The first eight games of the 2022 season have been a dream in New York. After a decade of incompetent New York Giants football, the G-Men have started 6-2, and won back to back games in Week 5 and Week 6 against the last two NFL MVPs.
It has been an overwhelmingly positive start to the 2022 season for Big Blue. Daniel Jones has taken a significant step forward, Saquon Barkley looks like the NFL’s best running back and Andrew Thomas looks like the NFL’s best offensive lineman. Brian Daboll is looking like the NFL Coach of the Year, while his coordinators Wink Martindale and Mike Kafka, have been outstanding. We can’t forget about Joe Schoen, the guy who put the whole show together.
Schoen has completely changed the trajectory of the Giants franchise for the better. While the first half has been overwhelmingly positive, many Giants flaws have been exposed, and if they want to go on a Cinderella run in the postseason, they will need to get them fixed. Here are four negatives for the NY Giants to overcome following the bye week.
4. Brutal wide receiver play
The Giants have arguably the worst group of wide receivers in the NFL right now and it is not particularly close. Jones, Barkley, and recently injured rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger have covered up some of the deficiencies of the Giants wide receiver room, but it is something the Giants must fix if they want to compete with the elite teams in the NFL.
https://twitter.com/NFLonCBS/status/1587449631746666496?s=20&t=zfeD8tsL93zJNHw-6hKzoQ
The Giants current wide receiver room is led by Darius Slayton who has just 232 yards, followed by Richie James at 191 yards, Wan’Dale Robinson at 107 yards, David Sills at 106 yards, Marcus Johnson at 63 yards and Kenny Golladay at 22 yards. Brutal.
Golladay will return from injury after the bye week, and despite his shaky Giants tenure, he instantly becomes the most important wide receiver Big Blue has. Golladay is by far the most experienced and talented wide receiver left in that position group and with a lack of other weapons, the big-bodied wide receiver will get fed opportunities.
Slayton has found his 2019 and 2020 form the last month, and Robinson has been a solid contributor in limited action. The success of Golladay, Slayton and Robinson will determine how far Big Blue can go in 2022.
3. Rough inside linebacker play
The Giants defense is the main reason this team has started 6-2, giving up just 19.6 points per contest, tied for eighth best in the NFL. All of the Giants defensive units have been tremendous except one: the inside linebackers.
The Giants current inside linebacker rotation is comprised of Jaylon Smith and Tae Crowder playing the majority of the snaps, with rookie Micah McFadden sprinkled in. PFF currently ranks Smith as the 55th best inside linebacker out of 80 qualified players. Not surprisingly, Crowder, who has turned into a missed tackle machine, is worst inside linebacker, ranked dead last.
Crowder and Smith need to stop missing tackles quickly and start making big impact plays. If Smith and Crowder don’t fix their issues quickly, Martindale will forced to deploy looks that feature more defensive backs or thrust the rookie McFadden into more action – we saw plenty of him going up against the Seahawks.
The defense has been elite, and if they can get anything positive out of those inside linebackers, the Giants D will be even more tough to score on. We’ll see how things go.
2. Injuries on both sides of the ball
The Giants injury problems are a sickening, timeless tale. Since the start of the season, the Giants have listed players on their injury report an absurd 56 times. Those listings don’t even include losing rookies Marcus McKethan and Darrian Beavers to torn ACLs in training camp or the injuries that forced the Giants to put Elerson Smith, Shane Lemieux, Rodarius Williams and Nick Gates on the IR to begin the season.
The Giants have played games at times without their top four wide receivers, and Sterling Shepard is out for the year with a torn ACL. Golladay has battled multiple injuries, as did Kadarius Toney before he was traded.
Leonard Williams and Kayvon Thibodeaux both missed a couple games with various injuries, and the Giants recently placed Thibodeaux’s pass-rushing partner Azzez Ojulari on the IR. To make matters worse, the 6-2 Giants are now missing three offensive line starters, as Evan Neal, Ben Bredeson and Shane Lemieux are all on the shelf.
The Giants roster depth was relatively weak to begin with as the lamentable Dave Gentleman forced them into salary cap hell. The team can ill afford any additional injuries, especially to the starters, the rest of the way.
1. Slow starts for the G-Men
Big Blue has mounted five fourth quarter comebacks this season, and while that is remarkable, it is entirely unsustainable. The reason the Giants have had to overcome all these second-half deficits has been the terrible play out of the gates offensively.
The Giants are averaging just 7.5 points in the first half of games this season, which is third worst in the NFL. The first halves of each Giants games has been painful to watch. The franchise has followed the same game script each week, falling behind early before digging themselves out of their hole in the second half.
The Giants have only been leading at the half in two out of their eight games to start the season and that is not surprising given their first half outputs. The Giants have scored 0, 6, 3, 14, 10, 7, 13, and 7 in the first 30 minutes of action through eight games. That’s not going to cut it.
NY is a run-first football team, and with their lack of weapons on the outside, it is crucial the Giants break this horrendous first-half trend. The Giants need to be able to play their brand of football in the second half and pound the rock, something they will be forced to abandon if they’re trailing.
In order for the team to continue to keep on winning, the boys in blue will have to do something more sustainable, and taking leads into the locker room after two quarters would be a fantastic start. It’ll be on Daboll and Kafka to help turn things around.
5 first-rounders the NY Giants should consider who won’t replace Daniel Jones
With the NY Giants entering their bye week, it is time to look at some prospects the team could select with their first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.