10 NY Giants and NFL Observations: Is Joe Judge too conservative?
By Ryan Messick
3. Opening Sequence
On the other hand, I was a big fan of how the Giants coaching staff opened the game on offense. They started with a play-action roll out for Jones that gave him an easy completion downfield, cutting the field in half and giving him plenty of time to deliver a strike to Evan Engram for 21 yards. They kept things simple for Jones and moved the ball 50 yards on their first five offensive plays before it went awry.
On first-and-10 from the Washington 13-yard line, the Giants dialed up a reverse that lost three yards. It was an odd situation for a reverse, which is a high risk play that often loses yards but can hit big. Why run one when the upside is a 13-yard gain? That’s a play that makes a lot more sense between the 20’s than in the red zone.
Perhaps the Giants were in a scripted sequence to open the game, as it was the sixth snap and most teams script the first 10 to 15 snaps offensively. Even if that was the case, it was an ideal time to deviate from the plan and save that play for a better situation later in the game.