ANOTHER BLOCKER BENCHED
The Giants are making changes to their beleaguered offensive line — again. This time, it’s a player the new regime brought in, not a disappointing holdover.
Right guard Patrick Omameh is headed to the bench, if he’s healthy enough to play, and Spencer Pulley is moving into the starting lineup, a source confirmed. Pulley will start at center and John Greco, a guard by trade, will move from center to right guard for Monday night’s game at Atlanta, as first reported by The Athletic.
Omameh was signed to a three-year, $15 million contract with a $5.5 million guaranteed in the offseason, but he hasn’t produced. According to Pro Football Focus, the 28-year-old veteran graded out as the 67th-ranked offensive guard with a 51.1 rating and was responsible for allowing two sacks. He is questionable to play with a knee injury he suffered this week in practice. But this move was in the works beforehand.
The 25-year-old Pulley was claimed off waivers by the Giants on Sept. 2 after starting 16 games a year ago for the Chargers. Pulley allowed just one sack and 38 quarterback pressures last season, but was expendable when the Chargers signed veteran Mike Pouncey in the offseason. Before Saturday’s practice, offensive line coach Hal Hunter said Pulley was pushing to crack the starting lineup.
“He’s doing a great job. He’s really smart,” Hunter said. “The first thing I did when we got him, I called Phillip Rivers to ask about him and Phillip gave me great insight into the guy, and so based on that it helped me coach the guy a little bit. He’s tough and he’s athletic. I think he’s got a good grasp of the offense.”
Three-fifths of the opening night starting lineup has now changed. Center Jon Halapio suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 2, right tackle Ereck Flowers was benched in favor of Chad Wheeler after two games and released on Oct. 9, and now Omameh has lost his spot. As a whole, the unit has struggled massively, failing to create enough holes for the running game and give quarterback Eli Manning the needed time to throw.
The Giants are ranked 25th in the league in rushing offense, averaging 87.5 yards per game, and Manning has been sacked 20 times, tied for the fifth-most in the league. It’s no coincidence they are averaging just 19.5 points per game despite having two of the game’s most explosive players in Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley. Hunter said he believes the schemes the Giants are using up front are working, they are playing hard and they aren’t making mental errors, but the execution hasn’t been there. If one player isn’t doing his job, it affects everyone.
“That’s the challenge of the [offensive line] play, especially in the running game, so what we need to do is we need to have all cylinders firing and right now and in some of the plays when all cylinders [are] firing, you see that [running] back come ripping and roaring out of there like, ‘Dang this is what we need to have,’ ” Hunter said. “When one of those cylinders isn’t firing right, the engine sputters a little bit and that’s kind of what’s going on right now. Our job is to work together to get all those pistons of that V8 engine working, all those cylinders firing in sync.”
The Giants are hoping these changes won’t be like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The last move, benching Flowers, didn’t fix much and the proverbial ship is taking on water.