DREAM CATCHERS
It would be understandable, considering how well the offense has looked in recent weeks, for Giants fans to be looking ahead to next year already.
Imagine what it will look like with a healthy Victor Cruz on one side, Odell Beckham Jr. on the other and Rueben Randle in the slot; Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings forming a dynamic thunder and lightning duo out of the backfield; and Eli Manning orchestrating it all in his second year running offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo’s system.
And they wouldn’t be the only ones thinking ahead.
“It has the potential to be one of the best in the league,” Beckham said Friday of the Big Blue offense after the final practice of this season. “The sky is the limit. You can’t really put a limitation or expectation on it. You can see it and I think I said it earlier in the year. Victor, Rueben, Larry Donnell, Rashad and myself and Eli.
“I think, why would you not want to have one of the best offenses in the league? As a competitor, your goal is to be the best, so I would expect everyone else on the offense to feel as if we should be the best.”
This isn’t just the talk of a wetbehindtheears rookie. Jennings had the same gleam in his eye in discussing the future.
“We got a chance to be great,” Jennings said. “And I don’t say that lightly at all. I really mean that. With the guys coming back healthy, second year in the system, nobody coming in trying to figure out how to line up, we’re picking up where we left off. It’s going to be fun.”
Even without Cruz since Week 8 after he tore up his knee and with Jennings in and out of the lineup much of the year, the Giants’ offense has dwarfed the numbers it put up a year ago, going from 28th in total offense to 12th.
The unit is averaging 23.6 points per game — 5.2 more than a year ago. The Giants were 19th in the league in passing last sea son, but are 10th this year, throwing for 256 yards a game. Manning improved greatly under McAdoo, cutting down his interceptions, from 27 to 13, and completing 64.1 percent of his passes, after 56.5 percent a year ago. The rushing attack has risen from 29th to 22nd, despite injuries to the offensive line and the backfield.
“I think there’s no doubt that Coach McAdoo is an outstanding coach and he’s done a good job here,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “We’ve made some progress.”
The Giants struggled early on in McAdoo’s system, taking time to develop a comfort level in the hybrid West Coast offense. As Manning has grasped the system and Beckham has emerged, the points have followed.
“I feel that since the San Francisco game [Nov. 16], that we learned a lot about each other,” McAdoo said, referring to the Giants’ averaging 29.5 points per game since. “We have taken steps in the right direction since that game. We haven’t been perfect, but we have been fairly balanced and working to get that way, and I think we have made some progress since then.”
That’s not to say the Giants have mastered the offense. McAdoo would like to see more consistency, in terms of execution, poise and positioning. Jennings has noticed a world of difference from September
until now, from the timing to the playcalling to the Giants knowing where to go and what to do, not guessing or thinking about it.
“Everybody is clicking, starting to come together,” McAdoo said. “We’re getting glimpses and flashes of what it could look like. We just got to be able to put it all together.”
Jennings doesn’t expect to be discussing whatifs next December, either.
“We’ll be in the playoffs this time next year,” Jennings said. “I can guarantee you that’s our mindset.”