Can new QB Jones spark G-Men to first victory?
Across the country this week, the debate raged on: Did Eli Manning deserve to lose his job? Was he scapegoated? How much is he to actually blame for the Giants’ problems on offense?
My main take on the subject is that those questions are mostly irrelevant. The Giants (0-2) are not winning — again — and their 38-year-old quarterback isn’t the future, so delaying the inevitable much longer would not have been a sound business decision for the franchise.
And the school of thought that you can’t throw Daniel Jones into a no-win dumpster fire? Please. The Giants actually have a competent offensive line now. Jones won’t be taking a beating like Andrew Luck was for years with the Colts. Plus, he’s got the best running back in football.
Look, the Giants have been banged up at receiver and haven’t gotten much separation in the passing game. The offense is 24th in the league in yards per pass attempt. Much of that is not Manning’s fault.
But it doesn’t help that Manning has been a sitting target for defenses, unable to scramble or maneuver much in the pocket to extend plays. Jones has mobility, which should enable the offense to incorporate read-option plays for deception, as well as create more openings downfield. Most impressive in the preseason — numbers aside — was Jones’ pinpoint accuracy and timing on deep balls.
“It should look the same schematically,” head coach Pat Shurmur said of his offense with Jones at quarterback. “I’ll let the changes in tactics reveal themselves, so to speak. We want to score more points. I think that’s what we are looking for. We’re looking for better results.”
The biggest hindrance to Jones with his first NFL start looming Sunday in Tampa Bay is the Giants’ defense. There don’t appear to be any personnel adjustments that can rectify what’s shaping up to be one of the league’s worst units this season.
Here are the numbers through two games: 100 percent opponent red-zone touchdown rate (worst), nine touchdowns allowed (second worst), 10.4 yards allowed per pass attempt (second worst), 6.8 yards allowed per play (third worst), 47.83 percent opponent thirddown conversion rate (seventh worst).
Cornerback Janoris Jenkins spoke candidly after last Sunday’s 28-14 loss to Buffalo about the team’s lack of a pass-rush making life strenuous on the secondary. That sort of inner turmoil with a team is never a good sign.
“I think that was highly taken out of context,” defensive coordinator James Bettcher said. “I don’t think for one minute he was pointing the finger at anyone else. He wants to win and he wants to play better.”
The problem is certainly collective. There’s simply nothing the defense does particularly well, and not one player you can point to right now as a rising star. That’s the result of trading your best run stuffer in Damon Harrison, trading your best passrusher in Olivier Vernon and letting your best defensive back walk in free agency in Landon Collins within the past year.
Sure, those moves have given general manager Dave Gettleman more long-term financial flexibility, but at the expense of being more noncompetitive this season than the front office evidently realized. Investing money and draft capital in the front seven should be the top priority next offseason.
Perhaps Bettcher can dial up schematic adjustments to generate more pressure. The Giants did perform better in the third quarter of the Bills game, forcing two three-andouts and three straight punts to start the second half.
But much of the unit’s growth boils down to being patient through growing pains. Rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker, a first-round pick, looks tentative and is being exploited repeatedly in coverage. Yet he still played 96 percent of the defensive snaps last Sunday. He’ll likely be a major focus of the Bucs’ passing attack with dynamic wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
Baker is far from alone, though. Strong safety Jabrill Peppers, the centerpiece of the Odell Beckham Jr. trade, looks like a far cry from Collins so far. Aging free safety Antoine Bethea could be nearing the end of the line. Veteran linebacker Alec Ogletree is having his same old warts in coverage.
“As a coordinator, you change up the windows when you have the opportunity to. In some situations, call for tighter coverage than other situations,” Bettcher said. “We need to help ourselves be in better third downs … be in better second downs by playing better on first down. That’s something that we talked about coming out of the game and coming out of the first week as well. I think that’s what leads to being able to put those guys in some calls that might help them a little bit.”
Jones might show flashes of brilliance as a rookie and be an improvement over Manning in some ways. But unless the defense drastically improves, the task of actually winning football games will remain arduous for the Giants.