Jason Garrett’s offense has two speeds. And through the first 10 weeks one is emerging as the better, for both the NY Giants’ offense and defense.
NY Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has looked to even out the Giants’ game plan in recent weeks.
Garrett does so with uptempo, no huddle drives mixed in with time consuming, clock eating drives. It has resulted in more rushing yards per game this year, despite the loss of Saquon Barkley. And while their passing yards per game is down, their overall pass completion percentage is up.
But that has not necessarily translated into points, where the Giants are currently third-to-last in overall points and points per game.
Heading into their bye week, the Giants were tied with the LA Rams for the most offensive plays. But they only average 19.5 points per game, which stands below 2019’s 21.3 points per game. And with just six weeks left in the season, the Giants 195 points overall trail 2019’s 341 points overall.
Numbers only tell one part of the story, but the league is bending toward an analytical approach. And so far the numbers say that one style of Jason Garret’s offense is better for both sides of the ball for the Giants. Longer, sustained drives that chew up the clock have been far more beneficial for the Giants than shorter, uptempo drives that take less time.
The idea isn’t new; teams hope to possess more time to give their opponents less time with the ball while giving their own defense a rest. But some teams plan their offense according to their infatuation with scoring quick touchdowns.
By looking at the average time per drive in each of the Giants’ 10 games, and determining which drives are longer than that average and which are shorter than that average and the results for each, we can see this idea in real time. Omissions include defensive touchdowns as well as kneeling or running out the clock before the half or the game. Missed Field Goals were counted toward scores as attempts.
With that, let’s look at what the numbers tell us of each type of drive.
Longer Drives Help the Offense
Week to week, Garrett does a nice job at mixing the types of drive his offense runs. The only lopsided use of shorter drives vs. longer drives came in Week 3, when the Giants were blown out by the San Francisco 49ers 36-9.
The average time per drive between the two teams that game was 3:13. Excluding the Giants kneeling down before halftime, the team had seven drives shorter than that average compared to just one longer drive. They scored on only two of those seven drives, and scored on their lone long one.
The only other game where one clearly outweighed the other was in Week 1, when six of the Giants drives were shorter compared to three longer. They scored on two of the six short drives and one of the three long drives.
Garrett appeared to learn this lesson early on.
When we look at the Giants three wins, we see a healthier mix of shorter and longer drives. In the Week 6 win against Washington, three short drives resulted in one score while three long drives resulted in two scores. In the Giants’ second win against Washington, the Giants had six longer drives that resulted in three scores and four shorter drives that resulted in two.
In Week 10 against Philadelphia, the Giants sustained six short drives for two scores and four long drives for three scores. The only time the Giants outscored on shorter drives came in Week 7’s loss against the Eagles. The Giants scored twice on six short drives while scoring just once on five long drives.
Game to game might vary what style Garrett chooses to pursue, but the totals of this season paint a clearer picture: the Giants score more on drives in which they use more clock.
Overall, 50 drives counted for this post were considered short while 40 were considered long. The Giants scored or attempted to score in 17 of the 50 short drives, or 34 percent. The team scored or attempted to score in 22 of the 40 long drives, or 55 percent.
In games they win, Garrett is Even Steven: 13 short drives with five scores and 13 long drives with eight scores. In games they lose, the Giants have 37 short drives for 12 scores (32 percent) and 27 long drives with 14 (52 percent).
Not only do these longer drives help the offense score more points, but they also give the Giants defense a longer rest, which in turn helps them to perform.
Shorter Drives Hurt the Defense
There are any number of reasons why a team might go uptempo, and a shorter drive in time does not mean a shorter drive in distance. For example, passing the ball may result in more yards per play and a longer distance in the drive itself, but passes use less time and are more likely to stop the clock.
The discrepancy in the Giants use of long drives vs. short drives nearly mirrors their use of pass vs. run: they entered the bye week with 59 percent of their plays being passes vs 41 percent rushes.
And while scoring fewer points on shorter drives harms the offense, it puts extra stress on the defense.
The Giants have allowed scores or score attempt in 29 of the subsequent drives following their 50 short drives, or 58 percent. But that number plummets to 38 percent for opposing team’s drives when the Giants hold onto the ball longer.
To use a few examples from before: In the Giants’ Week 3 blowout, the 49ers scored after six of the Giants seven shorter drives. To be fair, SF also scored after the one longer drive, but they scored or attempted to score on every drive outside their knees to end the game.
In Week 1, the Steelers scored after four of the six short drives the Giants put together, but only scored once following three of the Giants’ longer drives.
When we look at the Giants wins, we see more of the same. The Giants allowed five scores or score attempts following their 13 shorter drives as well as their 13 longer drives. But the point becomes emphasized when we look at their losses.
Following the 37 drives from the Giants which were quicker than the game’s average, opposing teams scored 24 times, or 65 percent. But following the 27 drives the Giants ate more clock, opposing teams only scored 10 times, or 37 percent.
The numbers back up the old idea that offenses are helping the team more by controlling possession and sustaining longer drives, which not only result in more points, as we’ve seen, but also by giving the defense a longer chance to recover.
Jason Garrett has been evening out his style in recent weeks. In the past three games, the Giants ran 10 fast drives vs 10 slow drives. But the Giants only scored in five of those fast drives, while opponents scored after seven of them.
The Giants scored in nine of those 10 longer possessions, though. And opponents only scored after four of them.
The numbers show that Garrett’s methodology is as important for the offense as it is for the defense. And if he wants to keep the Giants in the hunt for the playoffs, it’s better to keep his offensive possessions as even as he has in the past three weeks.