McAdoo planning new flavor for Giants offense

Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

Coordinators under 40 — it’s the new NFL coaching fad.

At 37 years of age, new Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo is sharp beyond his experience level. In speaking with the media during a conference call on Thursday, McAdoo portrayed an air of confidence in fixing his “broken” unit, stressing fundamentals and a more sophisticated playbook. This is not a Giants offense foreign to success, finishing 6th in the league in points scored just two short years ago (2012): “I know that the offense here in the past has had a ton of success. Last year they didn’t play as well as they would have liked. At the same point in time, it’s important for everyone to understand that we’re going to move forward, we’re going to learn from the past, and we’re going to work so that doesn’t happen again.”

McAdoo on what to expect from his new offensive regime

“First and foremost, we hang our hat on fundamentals. That’s going to be the focal point. That’s the first thing that we’re going to address. The second thing is we want to take care of the football. Taking care of the football is the biggest factor in winning and losing games. Fundamentals can help you there. At the same point in time, everybody on the offensive side of the ball needs to play better. With that being said, everyone comes in with a clean slate. This is going to be a new operation on offense.”

McAdoo on screen game implementation, which had become extinct under Gilbride

“We’re definitely going to spend time in the screen game. It’s something that will be a focal point and needs to be installed. We’ll have different types of screens, whether they’re sidewalk screens or half screens, so forth and so on, just like everybody else in the league. At the end of the day, it comes down to fundamentals and guys getting enough repetitions where they’re productive.”

McAdoo speaking on his tight end expertise

“A tight end, that’s a difficult position, first of all, to evaluate. They’re asked to do a lot of things in this league, whether it’s run blocking from the backfield, run blocking at the line, out in space, a lot of things in pass protection and then running routes, whether they’re an in-line guy or they’re in the slot or in the back. They have a lot on their plate. To me, it was always the best position to coach and in this offense it’s the best position to play because you have to learn how to do everything and you have to learn how to do it well at a high level. At the end of the day, you have to find players who you can plug in and figure out what they do best and make sure on the field that they’re doing what they do best.”