eli said. “But he’ll be alright. He practiced this week but he’s not ready to go. I wish he was.”
Even without the family rivalry on the field, though, Penny will be sure to put a hat on someone come Sunday, paving the way he hopes for a fourth straight win.
NOTES
his role
The Giants placed RB Devonta Freeman on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Saturday. Freeman (ankle) is still on injured reserve and is not on the Seattle trip with the team.
The Giants also elevated DE Niko Lalos and QB Clayton Thorson from the practice squad — and signed QB Alex Tanney to the practice squad. Thorson was elevated to back up Colt McCoy, who is expected to start with Daniel Jones (right hamstring strain) sidelined.