So far, the Matt Nagy hire has been a success for the New York Giants. It would be hard to argue otherwise. Despite being on its third starting quarterback of the season, Big Blue's offense has been a league-average unit. It's staying afloat largely due to the offensive coordinator's ability to give his quarterbacks easy answers.
But the job is far from finished. New York's bye week offers Nagy a chance to self-scout, finding what has worked so far and scrapping what hasn't. We should see a new version of the Giants' offense after the bye, especially with J.J. McCarthy settling into the starting quarterback role.
Nagy's ability to evolve his scheme in the back half of the year will be a deciding factor in New York's ability to maintain its playoff pace.
Through seven weeks, the Giants' offense has made its living with a diverse rushing attack and an explosive passing game funneled to Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely. It hasn't been an elite offense, but given the circumstances, it's been about as effective as fans could hope for.
A closer look at Big Blue's tendencies and most effective plays reveals a few areas Nagy could lean into in the coming months.
1. Giants should play bully ball on offense
First, the Giants should turn the dial up on their use of heavy personnel. Fullback Patrick Ricard has been one of the most effective players on the roster so far this year. When he gets at least 30 snaps, the G-Men are 4-0.
The Giants' offense ranks in the top ten in EPA per play in both 22 personnel and 13 personnel. When there's only one receiver on the field, good things happen. With such a limited group of receivers behind Nabers, that makes sense.
New York's identity on offense should be built around these heavy formations. Those looks allow them to control the pace of the game and limit the effect of their weak wide receiver corps.
2. Giants' Matt Nagy should take a hint from the Bills and 49ers on pre-snap motion
If there's one obvious criticism to make of New York's offense, it's that it has been static. Big Blue uses motion at the lowest rate in the NFL. In fact, they're the only team in the league using motion on less than 50% of its plays.
The Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, the top two offenses in the NFL, both rank in the top three in motion rate. Their pre-snap movement gives their quarterbacks important information about opposing coverages and puts receivers in advantageous situations.
Motion for motion's sake isn't going to help. Nagy shouldn't increase his motion rate simply because that's what good offenses do. But he could implement some of it in an effort to make things easier on his players.
3. Matt Nagy should hand J.J. McCarthy the keys to the Giants' offense
If the Giants' offense is going to be effective for the rest of the season, it's going to be because of McCarthy. The young quarterback was close to perfect in the win over the Houston Texans, hitting throws all over the field with excellent timing.
McCarthy has been especially effective at throwing the ball downfield. He's six of ten for 215 yards and a touchdown on passes of 20 or more yards this year. It's a small sample size, but it's worth leaning into.
The QB can also be folded into the running game more than he has been. He didn't have any designed rushing attempts against Houston. Nagy clearly has these plays in his playbook (he gave Jaxson Dart some creative runs in Week 1), but he hasn't used McCarthy in that area yet.
Adding the quarterback running game to the mix will make defenses second-guess themselves on handoffs, potentially leading to more efficient runs for Cam Skattebo.
We like what we've seen from Nagy so far, but there's room to grow in the second half of the season.
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