The first five weeks of the 2020 season will reveal a lot about this NY Giants team and provide some immediate answers for some of this off-season’s biggest questions.
As momentum continues to build surrounding an on-time start of the NFL season, teams are beginning to prepare for players and personnel to return to team facilities in the coming weeks; the NY Giants are no different.
This is an exciting time for fans and players as the off-season somewhat returns to normalcy and an especially critical period for teams to begin ramping up preparations for the 2020 season.
This especially rings true for the NY Giants, who are coming off one of the worse three-year stretches in franchise history sporting a 12-36 record.
Rookie head coach Joe Judge and his new staff have their work cut out for them implementing all-new offensive and defensive schemes with an extremely young roster.
For new offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, the talent is undoubtedly there with the likes of Daniel Jones, a healthy trio of Saquon, Shepard, and Engram, and rookie tackle Andrew Thomas. The once again revamped offensive line and added depth should mean more running lanes for Barkley and fewer sacks and fumbles for Jones.
Add in Golden Tate, Kaden Smith, and a possible X-factor in UDFA Binjimen Victor and the weapons are more than there to see some sort of increase in offensive production and firepower.
On the other side of the ball, you have defensive coordinator Patrick Graham coming to the Meadowlands with his fluid, versatile defensive schemes that seem to be a perfect fit with the multiple defensive backs and fast linebackers on the roster.
If the NY Giants can manage to bring back Marcus Golden to add to an already solid defensive line, again the pieces are there to see noticeable improvement from last year’s abysmal James Bettcher-led defense.
It’s certainly an uphill battle getting ready for an NFL season among a worldwide pandemic and restricted physical contact between players and coaches, and even more so when you’re a young team with a new coach trying to dig themselves out of the rebuilding mode with a second-year franchise quarterback.
Sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
Things do not get any easier when you consider the challenges facing the G-Men in the first 1/3 of their schedule.
While the season won’t be necessarily won or lost based on these first five games, they will tell us if Judge and company are steering this franchise in the right direction.