The New York Giants Will Go Deep In 2016

The New York Giants, according to wide receiver Dwayne Harris, plan to throw the deep ball more in 2016, but is that beneficial for the offense?

The New York Giants passing offense, which ranked 7th in the league in total yards and 272 yards per game, is returning their two main stalwarts for 2016: Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr.. They will add Victor Cruz back from injury and rookie Sterling Shepard to the mix that will hopefully make the offense even more potent.

But this week, return specialist Dwayne Harris made some remarks that indicate some changes might be coming to the Giants passing game.

Harris told Giants.com, “I think we’re getting better just throwing the ball down the field more. We’re definitely trying to work on throwing the ball down the field, throwing more deep passes.”

Tweaks happen to even the most successful offensive gameplans every offseason, so it’s no surprise that head coach Ben McAdoo and offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan would try to upgrade the offense. More deep balls would signal a change to McAdoo’s signature offense. And are more long passes the answer?

Manning had one of his best statistical seasons last year throwing for 35 touchdowns and a 93.6 passer rating. But only 11 percent of Manning’s passes traveled more than 20 yards in the air, per Pro Football Focus. That was the 19th-highest figure among starting quarterbacks.

Kevin Patra of NFL.com expands on that idea further. “The Giants led the NFL in completions between 6-10 yards last season, with 150, per the team. However, on passes 11-20 yards, Manning completed just 85, good for 25th in the NFL.”

The theory behind throwing the ball deep down the field is not just larger chunks of yardage, but spreading the defense for shorter completions and a more effective running game. Improving the Giants rushing attack is imperative as they ranked 19th in the league averaging just over 100 yards per game.

CBS Sports’ Jared Dubin analyzed the average depth of throw under both offensive coordinators during Manning’s tenure. His conclusion was rather simple. “Well, it mostly means that Manning has generally been a better passer when asked to throw shorter passes, not longer ones… it makes sense for the Giants to stick with what’s been working rather than force Eli back into his old ways simply for ‘diversity of the offense’s’ sake.”

So basically, Eli’s stats are best when he throws shorter passes, which the Giants do a lot – the most in the NFL. When Manning pushes the ball down the field, which he didn’t do very often in 2015, his numbers dip.

But are all these short passes inflating Manning’s numbers and damaging the running game? Perhaps throwing ball down the field more often isn’t just a change for diversity’s sake, but to help open up the field for Rashad Jennings et al. Either way, we are likely to see more deep passes to OBJ this season and the hope for McAdoo is that Jennings, not to mention Cruz and Shepard, will flourish.